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MKV tv shows to m4v handbrake settings help

I have read in some places MKVTools causing issues with dual audio tracks.

If you have a 5.1 and stereo track the Apple TV will only output the Stereo track. They say the issue goes away when using handbrake.

I am going to test this out.
 
wakeboardandy said:
yes handbrake does fix it but it is soooo slow..
Click to expand...

Handbrake slow ? it can't be any or much slower than MKVtools.

The only thing i can think of is that with MKVtools you are not re encoding the video just passing it through.

Passing the video through will work for some but not all videos.

Mkvtools has it's place it's useful for soe things, encoding video Handbrake is far superior. Far more control over the output.
 
Well I was finally able to track down an Apple TV. Pretty cool, especially when using the remote app on the iPad. I tried a few movies of various avc profiles (all higher than Main@L3.1), with the video track passed thru and things seemed OK, though I did notice fast forwarding and reversing, could throw the sync off. It seemed like it would clear up if I stopped and started the video again. I didn't actually have time to watch all of the movies, so I let them run and would check in on them periodically, and the sync seemed fine, though it sounds like this is not true for everybody, so obviously, as I mentioned before, you're mileage will vary if you use MKVtools to pass through the video track of higher profile mkv files for the ATV.

One thing that I did notice is that some files would not play with a "please try again later" error message. It seemed like an odd message - what are the actual chances of it working if I really did try again later :)? Regardless, the problem appeared to be with AC3 audio. I had to change the Dolby Digital setting in the ATV from auto to on. I'm not sure what was going on there, but it's something to be aware of if you get that message and the video won't load. At another time I had to change it back to auto for a video with aac audio. I'm not sure if this is an ATV issue or an MKVtools issue. It could be an issue with hinting. I'll look into it when I have some time.

One other thing, I had some major issues with audio sync when trying netflix streaming. Though not perfect, my PS3 does a much better job. The Apple TV gui is much more user friendly though, so hopefully this will get ironed out. However, I'm wondering what effect this has regarding audio sync with current iTunes streaming
 
BlackMangoTree said:
I have read in some places MKVTools causing issues with dual audio tracks.

If you have a 5.1 and stereo track the Apple TV will only output the Stereo track. They say the issue goes away when using handbrake.

I am going to test this out.
Click to expand...
The current MKVtools audio settings for dual track audio were based on what iTunes wanted to allow syncing to an ipad/iphone. However, it looks like with these settings, the ATV is not seeing the AC3 audio track. This should be fixed in the next release.
 
BlackMangoTree said:
Handbrake slow ? it can't be any or much slower than MKVtools.

The only thing i can think of is that with MKVtools you are not re encoding the video just passing it through.

Passing the video through will work for some but not all videos.

Mkvtools has it's place it's useful for soe things, encoding video Handbrake is far superior. Far more control over the output.
Click to expand...
But I think the goal is to not have to re-encode. Unless I burn subtitles, I've never had to re-encode the video track for playback on my PS3. MKV to MP4 video conversions takes minutes instead of hours with no loss in image quality. Why not try for the same with the ATV?

Also, just so you know, I used to religiously tweak settings, minimizing size, optimizing picture quality and then compare the resulting videos with magnifying glass. If the output had some macroblocking around a tree in the upper right background, the settings would be changed to see if it could be minimized. FfmpegX, D-Vision,and the old version of handbrake was awesome tools. The newer version of handbrake is even better. I would have died to have had all that tweakability. I was pretty extreme.

But eventually I realized some things. The first was, that the original video had that macroblocking around the tree. I was starting with an imperfect video and a few more imperfections didn't really matter. The second was that, when I was actually watching the movie, I wasn't looking at that tree in the upper right. I didn't even notice it. The third was, it was hard to find the optimal settings. That's because, all that tweaking, though there were noticeable results, resulted in only slight improvements.

So, I'm going to have to disagree with your "far superior" comment :). Handbrake is great video tool , and does offer far more control over the output. Like I said, I would have loved to have it available in my younger days. But a lot of people just want a simple solution for casual watching, which is the goal of MKVtools. If you use the same bitrate, most people aren't going to be able to tell the difference between outputs from the two. Even if you use passthru with MKVtools, the optimal solution, I doubt that most people could tell the difference.
 
emmgunn said:
But I think the goal is to not have to re-encode. Unless I burn subtitles, I've never had to re-encode the video track for playback on my PS3. MKV to MP4 video conversions takes minutes instead of hours with no loss in image quality. Why not try for the same with the ATV?
Click to expand...

Because as i have said many times i have tried it with over 20 videos and only one worked. The Apple TV has limitations on what it can play. Of course if it worked id used it.

Mkvtools has it's place for for devices like the PS3 it would be fantastic as the PS3 has no limitations with the H.264.

Mkvtools won't burn subtitles keeping their original fonts colours and positions. Wont encode dvd or blu ray.

I used to use Mkvtools to convert dts audio to AC3 now that Handbrake does it i have no use for Mkvtools.
 
emmgunn said:
I had to change the Dolby Digital setting in the ATV from auto to on. I'm not sure what was going on there, but it's something to be aware of if you get that message and the video won't load. At another time I had to change it back to auto for a video with aac audio. I'm not sure if this is an ATV issue or an MKVtools issue. It could be an issue with hinting. I'll look into it when I have some time.
Click to expand...

yes I found that also.. not a bid deal because it was easy to change the setting.

