The Task

[bluebolt]

I have been unable to make a playable copy of the movie The Task. It seems to rip fine, but the discs I burn fail to play; the time counter shows zero and playback won’t initiate. This is a single-layer region B blu-ray disc from the UK. I have tried burning with ImageBurn and Nero, and I have tried copying the entire disc, as well as the movie only. I have tried ASUS and LG blu-ray drives, and I have tried the copies on different Sony hardware players without success. I purchased the original disc new (along with Husk from the same “After Dark Originals” series) and the disc surfaces are pristine. Copies of either movie fail in the same way.

 

[ddjmagic]

The issue could be related to the remove annoying video sequences options (sometimes these can cause problems with some discs)
If you open AnyDVD HD and go to the 'Video Blu-ray' settings, inside here look for the following settings -

'Remove annoying adverts and trailers'
'Remove video sequences shorter than'

Uncheck both of these options and click OK, now try and rip the original disc again and see if you still get issue.

Note: If you have a PC software player like TMT/PowerDVD you can try playback with these settings on the original disc before you rip/burn (can be useful to have one of these programs, as you can test before you waste a blank disc)

 

[bluebolt]

Thank you for the suggestion. I unchecked the “remove annoying adverts” and “remove video sequences” boxes and reburned, but still experienced the same problem (no playback on my Sony decks).

However, today I was able to test those first backups on another blu-ray player, a Magnavox--and they played back just fine, ugh. My backups have always worked on my Sony players; I’ve never had this happen except for these two (similar) movies. Apparently it’s a fine-point problem.

Maybe I should try this on an XP machine. I also wonder if ripping to image and burning the blu-ray from an ISO might work. Could “Aggressive I/O Mode” make a difference?

 

[bluebolt]

I’ve now tried this on XP, ripping to ISO, different burning modes in ImgBurn, yet another burner software (Power2Go), and even took AnyDVDHD out of the equation by testing it with the competition’s ripper, all of which produced the same result.

Several years ago I couldn’t get movie-only playback from certain Lionsgate DVDs, as they would hang up on some little hook right at the beginning of the movie; in that case I found that I could use DVD Shrink to clip the first few frames off the movie, and fix the problem by re-authoring that way.

I tried this approach here by using tsMuxeR to trim a few seconds off the head of the movie. Even this didn’t work. Playback still won’t initiate on my Sony decks, even though the file plays fine on the computer.

Hopefully I’ll be able to try this again with Slyce when it comes out.

 

[Pete]

I’ve now tried this on XP, ripping to ISO, different burning modes in ImgBurn, yet another burner software (Power2Go), and even took AnyDVDHD out of the equation by testing it with the competition’s ripper, all of which produced the same result.

Several years ago I couldn’t get movie-only playback from certain Lionsgate DVDs, as they would hang up on some little hook right at the beginning of the movie; in that case I found that I could use DVD Shrink to clip the first few frames off the movie, and fix the problem by re-authoring that way.

I tried this approach here by using tsMuxeR to trim a few seconds off the head of the movie. Even this didn’t work. Playback still won’t initiate on my Sony decks, even though the file plays fine on the computer.

Hopefully I’ll be able to try this again with Slyce when it comes out.

Did you try playing the original disc with those players?

 

[bluebolt]

Did you try playing the original disc with those players?

Yes, I did, and the original disc loads properly, and puts up the (expected) message, "This disc cannot be played because the player setup specifies a different region code."

 

[Pete]

Yes, I did, and the original disc loads properly, and puts up the (expected) message, "This disc cannot be played because the player setup specifies a different region code."

Ok, so apparently, we have no way of knowing if the original disc would play at all.

 

[bluebolt]

Ok, so apparently, we have no way of knowing if the original disc would play at all.

Right, although it leaves the fact that the backup I made played on that Magnavox deck, but not on my Sony blu-ray players (which are a BDP-S300, a BDP-S1100, and a BDP-S5000ES).

 

[James]

Right, although it leaves the fact that the backup I made played on that Magnavox deck, but not on my Sony blu-ray players (which are a BDP-S300, a BDP-S1100, and a BDP-S5000ES).

There could by many reasons for this, including a bad burn. The best test is to play the original disc with a licensed software player (WinDVD, PowerDVD, TMT, pick your poison) on a PC. AnyDVD running, of course, as it always should be.

EDIT:
Operating System: Windows 2000 (32-bit) Service Pack 4

This could cause a problem. I doubt players will work with this OS.

 

[bluebolt]

There could by many reasons for this, including a bad burn. The best test is to play the original disc with a licensed software player (WinDVD, PowerDVD, TMT, pick your poison) on a PC. AnyDVD running, of course, as it always should be.

