Convert mkv movies into mp4

[dilema]

No...

The MKV video definitely needs to be converted. The PS3 does not have a codec that supports MKV video unless it's simply a matter of changing the tags. If the video is transcoded, possibly to an AVI, perhaps we could try that. The audio would need to pass through in the transport stream. So the PS3 can't decode H.264 unless it is a 4.1 profile? Well, we could try that. The audio is what I'm really concerned about for my home theater.

The video stream of an MKV does *not* need to be re-encoded... The video stream is *ALREADY* an H.264 compliant video. It just needs to be repackaged into an MP4. The only thing that may(and does) hinder this is the AVC/H264 Level. And this can(and I do) change this to be compatible for Xbox360/PS3/etc.

I don't know why you insist on believing that it needs to be transcoded. Thats simply false.

Converting and MKV to an MP4 should take no more than 10 minutes in my opinion. If you want to go ahead and transcode the video...by all means, go right ahead. But it's foolish and redundant.

As far as keeping the AC3 5.1 audio...I'm looking into it.

 

[decadentdave]

The video stream of an MKV does *not* need to be re-encoded... The video stream is *ALREADY* an H.264 compliant video. It just needs to be repackaged into an MP4. The only thing that may(and does) hinder this is the AVC/H264 Level. And this can(and I do) change this to be compatible for Xbox360/PS3/etc.

I don't know why you insist on believing that it needs to be transcoded. Thats simply false.

Converting and MKV to an MP4 should take no more than 10 minutes in my opinion. If you want to go ahead and transcode the video...by all means, go right ahead. But it's foolish and redundant.

As far as keeping the AC3 5.1 audio...I'm looking into it.

If you don't think the elementary video needs transcoded, fine. As an MP4 file it may not decode the 5.1 audio if it thinks it is an AAC MP4 file but if you think you can resolve it, give it a try. I am eager to see if it works.

 

[Odd Man Out]

@decadentdave:

Maybe you should re-read my post again instead of jumping to conclusions.

Actually, I understand you. You just don't accept what I'm saying nor do you read my posts with the required level of rigour as I have pointed out previously and below.

And I didn't post here to make friends. I have a life in the real world. Some of you dorks need to get out more.

You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. In other words, do you think that we are more or less likely to help you when you spit this venom at us?

There's got to be a way to transcode either to MP4 or divx AVI and pass through 5.1.

I actually posted a way to do this for audio, but you decided not to read my post. And yes, it is the post that I stated that you didn't read. This very question is clearly an admission that you did not read my post.



You quote yourself in a false and misleading way. You actually said:

What's the use of converting an MKV if it downmixes 5.1 audio into 2-channel stereo? Pointless.

To which I pointed out that it wasn't pointless by referencing my previous post. In that quote, there is a clear point to it which I explicitly stated. I'll also point out that I did mention how to preserve 5.1 audio should you wish to. I also asked that if someone did this, to let me/us know if the PS3 was able to play the MP4 file with 5.1 audio in it.

But, I'll ask you if you're going to stop complaining, test 5.1 audio and actually be helpful, or are you just going to complain that others aren't figuring everything out for you? That we aren't enabling you to do EXACTLY what YOU want to do without regard for the technical limitations of the equipment that you want to run on?

I (nor anyone else here) is your monkey. We figure out what we need to figure out, for our needs. We then post that in the hope that it will be valuable to someone else which costs a good chunk of our free time. Without people doing that before me, I wouldn't have been able to put together what I did. And I imagine others will build on what myself and others have done as well. Everyone builds on everyone else's work and things improve and/or more options are opened.

On the other hand, people like you, by way of how you go about things, are a Cancer to this process. It makes people like me *not* want to test new things out. Why? Because, it takes good chuck of our FREE TIME and for what? For someone like you? Why would I put myself out for someone that behaves such as you?

Want to change? Want to know exactly how to help? Go here:

http://oddmanout.wordpress.com/2008...e-to-ps3-mp4-without-re-encoding-on-mac-os-x/

It's my guide on how to re-package h.264 MKV file to a PS3 compliant MP4 file. When you get to the part where you convert the audio, AS I SPECIFIED PREVIOUSLY, just leave out the "-ac 2" on the command line and continue as stated. Then let us know if it played /and/ worked properly on the PS3.

THAT would be helpful. You eagerly waiting for others to do the work for you is not.

Your move.

 

[decadentdave]

Jesus, get off it pal. I was making a point about how pointless it was to convert audio to a stereo file and you attack me with your baseless animosity. Quit making assumptions because you are only making an ass out of yourself. People like you need to get off your high horse and not take things so personally. If he thinks he can tweak the code to convert the file in an interface that would make converting the MKV effective and practical and he's willing to give it a try then I am eager to see if it will work. You got a problem with that? Too bad. As it is now, the app is really pretty useless, in my opinion. I don't see any beneficial use for it unless you like to downgrade the quality. Really, what's the point of making a conversion application that DOWNconverts? And your little "work around" for it is pretty impractical considering it should be, as dilema stated, "easily doable" and a simple one-step automated conversion process without the need for manually hex-editing the files and tediously going through all of the steps outlined especially when you have several batch files and should be built into the conversion engine. Maybe if you'd stop arguing about it we could make some progress here so the application might have some real practical value for everyone.

