Boxee Box crash after starting MKV made from HD DVD

[charveyunm]

Hey all I started a ticket in Jira for this issue but was wondering if anyone in the community had any idea on a work around or if there is a fix for the issue:

Boxee Box crashes when playing mkv files made from HD DVD disks with MakeMKV. I believe it may be an issue with the HD Audio source because HD Audio does not play on mkvs with Dolby Digital Plus 5.1. Audio will play on other files that don't use this format but still crash. The crash always happens near the very beginning of the file. The file I used for the logs was a conversion of the HD DVD of Lost in Translation. It crashes almost immediately after starting to play it.

I know there is a bug that involves stuttering sound when playing back HD audio sources but my problem is more specific to the fact that the video starts playing and then boxee completely freezes or crashes. I am using the latest software 1.5.1.2375.

Any help would be appreciated. Here is a link to the ticket for votes if anyone is experiencing the same problem:
http://jira.boxee.tv/browse/BOXEE-12751

[mbryanr]

http://forums.boxee.tv/showthread.ph...&highlight=DVD

[Chuck_IV]

While I dunno about the crashing, I do know that Boxee has always had an issue bitstreaming DD+ audio. You need to UNcheck the box that says you have a DD+ capable receiver attached. You end up with just normal DD5.1.

Why Boxee has never bothered to fix this, I dunno. Add that one to the list of ongoing unfixed bugs.

I did read where there is a bug in MakeMKV 1.71+ when ripping from an HDDVD. On the MakeMKV boards they say to use 1.70 or earlier. Not sure exactly what the bug is tho. Check the MakeMKV boards. I haven't ripped an HDDVD in a LONG time.

[jrose78]

I still think HDDVD is going to win the format war.

[charveyunm]

Chuck_IV,
Thanks for the reply. It looks like most of the problems on the Makemkv forums involve unsuccessful rips of HD DVDs. All of my rips have been successful so far - I can play them on my computer using VLC with audio etc no problems at all.

I did try unchecking the DD+ capable receive option which fixes the audio issues but seems to still crash after about 30 seconds of watching the videos.

One thread on MakeMKV said to run the videos through mkvmerge to see if it fixes issues: I'll give that a go.

@jrose78, my thoughts exactly But want to transfer these movies over in case the format dies

[charveyunm]

So just muxed using mkvmerge and it's a no go on that file either. I tried playing both the mkvmerge muxed file (default settings) and the Makemkv file and both crashed the boxee when playing them (dd+ option disabled)

A very weird note though - While I was running mkvmerge on the file from my computer I actually started playing the original file on the boxee box and it started playing fine! (got a lot further into the file than ever before (usually crashed within 20 seconds of starting) . As soon as mkvmerge was done though the two files started crashing at the same place again.

@Chuck_IV - do you know a reliable source where i can get MakeMKV 1.7.0 from? I couldn't find a previous versions download page there.

[charveyunm]

@Chuck_IV, Nevermind found a link. Had to buy MakeMKV in order to use older versions though. I'm redoing the file using an older version of MakeMKV will post back with results.

[charveyunm]

Ok just encoded a video in Makemkv 1.7.0 and no luck still crashes the boxee box.