BS.Player Pro can't play (some) DVDs properly

[Womanizer]

Like I said on this thread:
http://forum.bsplayer.com/answered-s...play-dvds.html

I was able to test two MPEG-2 decoders while using BSPlayer PRO.

Elecard, which is proprietary;

Cyberlink, after uninstalling Elecard - I also have the latest PowerDVD version;

And Intervideo.

Intervideo was not working properly. Then I tested both Elecard and Cyberlink MPEG-2 decoders. They are working fine with some DVDs, but others you will see a bug happening after the DVD started. You can't select any option on the screen. It becomes a static image.



You can't move the cursor, you can't enter the BONUS option.

Then I decided to do another simple test. I tried the same DVD while using Media Player Classic/Home Cinema. The disc was fully accessible, and both "BONUS/CONFIGURACAO" options were available to be selected (moving the cursor, and pushing Enter).

Then what the frack was going on? I asked. It's simple. Somehow MPC has one MPEG-2 decoder that is better than all others, even paid ones, perhaps something made by Gabest, I don't know.

If that's the case, how can we force BSP Pro to use that MPC MPEG-2 decoder? To be honest I prefer using BSP Pro than MPC. It's my favorite player, and manages subtitles better than MPC, plus it's a personal choice, even knowing that both are great. But if I can't force BSP Pro to use the MPC MPEG-2 decoder, I will not have a choice in this matter...

BTW, the disc which presented this bug was the 6th one from LOST - 4th season, R4/brazilian edition. It was decrypted to my hard-drive using the DVD-9 profile (full copy) and with help from DVDFab Platinum 5.2.3.2. Strange thing that other discs authoring seemed fine while using BSP Pro.

[Tizio]

Can you also test this with other DVDs? Maybe it's a problem with that particular DVD format. Have you tried to play the DVD directly from the DVD Drive instead of from the decrypted source?
At the moment I can't test DVD's playback, maybe adicoto or other BSP Pro users can make some test

[adicoto]

Media Player Clasics uses indeed Gabest MPEG2 decoder and dvd source. BSPlayer can also use them. You can download and install them from SF.net site, in Guliverkli2 projects.
The problem I think it's not related to the MPEG 2 decoder but rather to the dvd source filter. I recall testing some DVD and found that some features won't work at first look. But after playing around a little with the mouse, I found a small spot on which the mouse get active.
At this moment I don't want to test DVD playback as I am under windows seven and probably the behaviour will be slightly different because of that.

[Womanizer]

Can you also test this with other DVDs? Maybe it's a problem with that particular DVD format. Have you tried to play the DVD directly from the DVD Drive instead of from the decrypted source?

Like I said, other DVDs might be just fine, this one (and a few others) might have this issue.

One more thing: the latest PowerDVD version (Ultra) which uses the Cyberlink decoder (quite obvious, since it's the same company who developed PDVD) is also playing this DVD like MPC. Which makes me wonder if this is not some BSP Pro bug, and perhaps not the MPEG-2 decoder's fault.

I noticed for a few seconds while changing videos that some intros are appearing all messed with no image and some lines showing in the screen... I never noticed the same problems using MPC/PowerDVD or any other player for that matter. Honestly, this looks like more a problem in BSP Pro core.

I wasn't able to find the Gabest MPEG-2 Decoder anywhere on the internet (if you know where it is please let me know). Perhaps it's a native decoder built inside the MPC exe file?

Media Player Clasics uses indeed Gabest MPEG2 decoder and dvd source. BSPlayer can also use them.

How? Sorry if I am asking a newbie question, but once I have the necessary files (from this decoder), how should I proceed to force BSP Pro to use them?

You can download and install them from SF.net site, in Guliverkli2 projects.

Unless I am looking in the wrong place, they are not there. I was able to find different things, not sure if there is one MPEG-2 decoder.

I recall testing some DVD and found that some features won't work at first look. But after playing around a little with the mouse, I found a small spot on which the mouse get active.

It's not a mouse problem, because the keyboard is also not responding. When you are looking into the DVD root menu, you have two choices: either you select the options (and move the cursor) by moving the mouse (which is quite difficult sometimes), or you'll use the keyboard (UP, down, right/left). If your keyboard is not responding, then either the authoring was messed or it's a decoder/player problem.

Perhaps the fact that BSP Pro doesn't have any MPEG-2 decoder built in natively, while all other players (even paid ones) have, and by using other MPEG-2 decoders, you are missing some possible bugs that might be only corrected by future changes in the core.

I asked a while ago if MPC was totally reliable in this matter (playing DVDs), and look what the Doom9 board/users replied:

MPC's DVD navigation code isn't exactly perfect - not surprising considering you cannot get the specs without coughing up a lot of money and signing an NDA. I own a couple hundred DVDs and play them mostly with MPC and there's plenty that have navigational hiccups whereas they play just fine on a standalone (never bothered with PowerDVD when MPC was able to play DVDs with navigation) - so if you have PowerDVD or another licensed DVD player playing the discs properly, I'd look for the error in MPC.

As Doom9 stated DVD navigation is not 100% in MPC.