 

[Simon Young]

As we speak I have a working app that takes an MKV file and extracts both the Audio & Video from it. It then takes Ac3 audio and converts it to AAC(Stereo 2 Channel @ 128kbs) & then modifies the elementary h264 video profile level and downgrades it to 4.1 to make it compatible for PS3/Xbos360/etc and remuxes both the untouched video(no re-encoding) and AAC audio into a valid MP4 that can be played across the boards...Xbox360/PS3/iPods/etc.

Took me a few days(on & off) to put together. It's as simple as launching the app and selecting the MKV file you want to convert to MP4. As it stands now it takes roughly 16 minutes to fully convert an MKV to MP4. Granted 16 mins is what I believe to be 8 minutes too long. I'm shooting for an 8 minute conversion time(On a MacBook Pro).

This is a work in progress and 8 minutes of that 16 minutes is due to having to search inside the elementary video stream for the video profile(which isn't entirely necessary unless the MKK was encoded using High Profile 5.1 and you want to play it on your PS3/Xbox360). Removing this part of the app is trivial for those who don't require it. If anyone wants to test it out just PM me. Maybe you can even offer some help with it.

The point of putting the app together was to be able to easily take an MKV and convert it to an MP4 with little to no brains needed.

I'd certainly be very interested in your app to convert MKV to PS3-compatible MP4. Would you mind sending me a copy to test? I've PM'd you.

 

[Carlos E]

I am at wits end. I downloaded several movies and I've tried every way to convert them to sync to the Apple TV and I can't get it to work. At this point, I feel like returning the thing because it's doing aboslutely nothing right now besides sitting next to my TV taking up space. What is the point of having it if I can't get any videos to sync to it. I have to take my MacBook Pro and connect it to the TV. I have tried several tutorials to try and convert MKVs to MP4s and it says it's converted but when I put them in iTunes I get an error message saying it will not sync to the Apple TV.

I don't know terminal well enough to follow the guide listed on the other pages. They're too confusing. I don't know what to try at this point.

Is there anyone who can offer a suggestion? Without HD movie rentals I feel I own a $300 paper weight.

It's the correct file type and settings. Why will it not sync with the Apple TV?

 

[jbellanca]

It's the correct file type and settings. Why will it not sync with the Apple TV?

Without knowing how you tried to convert it, it will be difficult to say why exactly it won't work. Your screen print looks like the audio is OK - AAC 128k. The video is h.264, so it should work, unless it's the wrong header type... bitrate should be OK since the file size is small-ish.

My recommendation -- Use VisualHub. Real easy. Just drag and drop the MKV into VH, select the quality level (I find High works real well), click Start. Then wait a while for it to finish, and drag the file into iTunes. 100% of all the MKV's I've converted this way work perfectly.

 

[Carlos E]

Without knowing how you tried to convert it, it will be difficult to say why exactly it won't work. Your screen print looks like the audio is OK - AAC 128k. The video is h.264, so it should work, unless it's the wrong header type... bitrate should be OK since the file size is small-ish.

My recommendation -- Use VisualHub. Real easy. Just drag and drop the MKV into VH, select the quality level (I find High works real well), click Start. Then wait a while for it to finish, and drag the file into iTunes. 100% of all the MKV's I've converted this way work perfectly.

When I tried visualhub it changed the resolution. It stretched the video vertically. I don't know why.

???

 

[nordesmic]

When I tried visualhub it changed the resolution. It stretched the video vertically. I don't know why.

???

In VisualHub under the MP4 tab go to Advanced -> Extra FFmpeg flags -> Copy Original Video track (passthrough). That way the container should be converted to MP4 but the video will retain its quality.

 

[Idgit]

I'm having a puzzling (for me) problem with the aspect ratio of the converted file. When I convert the file to MP4, it's squished in both VLC and Quicktime. I have to change the aspect ratio in VLC to 221:100 for it to display properly.

This is the aspect ratio of the MKV before conversion. I don't understand why there are two aspect ratios: 960 x 528 (1280 x 528).

After conversion, the MP4 file has an aspect ratio of 960 x 528, but it appears squished. What aspect ratio or crop settings do I have to enter in VisualHub in order for the MP4 file to display in the correct ratio? What is the correct ratio?

 

[Carlos E]

In VisualHub under the MP4 tab go to Advanced -> Extra FFmpeg flags -> Copy Original Video track (passthrough). That way the container should be converted to MP4 but the video will retain its quality.

