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Dark Knight Issues

S

slamscaper945

Active Member
Okay, just backed up Dark Knight using Anydvd's (6.4.9.0) rip to image function. Mounted the image using virtual clonedrive and it plays back in PowerDVD 7.03.4603 (OEM version that came with my blu-ray drive) but I'm experiencing weird effects. The aspect ratio just changes randomly which I can't explain. I'm not sure if PowerDVD is at fault but I've played other blu-ray movies using this exact method without any of these issues.

I loaded the main .m2ts file strait from my hdd just for giggles and the same thing occurs. This is the first blu-ray movie I've seen that has all the main video in one giant .m2ts file. I don't quite understand why this file has over 5 hours of video in it. Are all the deleted scenes and such included with it? I scanned through it real fast and didn't see any commentary or behind the scenes type stuff. All the behind the scenes and commentary video seems to be stored in another .m2ts file that's just under 5 GB. I'm guessing the playlist files are telling BD players to jump around this giant .m2ts file as needed. I just don't know for sure because I'm new to blu-ray movie data structure.

Anyway, think PowerDVD is my problem? I don't have another player to try out right now. I did try Nero showtime a few days ago but it was plauged by all sorts of issues rendering the menus blu-ray movies. I just couldn't get it to work right. I'm running Vista x64 by the way. Anyone suggestions on players or editing software would be welcome. Has anyone else ripped this movie yet? I'm thinking of trying out VLC player but just haven't got around to installing it yet.

There doesn' seem to be any BD+ on this disc so I'm guessing Anydvd should handle it properly.
 
Yes, I just researched this and have read that it shifts between 1:78:1 and 2:4:1 aspect ratio. It's weird to me but some people don't even seem to notice it. These people need glasses I guess, lol.

I wish they would just use this IMAX aspect ratio for every scene in all blu ray movies because I for one cannot stand to watch a tiny strip across my screen with huge black bars at the top and bottom. I didn't pay big $ for my Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP or my Sammy 1080p LN37A550 only to have blu rays use a small portion of the screen. I have to say though, the IMAX shots are breathtaking and to me there's just no comparison.
 
slamscaper945 said:
Yes, I just researched this and have read that it shifts between 1:78:1 and 2:4:1 aspect ratio. It's weird to me but some people don't even seem to notice it. These people need glasses I guess, lol.

I wish they would just use this IMAX aspect ratio for every scene in all blu ray movies because I for one cannot stand to watch a tiny strip across my screen with huge black bars at the top and bottom. I didn't pay big $ for my Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP or my Sammy 1080p LN37A550 only to have blu rays use a small portion of the screen. I have to say though, the IMAX shots are breathtaking and to me there's just no comparison.
Click to expand...

But most movies ARE strips along the screen. I have yet to see one which doesn't have black bars all the way through (apart from TDK).
 
If they shot the full movie in IMAX, and there are only a few IMAX theaters then the movie would have made about 4 million instead of 600 million.
 
AnyDVD HD Also Requires Update

I think it could be the BD+ issue thats being worked on at the mo but when i put the dark knight into the media centre Anydvd HD asks for an update which is not available but still plays if you disable it.
 
DK doesn't use BD+. If you have an HDCP compliant system then it will play even without AnyDVD HD
 
Rusty100 said:
But most movies ARE strips along the screen. I have yet to see one which doesn't have black bars all the way through (apart from TDK).
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I was complaining about. If you're like me and you watch blu ray or DVD movies on your PC monitor it's even worse.

Almost every 24" and 30" PC monitor uses a 16:10 aspect ratio instead of the more common 16:9 ratio that HDTV's use. When watching HD movies that use a 2.4:1 aspect ratio on a native 16:10 monitor the black bars on the top and bottom become huge making the movie a tiny strip in the middle of the screen.

I was pleased that Dark Knight used a 1.78.1 (16:9) for at least a few scenes as this aspect ratio looks a heck of a lot better on my 16:10 monitor and totally fills the screen on my Sammy LN37A550 HDTV. The 1.78:1 ratio still leaves black bars at the top and bottom on my 16:10 Dell Ultrasharp, but they are very small and this means there is a lot more detail on the screen to be seen. I hope more blu rays movies use this ratio in the future.

Some people set there HDTV's to stretch 2.4:1 content so it will fill the screen. I can't stand seeing this as it distorts the images horribly imo. I don't know how people stand it. Give me more 1.78:1 Hollywood.
 
By the way, I mentioned in my first post about how Dark Knight has one big .m2ts file that contains the whole movie. When I load this file directly from my hdd into any app the time is incorrectly reported. It's shown to be over 5 hours in length when it's more like 2 h 30 min. Anyone know why the run time is screwed up?

Also, when I play back the .m2ts file directly in PowerDVD it's very juddery, however it's fine when playing from the disc or .iso. Weird. I had thought the juddery playback had to do with Aero being enabled during playback, but after disabling Aero this problem remains. PowerDVD must be enabling something when I play back an HD video file that's causing this issue. I am using the OEM version so I can't configure it all that much. The setting is probably hidden from me. Man, I want to figure this out as this whole deal with the incorrect time and juddery playback is driving me crazy.
 
You should not be playing m2ts files directly. First, no HD audio. Second, no hardware acceleration. It's just not a good thing to do. Make an ISO, mount it, and call it good.
 
SamuriHL said:
You should not be playing m2ts files directly. First, no HD audio. Second, no hardware acceleration. It's just not a good thing to do. Make an ISO, mount it, and call it good.
Click to expand...
Actaully on the newer PDVD the juddering is caused by it trying to use Hardware accel when playing an m2ts file, I found that if I disable the Hardware Accel when playing M2ts files (on ATI cards) the playback is smoother, but still no HD audio
 
MrPuffy said:
I think it could be the BD+ issue thats being worked on at the mo but when i put the dark knight into the media centre Anydvd HD asks for an update which is not available but still plays if you disable it.
Click to expand...

I also get this - It asks for an update, then fails. I get a black screen, except for the cd icon loading, then I can hear the WB logo music, then nothing.

I have a paid for ANYDVDHD latest version installed, and even uninstalled it, downloaded the version from the site, and installed it once more.

What makes it more confusing is that I tried to do this about 8 times, and once managed to get it to work, but stopped playing the film when I had to pop out. Get home, try to play it, and it repeats that it needs an update... :confused:

Running Vista Home Premium, AMD 8.11 drivers on a 3470 card, with a early version of PowerDVD8 (hacked to play HD-DVDs). I was going to update PowerDVD8 but wanted to try that last as I know the hassle in getting the hack running once more...any thoughts?

Edit: This is an original UK disk, and if I turn off anydvd, it is still black with the disk icon showing breifly.
 
..could have sworn the message is by AnyDVD :confused:, but I will check again tonight. When I edited my post above, I relaised it cant be AnyDVD that was the problem, as it wouldnt play without ANyDVD running, but as the message came from AnyDVD, thats what confused me.
 
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