Compatibility issue from way that DAR is specified in MKV?
Posted: Sat Apr 13, 2019 5:27 pm
I am doing my video archiving in MKV since many years. I recently switched from StaxRip to Handbrake and noticed it gives me an issue in playing some files on my old AzBox, which I am using as a receiver & media player in the bedroom still. The issue appears on files with a PAR that is not 1:1.
I figured out that the issue seems to come from the way the DAR is sepcified in the MKV container. Handbrake seems to set this by multiplying the numerators and denominators of SAR & PAR. So e.g. for a movie that has 718x574 (cropped by 2 on x and y axis) and a PAR of 64/45 the resulting DAR in the MKV is (718x64):(574x45) = 22976:12915. The media player of my AzBox (Enigma) does not play this.
If I go and remux the MKV, specifying the DAR in the way that the Handbrake GUI also displays it on the Overview tab, then it will work:
(718x64/45):574 = 1021:45. There is of course a rounding involved here as 1021 is rounded from 1021,1555..
So is there a way to tell Handbrake to set the DAR for MKV in the way it is displyed on the Overview screen rather than by making the multiplcation of numerator and denominator in order to save me having to run all videos through another remuxing operation in order to keep compatibility? I checked all the command line options and found nothing referring to that (and for sure using non-anamorph conversion is no option, of course).
I figured out that the issue seems to come from the way the DAR is sepcified in the MKV container. Handbrake seems to set this by multiplying the numerators and denominators of SAR & PAR. So e.g. for a movie that has 718x574 (cropped by 2 on x and y axis) and a PAR of 64/45 the resulting DAR in the MKV is (718x64):(574x45) = 22976:12915. The media player of my AzBox (Enigma) does not play this.
If I go and remux the MKV, specifying the DAR in the way that the Handbrake GUI also displays it on the Overview tab, then it will work:
(718x64/45):574 = 1021:45. There is of course a rounding involved here as 1021 is rounded from 1021,1555..
So is there a way to tell Handbrake to set the DAR for MKV in the way it is displyed on the Overview screen rather than by making the multiplcation of numerator and denominator in order to save me having to run all videos through another remuxing operation in order to keep compatibility? I checked all the command line options and found nothing referring to that (and for sure using non-anamorph conversion is no option, of course).