After mhafner sends me a timecode example of where the frame drops I will relay this to the QC company I used in London. If it appears to be their fault for missing this I will recall these discs.

The AVC scan we used after the encoding phase didn't detect any missing frames. Its the same scan used for many Disney Blu-ray projects @ Technicolour London. This does seem bizzare (and worrying).

Sunny, are you planning on doing other BluRay projects before 'Robot'?

There are no missing frames on the disc. The problem seems to be that the disc is mastered at exactly 24fps while ~23.98 is the standard. So the data is coming a bit too fast from the disc forcing video processors and displays that strictly adhere to ~23.98 to drop a frame once in a while to stay in sync. Other equipment that is built to be more flexible may have no issues. I have dropped frames via my Lumagen Radiance and genlock on. Without genlock there are less dropped frames but still some. Direct from the PS3 into my projector may work without dropped frames. I have to watch more to be sure. Anyway, discs must be mastered exactly at 24/1.01 because that is the established standard. Anything else may or may not work with specific equipment.

It should not be done that way. It must be ~23.98. There is no need to change any frames from the DI. It just plays a little bit slower at 23.98. The sound needs to be adapted though to stay in sync. That can be done digitally with practically no quality loss. All Hollywood BDs are done that way.

I've just recieved a DI file which has been done in 23.98fps - a first for Tamil cinema!!!
Will AVC encoding of 23.98 be compatible with all blu-ray players? Prasad Labs (who are doing the encoding) says it should be direct 24fps.

I think so and I think Prasad is mistaken.

The mistakes of the film-makers will have to be carried over onto blu-ray. I've tried converting a DPX 24fps into AVC 23.98fps. It results in jittering and frame jumps. After doing this test I've decided on the following;

For films, whose DI is in 24fps, it will be released on blu-ray in 24fps.

For films, whose DI (and all negatives) is in 23.98fps, it will be released on blu-ray in 23.98fps.

It sounds like the program you're using is altering the framecount instead of the framerate. Is the 23.98fps jittery file playing at the same speed as the 24fps DPX (i.e. still in sync with the original 24fps audio)? If so, there's the problem.

The audio wasn't sync up.

Is 24fps supposed to be used only for film out?

Yes. There is no need to do anything to the frames. The encoding must just make sure the player will output all the same frames at 23.98 fps instead of 24 fps. Only the sound needs to be corrected so it stays in sync at 23.98.

I can not believe that we are expecting these guys to get BLURAY right, while they were never able to get SD right in the first place. Just take it or leave it whatever we make! man thats what mantra should be.

It's a pretty simple issue to fix. If Eros can do it...

I got my copy of the BluRay the software player is dropping too many frames too often. Its expecting 23.976 and gets 24fps and screams. I will try to play it later on a PS3 let you guys know how stuff works. I hope it will play fine on the PS3.

Else the transfer is amazing, love the color and details. Will try to upload screens in a bit.

edit:

screens:

The DI was done at 24frames.

I cannot make the blu-ray 23.98fps if the source isn't at that frame rate.

The only Tamil DI done at the correct framerate of 23.98 was Aegan.