It didn't work. I got the error ""an invalid public movie atom was found in he movie." when I tried to open it after the visualhub conversion. I followed the steps above.

 

[Idgit]

It didn't work. I got the error ""an invalid public movie atom was found in he movie." when I tried to open it after the visualhub conversion. I followed the steps above.

Carlos,

Since you're trying to convert a movie trailer, do you have a link to the trailer so we can download it and attempt to convert it?

 

[Carlos E]

Carlos,

Since you're trying to convert a movie trailer, do you have a link to the trailer so we can download it and attempt to convert it?

I downloaded it from torrent. It's mkv of the rambo movie trailer. H264, 720p

 

[nordesmic]

It didn't work. I got the error ""an invalid public movie atom was found in he movie." when I tried to open it after the visualhub conversion. I followed the steps above.

If you have Quicktime Pro with Perian installed you should be able to passthrough the video and convert to a MP4 container. Go to export> movie to MP4> Options> MP4 (not MP4 isma)> passthrough.

This should work. I didn't recommend it before cos I'm more interested in getting the files to play with the PS3. This procedure is likely to be the most compatible with the AppleTV.

 

[Carlos E]

If you have Quicktime Pro with Perian installed you should be able to passthrough the video and convert to a MP4 container. Go to export> movie to MP4> Options> MP4 (not MP4 isma)> passthrough.

This should work. I didn't recommend it before cos I'm more interested in getting the files to play with the PS3. This procedure is likely to be the most compatible with the AppleTV.

I tried this method. It also did not work. I get the same error message when I try to sync to iTunes. It will not copy because it cannot be played on the Apple TV.

 

[rph105]

stomer my mannnn

 

[jbellanca]

I tried this method. It also did not work. I get the same error message when I try to sync to iTunes. It will not copy because it cannot be played on the Apple TV.

Try converting it with the standard VisualHub AppleTV settings.

 

[JasonKerner]

Apple TV MKVs

I've converted loads of MKVs to play on my Apple TV and they work great, but bear in mind the following points to why yours won't work...

Apple TV can only cope with a 4Gb max file size, so check that if you've tried it without using the Apple TV preset in VisualHub

The max res it'll play is 1280x720.

It will play 1280x720 video at 24fps, if you've got a 1920x1080 at 30fps, it will chop the res in half to 960x540 - it won't scale it to 1280x720 as its 30fps, not 24fps.

The audio will probably have to be stereo (so far) as iTunes won't let you add artwork to a 5.1 AAC file version (and the Apple TV won't play all the channels anyway).

The Apple TV 2 update will add 5.1 AC3 (different to AAC) surround support by doing a pass-through (to take the load off decoding onboard), but seeing as its not shipped yet, no ones tested it.

Jason

 

[Carlos E]

Try converting it with the standard VisualHub AppleTV settings.

I did already. See below:

When I tried visualhub it changed the resolution. It stretched the video vertically. I don't know why.

???

 

[northy124]

stomer my mannnn

WTH you on Mate

 

[Blazer5913]

I just use VisualHub on my 720p encodes of .mkv -> mp4 conversions and the resulting files look great on Go Nuts. Yet, when I try to stream on my g-network, they barely play, stutter and hiccup all the time, and its really not watchable as its "rebuffering" every 10 seconds or so. Any ideas guys? The wireless router is G, airport express....

 

[NightStorm]

I just use VisualHub on my 720p encodes of .mkv -> mp4 conversions and the resulting files look great on Go Nuts. Yet, when I try to stream on my g-network, they barely play, stutter and hiccup all the time, and its really not watchable as its "rebuffering" every 10 seconds or so. Any ideas guys? The wireless router is G, airport express....

HD streaming really needs 802.11n (or wired).

 

[Blazer5913]

HD streaming really needs 802.11n (or wired).

Can anybody else comment on this? Do people who watch HD encodes on their AppleTV use "n" or wired or anybody use "g"? I need help, I've never been so frusturated about an Apple product in my life and need some answers or this thing is going right back to the Apple Store...

 

[FreeState]

Can anybody else comment on this? Do people who watch HD encodes on their AppleTV use "n" or wired or anybody use "g"? I need help, I've never been so frusturated about an Apple product in my life and need some answers or this thing is going right back to the Apple Store...

I have streamed 720p files via G and N - both without a problem. The wireless N helps if you have a busy home network that gets used a lot while your watching movies. As long as your iTunes content resides on an internal hard drive or a USB/FIrewire drive connected to the computer (not the airports usb) you should not have stuttering.

EDIT to add: if your experiencing lag try pressing pause when the movie is playing and let it pause for a minute or two then hit play - this should add a good buffer (I use to do this when I was streaming from the Airport to stop the stuttering).

 

[northy124]

I don't stream to ATV (Don't have my own use my uncles) but when streaming HD Video to other devices it is crap on "G". "N" is best or wired or no point in trying as you will get lag alot.

Northy124