I for one love mkvtools.. I don't want to wait 45mins to transcode a tv show to watch it.. I was happy enough to stream it to my ps3 via ps3 media server but alot of mkv's don't work properly anymore and it always cuts off the last 5-10secs of the video which is annoying. So I'm happy to remux it and so far all files work perfectly even the two movies I did (robin hood and macgruber). I would like to move my whole library to itunes so I can also play them on my ipad/iphone, hence why I wanted the 2ch track added.

The only problem I had was adding the 2nd audio track, which emmgunn has said is a bug and will be fixed in the next release..

best $5 I have spent in a while.. well $5.82 cause I'm in Australia.. (which may be worth more than the US dollar very shortly! :D)
 
I have a bunch of mV's in x264 with ac3 codec. If I pass through both vid and audio I get no sound on apple tv. However if I choose the aac option for audio (2.1 or 5,1) I get sound and video. Is this a bug? Should I be using 2.1 pr 5.1 audio?

This is in mkvtools
 
Sounds like what you are using for audio playback TV or Amp it's capable or set up properly to decode AC3.

Also have you go to the Settings menu under Video & Audio and turns Dolby Digital on ?
 
wakeboardandy said:
yes I found that also.. not a bid deal because it was easy to change the setting.

I for one love mkvtools.. I don't want to wait 45mins to transcode a tv show to watch it.. I was happy enough to stream it to my ps3 via ps3 media server but alot of mkv's don't work properly anymore and it always cuts off the last 5-10secs of the video which is annoying. So I'm happy to remux it and so far all files work perfectly even the two movies I did (robin hood and macgruber). I would like to move my whole library to itunes so I can also play them on my ipad/iphone, hence why I wanted the 2ch track added.

The only problem I had was adding the 2nd audio track, which emmgunn has said is a bug and will be fixed in the next release..

best $5 I have spent in a while.. well $5.82 cause I'm in Australia.. (which may be worth more than the US dollar very shortly! :D)
Click to expand...

FYI. Version 2.4.1 is now out, which hopefulley fixes the dual audio track issue.
 
I've never used MKVtools. I have always used Handbrake. Can someone confirm for me that MKVTools will take a Blu Ray that I have ripped using MakeMKV and make it playable on the new Apple TV with 5.1 surround sound as well as playable on the iPhone or iPad in stereo?

If this is true, I might have to go this route. I would imagine the only downside would be the larger file sizes if you plan on storing them that way.
 
Quick question, does Handbrake now convert dts sound to ac3? I have seen mention of it in a couple of posts but trying to find out for sure. I currently use clown bd (after using AnyDVD HD) to extract out subtitles (for forced subs) and audio, converting it to ac3. I then convert the subs and mux everything together again before putting through handbrake.

Wondering if I have a movie with no forced subs can I skip all this and generate the mkv with makemkv and then convert to atv with handbrake? That would be much quicker than my current workflow, which I would still use if there are forced subs. Question is (in addition to 'would this work') would that give me dolby surround on the new atv?

Thanks,
Peter
 
Great to hear, thanks. My handbrake is a few weeks old, will download the latest to be safe and will hopefully shave a lot of time off my conversions.

Now if there were only an easy way to know if a movie has forced subs before converting so I know when I can use the shorter method, that would be perfect :)
 
emmgunn said:
though I did notice fast forwarding and reversing, could throw the sync off. It seemed like it would clear up if I stopped and started the video again.
Click to expand...


I tested this last night with 2.4.1 and I fast forwarded, reveversed, skipped chapters etc and I couldn't make it go out of sync... it was just tv show eps I was testing with though.
 
This thread seems interesting... but the tools discussed seem to fall short of what I need. Can somebody suggest something?

I want to remux MKV files, leaving the original audio in there for posterity (AC3 support is growing, after all), and adding an AAC track for each audio stream present. Also - any existing soft subtitles should be transplanted from the MKV as well.

Subler can handle soft-subs and multiple audio streams, but it can't be pointed at a folder full of files, and it obviously won't re-encode audio.

Tools that re-encode audio generally seem great at batches of files, but they also:
1. ignore soft-subs or try to burn them in, meaning re-encoding the video
2. throw away the original audio and just leave the AAC
3. disregard all but the first audio stream (goodbye, commentary track; goodbye, english dub)

My HTPC is a Windows 7 machine, so windows-based tools are also fine if you know any good ones.
 
As pointed out else where on this thread almost everything in Main profile will work fine anything in High Profile will either not play at all or drop frames and lose sync.

You can use a application called Meda Info to see what profile has been used.

My experience with Mkvtools for this has been very poor.

Mkvtools makes a great video re encoder very easy to use and great results. Just wished SSA subtitles kept there positioning (there's always Handbrake for that). Would be nice if it was updated for the Apple TV 2, any video thats at 30fps will get a resolution of 940 x 544 the Apple TV 2 can now do 30fps at 1280 x 720.
 
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