NTSC MKV Problem - Please Help!

Cabo 5150

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Hello all. I have a Dune HD Duo Media Player, which I've been extremely pleased with - other than one really annoying playback problem. I have a ton of TV material ripped from disc (Blu-ray, DVD) on both internal HDD's. I've been using MakeMKV to to create uncompressed video files.

The problem comes with playback of MKV's ripped from NTSC DVD's, which is noticeably jerky on panning shots - like the 3:2 pulldown has been highly accentuated. Sometimes even static shots look like a frame has been suddenly skipped. I've tried the same files on my old Popcorn Hour A-110, my PC and my Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray player - on which they play perfectly.

HD MKV's ripped from BD are perfect, PAL MKV's from DVD are perfect - the problem only manifests with NTSC MKV. The same NTSC episodes play perfectly ripped to ISO or from a folder. I'm certain I've set up my Dune properly, auto framerate detection 24/50/60 etc. When I hit info playing the jerky files, the correct file information/output is shown.

I'd be extremely grateful if anyone has any ideas. Many thanks in advance.
 
Can you drop the file into MediaInfo and post the results here?
Thanks for the quick reply, duffbeerdrinker! I've never used MediaInfo before, so I hope this is the optimal "view" to use. Many thanks in advance...

General
Complete name : R:\File.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 1.79 GiB
Duration : 42mn 44s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 5 986 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2012-11-22 19:23:59
Writing application : MakeMKV v1.7.7 win(x86-release)
Writing library : libmakemkv v1.7.7 (1.2.0/1.1.0) win(x86-release)

Video
ID : 1
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP : No
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Codec ID : V_MPEG2
Codec ID/Info : MPEG 1 or 2 Video
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 5 419 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 9 800 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Variable
Original frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : Component
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Scan order : Top Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
Color primaries : BT.601 NTSC
Transfer characteristics : BT.601
Matrix coefficients : BT.601

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 42mn 44s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 137 MiB (7%)
Title : 3/2+1
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Menu
00:00:00.000 : en:Chapter 01
00:03:59.405 : en:Chapter 02
00:08:57.870 : en:Chapter 03
00:15:26.292 : en:Chapter 04
00:21:24.616 : en:Chapter 05
00:27:22.707 : en:Chapter 06
00:32:43.061 : en:Chapter 07
00:38:41.886 : en:Chapter 08
 
Strange. Everything looks OK with the file as far as I can see. I have similar files on my Dune and they play fine.

Is the firmware up to date on the Duo? What settings do you have under the video out options? Does your TV display indicate that the file is being played at 60hz?
 
From the Video:
"Frame rate mode : Variable"
"Original frame rate : 29.970 fps"

can a frame rate be variable ????

edit: looking again at some of my files, the frame rate mode can be :blush:
 
Last edited:
I also looked at the variable frame rate and was a little unsure.
But then I also noticed 'Scan type : Progressive' and 'Scan order : Top Field First' which is a contradiction - if a file is progressive then there is no field order as the full screen gets refreshed each time :confused:

As the OP stated that an ISO or folder structure rip from an NTSC DVD plays fine I can only assume that MakeMKV is doing somethig to the rip. But I did check last night and couldn't see anything that can be changed in the settings for this. So again I'm confused.

Mark.
 
Guys, thanks for the replies. Regarding variable frame rate - there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it - MediaInfo displays some as variable, some as constant?!! I'm going to test a "constant" MKV tonight and check whether the problem occurs. But, just to clarify, you suspect the route problem is with MakeMKV and not the Dune firmware? I definitely have the Dune set up properly and have the latest firmware version installed.
 
You could try the latest version of MakeMKV?
Yep, gave that a go, no change. I guess this is just going to be "one of those things" as I've pretty much exhausted every possible test/option to get this to work. Obviously, there must be some oddball tech issue going on somewhere in the chain, but I rather doubt I'm going to find it.

Oh well, ISO it is for NTSC DVD rips! Is there a free program you can quickly covert SD MKV to ISO without re-encoding? Or am I doomed to a load of re-ripping? Cheers.
 
I think you need to re-rip.

Have you considered re-encoding the files to an MKV with x264? You could then detelcine the file and restore 23.976 fps - this seems to provide much better results on my Dune than having an interlaced DVD source.
 

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