Preferred software players would be Showtime, VLC or PowerDVD. I find MPC has some problems, too.

I heard MPC had some problems with the navigational playback.

Anyway, I don't have the original disc with me, but I will let you know in the future if other titles are showing the same problem. I intend to decrypt my entire collection.

I heard that LOST was one of the titles that were taking advantage of massive protections, it was a tough choice to be decrypted (some discontinued softwares/old versions would not work properly with it, or will require additional steps).

Since I was able to decrypt this disc with DVDFab (which is updated very often, and worked on two different programs, that must be somehow a BSP (or decoder) problem).

[adicoto]

As long as those filters are installe don you system, BSPlayer can use them. And I am refering here to:

-Gabest MPEG2 filter

or

- Intervideo (Corel) MPEG2 decoder
- dvd source

or

- Cyberlink MPEG2 video decoder
- Cyberlink dvd source

If you go to BSPlayer preferences -> filter management, you can select here filter priority (which filter to be used)

As for gabest filters...
SourceForge.net: Guliverkli2: Files

[Womanizer]

OK, I am lost. I have the MPEG-2 decoder, but it's only a file:

Mpeg2DecFilter.ax

Taken from Gabest MPEG-2 Video Decoder 1.0.0.4.

What should I do now? To make that file appear as "Gabest MPEG2 filter" in the BSP Pro filter screen?

EDIT: While I was able to register the filter, I just find out something new.

It wasn't just the MPEG-2 decoder from Gabest. Now that I have choosen to "not use" (in the filter merit) the Cyberlink Video/SP Decoder (PDVD9), I can't see the cursor in the screen anymore.

Then I just find out that MPC is using another filter called "DVD Navigator". Probably that filter is connected to the MPEG-2 decoder. Without it, you can't enter the DVD menus, or even see the cursor, even if it's static.

I looked the BSP Pro filter options and find out a filter called "DVD Navigator", but it wasn't him. When used, it was reffered as "DVD source".

So what I need to find now it's the origin of the "DVD Navigator" filter from MPC, and use it on BSP Pro. I have no idea where does it come from...

[Womanizer]

Looks like this is not an isolated problem.

I tried to decrypt Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the region 1 edition).

At first, I noticed the original disc didn't have the AUDIO_TS folder (which is always empty, but it must be there). DVDFab Platinum 5.2.3.2 keeps loading the disc forever, and stays that way (I thought the disc was faulty). But then, I tried AnyDVD and it can read the disc, which is odd. While AnyDVD was running, I simply copy-pasted the files into my hard drive.

Then I opened the decrypted disc/files using:

MPC HomeCinema;
BSPlayer Pro;
Power DVD Ultra/last version

Well, I didn't noticed the cursor problem from LOST in the TMNT movie (like I said earlier, it was only happening on LOST), while using BSP Pro. The cursor was there, and I was able to enter any of the DVD options (if the cursor doesn't show up, you won't be able to do that).

But I noticed something very odd (and the same thing happened with MPC). While watching the movie, if you try to change chapters, you will be able to, but if you click in another period of time (the time bar), there's a great chance both players will freeze and you will have to close them using control + alt + del. They will simply stop responding.

Then I tried to do the same thing using PowerDVD. It didn't stop responding. In fact, it was all normal and playing just fine. If I am watching the movie and wanted to click in the time bar to advance the video to 54m25s for example, I will be able to.

This is all very strange, and makes me wonder if MPC-HC suffers from navigation problems from the old and discontinued MPC project (Gabest didn't changed the core anymore since 2006), and if BSP Pro can also have the same issues.

I asked you if there's a way to use the "DVD Navigator" filter, but if MPC is already using and have this TMNT problem (while PDVD is not), something is not right here.

Maybe I am missing some decrypting issues that might affect some players that are dealing with this in a different way than others?

[Womanizer]

The funny thing in all that story is that:

Power DVD Ultra is showing the cursor and playing the 6th disc from LOST just fine (like MPC is doing);

Power DVD Ultra is playing TMNT without any freezing problem if you foward the cursor in the time bar to another random period from the movie;

Power DVD = No problems at all. Playing all DVDs without any hesitation.

But is simply the player I don't wish to use to play my files... I simply installed for using with HD discs and as one alternative over BSP/MPC, I remember back in the period I didn't know how to play DVDs with BSP.

Now I am starting to believe it's best for me to follow this thread:
VOB project/files converted into a single file? - Doom9's Forum

And pray to stay away from those issues.

[Womanizer]

This subject has been discussed in the AnyDVD boards and it seems I was configuring both AnyDVD/DVDFab in the wrong way, regarding the region-code (also read the part where I told my LG drive was using factory settings, no region set):
Aditional steps required to decrypt some DVDs - SlySoft Forum

Once I get my hands on the quoted discs (Harry/SF) again, I will test if something changes. So perhaps the navigation issues experienced by some players were a result of those wrong settings, and perhaps the "region marking" error from the "When Harry Met Sally" disc was solved with those steps... perhaps PGCEdit wasn't necessary at first, after all.