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How to demux Kino Lorber Blu-ray Discs properly#

🔻 Illustration of the problem#

Original Disc Structure

KL Intro (11 sec)
Main Movie
00010.m2ts
00004.m2ts
Video 1
Video 2
No Audio
Audio 2

This original structure plays fine in media players, but cannot be demuxed properly without a special technique.

Demuxing Playlist (00004.mpls)

KL Intro (11 sec)
Main Movie
00010.m2ts
00004.m2ts
Video 1
Video 2
Audio 2
Audio 2

Audio 2 gets shifted leftward to the 11011ms long intro, leading to out of sync audio (and subtitles).

If you demuxed this way, apply a 11011ms delay to the audio and subtitles by following the steps in the section on this page called "Demuxing the playlist method".

Demuxing Main M2ts (00004.m2ts)

Main Movie
00004.m2ts
Video 2
Audio 2

Intro gets removed completely, leaving in-sync video, audio and subtitles.

Just get chapters from 00004.MPLS and apply an offset of -11011ms.

🔻 Introduction to the problem#

Most Kino Lorber blu-ray discs need a special technique to demux the streams properly to retain audio sync.

Many distributors insert a few seconds long intro before the movie starts. This intro contains their logo and company name. However, Kino Lorber does it in a unique way unlike any other distributor, where their intro is silent and there is no audio track.

Demuxing such discs the usual way causes the audio of the main movie to get shifted earlier to the start of the intro. The same thing happens to the subtitles. As a result, you end up with a file which is now out of sync with both the audio and the subtitles.

🔻 How to identify if the disc needs special demuxing#

Not every Kino Lorber disc is authored in this way. Some do not have the intro.

For instance, their "Kino Classics" line of releases are generally not authored in this way (or perhaps never). They do have an intro, but not as a separate file, and thus, do not need any special handling.

The special demux technique is required only if the disc has this 11 second intro as a separate file before the movie.

The length of the intro is always 264 frames, which at 23.976 FPS (or 24000/1001 FPS) is 11011ms.

Use BDInfo, eac3to or mediainfo to see the contents of the main playlist on the disc.

Load the folder in the BDInfo application. If there is an 11 second file above the main movie m2ts, that is the intro.

kinolorber-bdinfo-gui

Same thing can be done with the FULL (unabridged) BDInfo text output. This output is produced by both the regular BDInfo program and the CLI version.

The full output contains the list of the files that the playlist is made up of. Again, look for an 11 second long file above the main movie.

Look for the highlighted line in the below output: 
DISC INFO:

Disc Title:     Sample Disc
Disc Label:     Sample Disc
Disc Size:      20,000,000,000 bytes
Protection:     AACS
BDInfo:         0.7.5.5

PLAYLIST REPORT:

Name:                   00004.MPLS
Length:                 1:10:00.000 (h:m:s.ms)
Size:                   20,000,000,000 bytes
Total Bitrate:          25.00 Mbps

VIDEO:

Codec                   Bitrate             Description     
-----                   -------             -----------     
MPEG-4 AVC Video        20000 kbps          1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1

AUDIO:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
DTS-HD Master Audio             English         1800 kbps       2.0 / 48 kHz /  1800 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz /  1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio             English         192 kbps        2.0 / 48 kHz /   192 kbps / DN -31dB

SUBTITLES:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
Presentation Graphics           English         25.000 kbps                     

FILES:

Name            Time In         Length          Size            Total Bitrate   
----            -------         ------          ----            -------------   
00010.M2TS      0:00:00.000     0:00:11.010     712,704         518             
00004.M2TS      0:00:11.010     1:10:00.000     20,000,000,000  20,000          
00000.M2TS      1:10:00.000     0:00:01.000     18,432          147             

CHAPTERS:

