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mistawac · 06-29-2012, 09:01 PM

Let me preface this with the face that while being very knowledgeable with computers, I don't know much about media formats. I'm using this project to learn.

So I just got RaspBMC installed on my Pi a couple days ago and tested it last night. I had a copy of 21 Jump Street in *.avi format (not quit sure on specifics other than that), but I was informed that it was a 720p BluRay rip. When I played it on the TV it did NOT look 720p, it looks like a 480i rip that was polished a bit. In any case, this brought to mind that either the information I was given was wrong (completely possible) or the RaspBMC doesn't play some formats/compressions very well. I plan on watching a 1080p copy of XMen First Class on the Pi tonight to compare.

Here's what I came to ask:

Has anyone found a "sweet spot" for video/audio compression?
Are some formats better for certain hardware than other formats (i.e., *.avi, *.mkv, *.mpeg, etc)?
What are some solid conversion programs I can use to start working with these audio/video compression formats to see if I can get the best quality possible from this little wonder?

Thanks in advance for any help!

**Walleee** · 06-29-2012, 09:14 PM

One thing i've been wondering is, if I have raspbmc set up in a resolution lower that 1920x1080, and I play a 1080p movie, will it be shown in true 1080p? or like you describe, is is just 'improved?'

You could try changing resolution if you havn't allready, to see if there is any improvement.

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html is a program that has allways come up for me when looking into this sort of thing, like you, i'm not really well versed on media formats, so the plethora of options isn't allways the best thing, sometimes i'm somewhat overwhelmed!

xbs · 06-30-2012, 12:01 AM

If your res is set to 720p and you play a 1080p video xbmc will upscale the video. I won't consider it "true" 1080p.
In the Xbox you can set the GUI to 720p or 480p and video playback to 1080p but i think this isn't possible on the RPi.

Sebert · 06-30-2012, 01:29 AM

First of all, the file you have probably is sub-optimal:
- avi is just a container, in case of TV-Shows or movies, it usually contains MPEG4 ASP like XviD & DivX, these codecs
however are not really suited for HD content, usually you shouldn't go above DVD Resolution with them.
- AFAIK 21 Jump Street has never been released on BlueRay, or are you talking about the movie?
- You can gather all kinds of infos by using this tool: http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net
- RPi is best suited for h264 playback (usually using the x264 codec) in an *.mkv or *.mp4 container !
- One popular program is handbrake (http://handbrake.fr/), I however prefer http://staxmedia.sourceforge.net/ with an updated x264 version !

mistawac · (This post was last modified: 06-30-2012 04:56 AM by mistawac.)

I'ma try those tools out.

As for the *.mkv containers, I just tried to play XMen through an *.mkv container and it wouldn't start. It would load then sit at a black screen, doing nothing. Maybe it was the codecs it was compressed with. I'ma spend some time working with all the different formats to get this perfect. I noticed you mentioned an h.264 codec, does the tool you mention convert to that?

I may be asking the wrong questions. Again, in terms of computer I'm more of a infrastructure guy and don't quite understand all of the media jargon. I'm hoping my questions don't get annoying. Just trying to learn. Are there any good resources anyone can point me towards that can help me educate myself on different codecs, their limitations, conversion losses, etc.?

Edit:
Two things.
1) The movie I tried to play was the new 21 Jump movie, not the one from the 80's. It's definitely been released on BR.
2) I just played a Project X file that was advertised as a BR rip. Looked absolutely beautiful and gave me much promise for this little device. I'm pretty sure what I have planned is totally going to take off.

Sebert · (This post was last modified: 06-30-2012 09:04 AM by Sebert.)

To make things more complicated:
- If a BR/DVD Rip in an MKV container has DTS Audio, and you don't have a DTS capable receiver which you can pass it through to, you won't be able to play it back with RPi: The little device doesn't have enough horsepower to decode the DTS audio and the video at the same time. Result: Screen will most likely stay black, and you will hear some audio.

- Yes those tools encode to h264 format, using the x264 codec.

**Walleee** · 06-30-2012, 11:39 AM

http://forum.stmlabs.com/showthread.php?...29#pid5529

DragonN · (This post was last modified: 03-19-2013 10:35 AM by DragonN.)

I use AppGeeker

http://www.ilikemall.com/how-to/convert-...v-mac.html

It's a nice little program that can convert back and forth from most formats. I have used it quite a bit.

Very simple to use.

Bigheeed · 03-19-2013, 10:31 PM

I don't think there is a 'sweet spot' as such... however from my experience.
The optimum isn't so based on what codecs and containers but getting the maximum quality for the smallest file size.
The main bottle neck seems to be networking and the buffering that can occur with large files. You can use 'makemkv' to do a pretty much full size direct bluray rip but that will leave a file say 60gb, a lot of people have had issues trying to play these on the pi even with wired networks whereas on windows xbmc the file will open within a second and just play. Using 'handbrake' or some alternative and turning the quality down or removing some audio might reduce the file to a still hefty 40gb but then it will play with no noticeable difference from the original and smoothly.