(Minor) SOAK Wanted: Video Stutter on DVD-to-TiVo

[jlb]

One of my current go to things these days has been getting into (very much) BSG and borrowing the DVDs from the library. I like the TiVo experience better than my DVD player, so I temporarily rip the episodes to the PC, then push to the TiVo and then delete all after watching.

My typical tools have been DVD Shrink to rip the files (occasionally needing to use DVD Fab) and then I just rename the vob files to mpg.

On some of the episodes, there has been some video stutter (with Audio staying proper).

Any thoughts on how to better keep this from happening?

I'm on a newer Dell with plenty of horsepower for these tasks.

Any thoughts would be appreciated......

[Dan203]

The most likely cause is an invalid frame rate. NTSC DVDs have two valid frame rates, standard 29.97fps and "film mode" which is 24fps with a pull down flag. TiVo only supports standard 29.97fps video, so if you upload a "film mode" DVD then you will get a stutter due to the TiVo decoding it incorrectly.

The only way to make these videos work is to transcode. You should try using pyTiVo instead of TiVo Desktop to upload videos to your TiVo. I believe it checks for this and transcodes on the fly if necessary.

Dan

[moyekj]

The most likely cause is an invalid frame rate. NTSC DVDs have two valid frame rates, standard 29.97fps and "film mode" which is 24fps with a pull down flag. TiVo only supports standard 29.97fps video, so if you upload a "film mode" DVD then you will get a stutter due to the TiVo decoding it incorrectly.

The only way to make these videos work is to transcode. You should try using pyTiVo instead of TiVo Desktop to upload videos to your TiVo. I believe it checks for this and transcodes on the fly if necessary.

Dan Interesting, I wasn't aware S3 Tivos can't properly handle 24fps mpeg2. Is that limitation only for mpeg2?
I could swear I've thrown some 1080p/24 H.264 video trailers at Tivo (via HME) and it plays them back without trouble which is why I ask. I'll have to go and check again.

[Dan203]

Interesting, I wasn't aware S3 Tivos can't properly handle 24fps mpeg2. Is that limitation only for mpeg2?
I could swear I've thrown some 1080p/24 H.264 video trailers at Tivo (via HME) and it plays them back without trouble which is why I ask. I'll have to go and check again.

Yes, it seems to be some sort of hard coded limitation of the software when playing video from the Now Playing list. I have a TiVo/DVD combo unit which can play 24fps video just fine from a DVD, but chokes on the same video if you rip it to a PC and transfer it to the TiVo's Now Playing list.

Dan

[jlb]

Well, it is interesting that I have done DVD movies before without real issues, but just the BSG TV DVDs that I have had issues with so far. Could I use either VR or something like super to transcode to the right frame rate?

[Dan203]

If you have VideoReDo you can use it to check to see if that is actually your problem. Simply open the VOB file in VideoReDo and hit Ctrl+L, then look at the info. If the framerate is 24fps or the "progressive" option does not say "Prog or Int" then the video is not compatible with TiVo and will have to be transcoded. If those two things are correct then it could be a muxing issue causing the problem and you should try running the VOB through the Quick Stream Fix feature.

As for transcoding... VRD doesn't support transcoding from MPEG to MPEG just yet, so you'll have to use something else for that. Like I said above I believe that pyTiVo can do it on the fly, as the program is being transferred to your TiVo, so that's the easiest solution. Other then that any compliant MPEG encoder that can open the file and recode it should work.

Dan

[moyekj]

Well, it is interesting that I have done DVD movies before without real issues, but just the BSG TV DVDs that I have had issues with so far. Could I use either VR or something like super to transcode to the right frame rate? The other interesting experiment is try tivostream to see if it plays back without issue that way. (Currently you would have to rename .vob to .mpg for it to work in tivostream but that's only change needed). Based on what Dan said above I expect it will play fine that way (via HME).

[Dan203]

I haven't actually tried tivostream myself, but that is definitely something you should try if you want to save yourself some time.

Dan

[jlb]

Thanks all for your help. I may try transcoding first with another mpeg encoder. I like the idea of pyTivo, but it's one more thing running on our PC. Though, II understand correctly, once I am running that, I would not need to run TD, right? I have a plus key for TD so I'd rather not cannibalize that yet.

I have used Super in the past to convert/compress TiVo files down to a file that can load onto my LG enV cell phone for playback. I think that has tons 'o options for transcoding and I could force it to the 29.97fps rate.

For me, as I move to season 2.5 for BSG, I am ok with these extra steps if necessary. I'll report back......

[jlb]

The rate is the 29.97 and the Prog or Init is correct.

http://i37.tinypic.com/so1mpk.jpg

I'll rename the mpg back to vob (since all I did after ripping the files is rename from vob to mpg) and try the quickstream fix and see if that helps.

[jlb]

I ran an episode thru QS fix in VR TVS. I've watched bits and pieces of this version of the episode (maybe about 15 minutes in total) and I haven't noticed any stutter yet.

Even though this is an additional step, I like the results. Not too much of a big deal to run QS fix on each episode (it took only about 2.5 minutes on the one above).

[Dan203]

I'm glad to hear that VideoReDo fixed the issue for you. There must have been some bad packets or improper PTS timings in the stream causing the TiVo to stutter.

There is a program on this forum somewhere called something like TiVo Auto Processor, which basically monitors a folder and automatically processes any files dropped into it through VideoReDo QSF. Might be worth your time to check out.

Edit: Here's a link...

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=359550

Dan

[jlb]

QSF was a big success. Watched a BSG episode and Batman Begins, both run through it prior to watching and they both played flawlessly.

Thanks!