Number          Time In         Length          Avg Video Rate  Max 1-Sec Rate  Max 1-Sec Time  Max 5-Sec Rate  Max 5-Sec Time  Max 10Sec Rate  Max 10Sec Time  Avg Frame Size  Max Frame Size  Max Frame Time  
------          -------         ------          --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  
1               0:00:00.000     0:07:39.709     29,137 kbps     60,233 kbps     00:00:10.343    34,685 kbps     00:00:10.093    33,485 kbps     00:03:51.231    151,895 bytes   613,283 bytes   00:06:25.051    
2               0:07:39.709     0:06:54.789     30,063 kbps     41,644 kbps     00:14:02.925    34,095 kbps     00:11:06.916    33,755 kbps     00:11:06.916    156,737 bytes   675,345 bytes   00:14:02.967    
3               0:14:34.498     0:07:53.890     30,089 kbps     37,004 kbps     00:18:54.883    33,587 kbps     00:15:44.693    32,952 kbps     00:15:44.693    156,872 bytes   422,172 bytes   00:18:54.925    
4               0:22:28.388     0:07:00.545     29,334 kbps     47,682 kbps     00:27:30.231    38,843 kbps     00:25:39.162    34,737 kbps     00:25:38.912    152,935 bytes   624,995 bytes   00:27:30.315    
5               0:29:28.933     0:06:27.637     30,166 kbps     36,439 kbps     00:30:50.431    33,026 kbps     00:34:24.645    32,391 kbps     00:34:22.268    157,271 bytes   396,522 bytes   00:30:50.640    
6               0:35:56.571     0:07:52.805     30,292 kbps     38,355 kbps     00:42:52.486    35,655 kbps     00:42:51.485    33,487 kbps     00:42:51.485    157,926 bytes   479,900 bytes   00:40:42.231    
7               0:43:49.376     0:07:36.789     30,358 kbps     39,036 kbps     00:46:58.482    32,797 kbps     00:47:11.912    32,490 kbps     00:48:19.354    158,272 bytes   676,452 bytes   00:46:58.524    
8               0:51:26.166     0:08:54.408     30,503 kbps     37,811 kbps     00:52:38.113    33,426 kbps     00:58:40.767    32,757 kbps     00:58:37.931    159,029 bytes   539,954 bytes   00:52:38.154    
9               1:00:20.575     0:08:01.230     30,299 kbps     42,081 kbps     01:05:12.408    35,423 kbps     01:05:12.241    33,165 kbps     01:05:12.241    157,963 bytes   636,342 bytes   01:05:13.284    
10              1:08:21.806     0:05:39.964     30,188 kbps     40,834 kbps     01:12:30.095    35,139 kbps     01:11:19.984    34,075 kbps     01:11:18.732    157,388 bytes   495,962 bytes   01:12:30.137    
11              1:14:01.770     0:06:33.810     30,253 kbps     38,705 kbps     01:16:32.129    33,608 kbps     01:20:24.152    32,719 kbps     01:20:24.152    157,725 bytes   512,938 bytes   01:16:32.170    
12              1:20:35.580     0:07:34.328     17,366 kbps     42,406 kbps     01:21:03.733    35,693 kbps     01:21:00.856    34,043 kbps     01:20:55.767    90,545 bytes    663,919 bytes   01:23:01.434    

STREAM DIAGNOSTICS:

File            PID             Type            Codec           Language                Seconds                 Bitrate                 Bytes           Packets         
----            ---             ----            -----           --------                --------------          --------------          -------------   -----           
00004.M2TS      4113 (0x1011)   0x1B            AVC                                     1000.000                28,978                  19,161,368,201  104,211,710     
00004.M2TS      4352 (0x1100)   0x80            LPCM            eng (English)           1000.000                2,311                   1,527,788,100   8,464,200       
00004.M2TS      4353 (0x1101)   0x86            DTS-HD MA       eng (English)           1000.000                3,441                   2,275,063,288   12,878,129      
00004.M2TS      4354 (0x1102)   0x80            LPCM            eng (English)           1000.000                2,310                   1,527,232,160   8,461,120       
00004.M2TS      4355 (0x1103)   0x80            LPCM            eng (English)           1000.000                2,311                   1,527,798,208   8,464,256       
00004.M2TS      4356 (0x1104)   0x80            LPCM            eng (English)           1000.000                2,311                   1,527,798,208   8,464,256       
00004.M2TS      4608 (0x1200)   0x90            PGS             eng (English)           1000.000                40                      26,238,832      151,220

First scan the folder with eac3to. 

D:\>eac3to "Sample Disc"
1) 00004.mpls, 00010.m2ts+00004.m2ts+00000.m2ts, 1:10:00
- Chapters, 12 chapters
- h264/AVC, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9)

The above output shows that the main playlist 00004.mpls is made up of three m2ts files: 00010 + 00004 + 00000, totaling a duration of 1:10:00.

00004.m2ts in a Kino Lorber disc is almost always the main movie. Since we see a different file: 00010.m2ts before it, it's a good indicator that it's the intro.

To confirm whether it's the intro, we can look up the info of 00010.m2ts using eac3to:

D:\>eac3to "Sample Disc\BDMV\STREAM\00010.m2ts"
M2TS, 1 video track, 0:00:11, 24p /1.001
1: h264/AVC, 1080p24 /1.001 (16:9)

That output confirms that the duration of 00010.m2ts is 0:00:11, or 11 seconds.