EDIT:
Operating System: Windows 2000 (32-bit) Service Pack 4

This could cause a problem. I doubt players will work with this OS.

I think we can rule out a bad burn, insofar as I have accumulated a small stack of Verbatim blu-ray burns from trying one thing after another to get this.

On Windows XP, the ripped blu-ray file plays fine using VLC Media Player; I don’t have any of the software players you list, but I will see if I can find a trial version of one of those so I can attempt playback directly off the original disc.

 

[bluebolt]

I’ve now tested playback of the original blu-ray discs for The Task and Husk using WinDVD, and those originals play fine.

Today I received another UK blu-ray disc, a movie called Wyvern, and I tried to back it up. It produces the same problem: the backup I burned won’t play on my Sony decks.

I should say that I have successfully backed up other-region blu-ray movies before, such as Cypher, Quatermass and the Pit, Unknown, and Mindhunters.

 

[Adbear]

Am right in assuming that you are in the US and these are UK discs? If so then it may be that the discs that aren't working are using 50i video on them which your Sony player doesn't like. As a test try doing one with speedmenu's enabled inside AnyDVD, this will bypass all the trailers and menu's on the disc and should at least allow you to get as far as the speedmenu that AnyDVD puts in, and depending on the video on the disc may even play the main movie

Just checked 'The Task' and it has a section of trailers that are at 720x576 50i, which won't normally play on US players, although it doesn't explain why your movie only doesn't work. I suspect there's something in the stream that your Sony players don't like. If it was an AnyDVD HD issue then a copy wouldn't play in the Magnovox player. Did you try the copies in WinDVD, did they work?

 

[bluebolt]

Am right in assuming that you are in the US and these are UK discs?
Correct, I am in the US, and these are UK discs purchased new through Amazon.co.uk.

Did you try the copies in WinDVD, did they work?
I just tried one of the copies, and yes, it did work in WinDVD.

...it may be that the discs that aren't working are using 50i video on them which your Sony player doesn't like.
While it played on WinDVD, I clicked the “Preferences / Information” tab and noticed it said “Interlaced H264, 1920x1080 16x9” there.

I am now testing with Speedmenu enabled (set to “Always Enabled,” and did not check “Keep Original Menu.”). I will post here when I get the result. Thank you.

 

[bluebolt]

After ripping the disc with AnyDVDHD, I burned a backup using ImgBurn. When I put the copy in my blu-ray deck, the Speedmenu loads properly (and shows the movie information), but it still won't play beyond that.

 

[Peer]

After ripping the disc with AnyDVDHD, I burned a backup using ImgBurn. When I put the copy in my blu-ray deck, the Speedmenu loads properly (and shows the movie information), but it still won't play beyond that.

That's it then - the player(s) can't handle the video stream itself. Nothing AnyDVD can do, then, as it's not protection related.
You need to recode...

 

[bluebolt]

Naturally I'm disappointed, but you've given me a pretty good sense of what's going on here, and I appreciate it. Time for me to learn how to "recode." Thanks to all of you for your help.

 

[RBBrittain]

Am right in assuming that you are in the US and these are UK discs?
Correct, I am in the US, and these are UK discs purchased new through Amazon.co.uk.

Did you try the copies in WinDVD, did they work?
I just tried one of the copies, and yes, it did work in WinDVD.

...it may be that the discs that aren't working are using 50i video on them which your Sony player doesn't like.
While it played on WinDVD, I clicked the “Preferences / Information” tab and noticed it said “Interlaced H264, 1920x1080 16x9” there.

I am now testing with Speedmenu enabled (set to “Always Enabled,” and did not check “Keep Original Menu.”). I will post here when I get the result. Thank you.

"Interlaced" is your key. WinDVD didn't give the framerate, but if BD video is interlaced 1920x1080 it's either 1080i50 or 1080i60; the former is far more likely on UK BDs. It didn't give you a problem in WinDVD because PCs generally will play PAL/50Hz content even in the U.S.; PC players almost always must convert pixel counts & framerates to match your display.

 

[Adbear]

The best way to check the main movie would be to install mediainfo pro, then drop the main movie file into it, it will tell you what it thinks the frame rate etc are. I know the German copy of this film is 1080p23.97

 

[bluebolt]

I know the German copy of this film is 1080p23.97

Thanks for this info; do you refer to The Task here?

I see that there are German versions of both The Task and Husk, and it looks like a different studio than the UK versions. Blu-ray.com lists all of these at 1080p, even though the UK versions now appear to be 1080i.

I mentioned the movie Wyvern, which I actually bought from Amazon.de, and which Blu-ray.com also indicates is 1080p, though it, too, appears to really be 1080i.

 

[Adbear]

I have the German version which is how I know it is 1080p23.97