Converting VIDEO_TS folder - weird macroblocking

[nightfly13]

I have an obscure kids DVD I'm trying to get on my kids' iPod (poor-man's AppleTV- permanently fixed to their tv).

I have the VIDEO_TS folder on my hard drive now (curiously, I just dragged and dropped it and it worked perfectly). If I load this folder into VLC is plays gorgeously. If I play a single VOB in VLC there's severe macro blocking.

When I convert the file to either mp4 or mkv in handbrake, the macroblocking makes it basically useless. In visualhub it's the same thing - unwatchable macroblocking (although I haven't tried all the settings/containers).

Even tried to transcode the stream in VLC - but I don't think it could get past the opening menu (I couldn't make it transcode the stream through the pressing 'play' button in the dvd). I haven't exhausted all my options - but I'm hopeful that someone knows what I'm talking about and has a solution! My kids love this movie and I don't really like giving them my computer all the time to watch it 🙂

 

[jbuk]

I suppose you could try ripping in HandBrake with the 'Deblock' filter enabled, which might alleviate the problem a little. Oh, and rip to a higher bitrate (the Apple > Universal preset at either 59 or 62% constant quality should do it, and will probably still play on an iPod (unless its a 5G video).

 

[nightfly13]

Hmm haven't seen that option - I will investigate.

The trick, I think, isn't to minimize the blocking, but to figure out why the DVD and the whole VIDEO_TS folder play smoothly, without any blocking, but the individual VOBs and any converted video has chronic blocking.

I have the newest generation iPod 'classic' - the 120GB. I say newest generation knowing that'll be true for another 2 weeks or so 😛

 

[nightfly13]

Solved! (although I'm not sure change did the trick)

I wanted to see the advanced drop down menu in handbrake, so I chose x.264 and MKV and there were a whole myriad of options for deblocking (of which '0' was default) so I chose 6 and after the first turbo pass, I've tested the first 20 seconds of the forth-coming MKV and it looks smooth - although I do wonder why handbrake shrinks it down from 720x480 to 656x368.

Anyway, I'm confident the deblocked MKV will convert to mp4 for iTunes without further issue and my kids will be watching this in THEIR room (rather than my office) soon. Thanks dude!

 

[jbuk]

If you click the 'picture settings' button in the video tab of the main window, you'll get a post-out dialogue with options for sizing, along with de-interlace, de-telecine, deblock etc.