Another interesting confirmation from that output is that 00010.m2ts has only an h264 video stream. There is no other stream, like audio or subtitle.

Of course, you can also just play 00010.m2ts in a media player, or take its mediainfo, to check if it is 11 seconds long.

This is not widely known, but mediainfo can also show you the different m2ts files that a blu-ray playlist is made up of.

Command: mediainfo ~/bdfolder/BDMV/PLAYLIST/00004.mpls > output.txt

The full path of the mpls file must be used to get the proper output.
Going to the PLAYLIST folder and using just the filename, like mediainfo 00004.mpls, produces an incomplete output.

Mediainfo of a Kino Lorber disc's main playlist: 
  1
  2
  3
  4
  5
  6
  7
  8
  9
 10
 11
 12
 13
 14
 15
 16
 17
 18
 19
 20
 21
 22
 23
 24
 25
 26
 27
 28
 29
 30
 31
 32
 33
 34
 35
 36
 37
 38
 39
 40
 41
 42
 43
 44
 45
 46
 47
 48
 49
 50
 51
 52
 53
 54
 55
 56
 57
 58
 59
 60
 61
 62
 63
 64
 65
 66
 67
 68
 69
 70
 71
 72
 73
 74
 75
 76
 77
 78
 79
 80
 81
 82
 83
 84
 85
 86
 87
 88
 89
 90
 91
 92
 93
 94
 95
 96
 97
 98
 99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
General
Complete name                            : /home/bdfolder/BDMV/PLAYLIST/00004.mpls
Format                                   : Blu-ray Playlist
File size                                : 534 Bytes
Duration                                 : 1 h 10 min
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 1 b/s

Video #1
ID                                       : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.1
Format settings                          : CABAC / 3 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 3 frames
Format settings, GOP                     : M=3, N=12
Codec ID                                 : 27
Duration                                 : 11 s 11 ms
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 492 kb/s
Maximum bit rate                         : 32.3 Mb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Standard                                 : NTSC
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.010
Stream size                              : 662 KiB
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709
format_identifier                        : HDMV
Source                                   : 00010.m2ts

Video #2
ID                                       : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.1
Format settings                          : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 4 frames
Codec ID                                 : 27
Duration                                 : 1 h 10 min
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Maximum bit rate                         : 38.0 Mb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
format_identifier                        : HDMV
Source                                   : 00004.m2ts

Video #3
ID                                       : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L4.1
Format settings                          : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames        : 4 frames
Codec ID                                 : 27
Duration                                 : 1 s 1 ms
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Maximum bit rate                         : 35.0 Mb/s
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Standard                                 : NTSC
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Color range                              : Limited
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709
format_identifier                        : HDMV
Source                                   : 00000.m2ts

Audio #1
ID                                       : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : DTS XLL
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Commercial name                          : DTS-HD Master Audio
Muxing mode                              : Stream extension
Codec ID                                 : 134
Duration                                 : 1 h 10 min
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 93.750 FPS (512 SPF)
Bit depth                                : 16 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossless
Language                                 : English
Source                                   : 00004.m2ts

Audio #2
ID                                       : 4353 (0x1101)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : AC-3
Format/Info                              : Audio Coding 3
Commercial name                          : Dolby Digital
Codec ID                                 : 129
Duration                                 : 1 h 10 min
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 192 kb/s
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel layout                           : L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 kHz
Frame rate                               : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 125 MiB
Language                                 : English
Service kind                             : Complete Main
bsid                                     : 8
Dialog Normalization                     : -31
Dialog Normalization                     : -31 dB
compr                                    : -0.28
compr                                    : -0.28 dB
dsurmod                                  : 0
acmod                                    : 2
lfeon                                    : 0
dialnorm_Average                         : -31
dialnorm_Average                         : -31 dB
dialnorm_Minimum                         : -31
dialnorm_Minimum                         : -31 dB
dialnorm_Maximum                         : -31
dialnorm_Maximum                         : -31 dB
dialnorm_Count                           : 673
format_identifier                        : AC-3
Source                                   : 00004.m2ts

Text
ID                                       : 4608 (0x1200)
Menu ID                                  : 1 (0x1)
Format                                   : PGS
Codec ID                                 : 144
Duration                                 : 1 h 10 min
Language                                 : English
Source                                   : 00004.m2ts

Menu
00:00:00.000                             : Chapter 1

The above output shows that the playlist 00004.mpls consists of 00010.m2ts of 11s11ms length + 00004.m2ts of 1h10m length + 00000.m2ts of 1s1ms length.

Sidenote: Taking advanced mediainfo using mediainfo -f ~/bdfolder/BDMV/PLAYLIST/00004.mpls > output.txt will show you this pertinent line under the info of 00010.m2ts: 

Frame count                              : 264
This confirms the statement from earlier in this section — that the intro is 264 frames long.

🔻 How to demux properly#

There are three methods to get a properly playable file from such discs.

The easier option is to demux 00004.m2ts instead of the playlist. This method removes the intro completely. If you go this route, only the chapters will need to be manually adjusted.

The other option is to demux the playlist as usual. This will keep the intro intact, so you need to apply a delay of 11011ms to the audio and subtitles.

The third option that uses a program called DGDemux is similar to the first option. It removes the intro too.

  1. Demuxing the m2ts method#

    • Video & Audio: Use your preferred demuxing tool to demux 00004.m2ts.

      For eac3to, the command is eac3to "Sample Disc\BDMV\STREAM\00004.m2ts" -demux.

      You can also drag and drop 00004.m2ts in MKVToolnix GUI.

    • Chapters: The above commands give you everything except the chapters. The chapters can be grabbed from the playlist.

      1. Extracting chapters: In eac3to, do either eac3to "Sample Disc" 1) 1:chapters.txt or eac3to "Sample Disc\BDMV\PLAYLIST\00004.mpls" 1:chapters.txt.

        Or in MKVToolnix GUI, switch to the Chapter editor tab, and drag and drop the file 00004.mpls from the folder BDMV\PLAYLIST.

      2. Adjusting chapters: After extracting the chapters, you need to adjust their timings since the original timings are meant for the intro + movie.

        The same Chapter editor in MKVToolnix GUI can be used for this purpose. With the chapters open in there, right click on Edition entry and click on Additional modifications. Check the first field called Shift start and end timestamps and enter the value -00:00:11.011 in the box.

        Visual Animated Guide for adjusting the chapters: Click here

  2. Demuxing the playlist method#

    Demux the usual way with eac3to "Sample Disc" 1) -demux.

    Then apply a delay to the audio(s) and subtitle(s).

    eac3to can be used for this.

    • Audio: eac3to input.dtsma output.dtsma +11011ms
    • Subtitles: eac3to input.sup output.sup +11011ms.

    Chapters do not need any adjustment if you demuxed the playlist.

    Alternatively, you can set a delay of 11011ms to the audio(s) and subtitle(s) in MKVToolnix when muxing the file. Of course don't apply the delay in both eac3to and MKVToolnix at the same time.

  3. Using DGDemux#

    DGDemux is a demuxing tool available for Windows and Linux. The Windows version also comes with a GUI.

    It comes with a feature to skip the intro m2ts, which is able to handle such discs easily.

    The option is called Skip first M2TS in the GUI version, and -sf in the command line.

    From DGDemux's readme:

    -sf: Skip the first M2TS file in the playlist. Some disks, such as Naked Alibi, have a very short first M2TS file in the playlist that is typically a logo without audio. The lack of audio causes a parsing failure upon opening the MPLS, such that the audio is not detected for the title. To process such disks, you can give the -sf option. The chapters will be adjusted accordingly.

    Subtitle bug:

    The latest DGDemux version at the time of writing, which is v1.0.0.62, has been found to fail at adjusting the PGS subtitles by the proper -11011ms offset even when using the option to skip the first m2ts.

    So the extracted SUP file will need to be delayed manually by -11011ms.

    eac3to can be used for this purpose: eac3to input.sup output.sup -11011ms

    An alternative, if you have eac3to, is to extract the subtitle directly from the m2ts: eac3to 00004.m2ts 4:english.sup

    Now, the feature that needs to be used:

    • GUI method: With 00004.mpls selected in the Playlists section, just check the Skip first M2TS box.

      kinolorber-dgdemux

    • CLI method: Add -sf to your demux command.

      Example command:

      DGDemux.exe -i "F:\KINO BD\BDMV\PLAYLIST\00004.mpls" -sf -o "F:\demux\00004" -nopre

Reminder

Regardless of which of the above three methods you use, always play the final file in a media player and check if everything is in sync.

🔻 For encoders#

If you are encoding from a remux that is already out of sync by 11 seconds, you can just trim the first 264 frames of the video in your script. If you go this route, no modification to the audio and subtitles is needed.

  • AviSynth: Trim(264, 0)
  • VapourSynth: core.std.Trim(src, first=264) OR src = src[264:]

Remember that frames in AviSynth and VapourSynth start from 0 and not 1.

To verify if you cut the intro properly, enable showing the frame info of your trimmed video using MyLWLInfo() / LWLInfo() / awf.FrameInfo(). If the first frame is an I-frame, the cutting was done correctly.