VideoHelp Forum
+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 26 of 26
Thread
  1. Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Wheeling, WV
    Search Comp PM
    So I have a good number of video MKV videos (With subtitles) that I'd like to convert to AVI. I've tried a number of converters and so far they have done one of two things:

    1 - the majority - convert the video fine, but without the subtitles

    or

    2 - the minority - convert the video fine with audio and matching subtitles, but the video is all messed up, flashes between one of two random pictures kind of messed up with the subtitles and audio just progressing forward.

    I do not have the subtitle tracks separate.

    I also do not need the videos to be output in full 720p standard is fine.

    I've really tried looking on my own and nothing is working how I need it to, so any help right now is really welcome. Thanks!
    Quote Quote  
  2. mkv and avi are both containers nothing more -> be more specific in what you have and what you want.
    Quote Quote  
  3. I'm a MEGA Super Moderator Baldrick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Sweden
    Search Comp PM
    Get a player that supports mkv. Or else will you spend more time converting than watching the video...
    Quote Quote  
  4. Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Wheeling, WV
    Search Comp PM
    Selur - To be honest I'm not sure what you mean. They are MKV videos with subtitles. I want them in AVI format without loosing the video WORKING in general, quality I'm happy to sacrifice, and with the subtitles.

    Baldrick - I have VLC Media Player. It's not an issue of using them on my computer, I need to burn them onto a DVD that can be used in a divX player. The amount of time it takes really isn't an issue, I just need them in some format that can be played on that player in sequence.
    Quote Quote  
  5. Originally Posted by hellfire45 View Post

    I also do not need the videos to be output in full 720p standard is fine.
    .
    .
    .

    I need to burn them onto a DVD that can be used in a divX player.
    Are you sure? Most standalone DVD Players only support 720x576 max resolution


    I do not have the subtitle tracks separate.
    What do you mean? If they are hardsubbed, they are encoded into the video (permanent), and video re-encoding will always have the subs

    If you mean soft subs, they are separate files, but still in the mkv. You can use mkvextractgui2 to extract them
    Quote Quote  
  6. Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Wheeling, WV
    Search Comp PM
    They must be soft, because most MKV to AVI tools I've used don't have the subtitles after I convert them.
    Quote Quote  
  7. Originally Posted by hellfire45 View Post
    I do not have the subtitle tracks separate.
    Most DVD players don't support external subtitles so you'd need to hardcode them. If not having them as a separate file stops you from doing so, MKVCleaver will extract them from the MKV for you. It requires MKVToolnix be installed. Whether the subtitles can be added to the encode will depend on the format they're in and the program you're using to convert to AVI.
    Quote Quote  
  8. Member
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Belgium
    Search Comp PM
    I have exactly the same problem.

    I converted an mkv file to ts so I could watch it on my dvd player but the subtitles I thought were hardcoded are gone. Actually I converted the ts file to mpeg because it was too large for a dvd.

    (off topic : When I burned it with "Burn" the application said mpeg was not supported and asked if I wanted to convert to mpg. Even though I thought these are the same I answered "yes" and was able to watch the film on my dvd player. Just by reading the above you will now realise I'm a complete idiot when it comes to video conversion )

    The question is : how do I add my subtitles again? Or how do I prevent them from disappearing?

    The applicationI used is Easy Video Converter on an iMac. It has no subtitle-edit button or anything.

    Can I download an srt file and add it?

    Thanx already for your input.

    Din.

    edit : for converting from ts to mpeg I used mpeg streamclip. Not the easiest application to work with but it looks like it's really fast. I'm not at home right now but I don't think it said anything about subtitles.
    Last edited by Din Viesel; 15th May 2012 at 07:27.
    Quote Quote  
  9. Member dragonkeeper's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    If its a movie, the simple answer is to buy the DVD, or connect you computer up to your TV.

    What you are trying to do is very simple, you have either failed to read the file requirements of the tools you have selected to do the conversion or have misinterpret the properties of your file and the tools can not properly convert them.
    Murphy's law taught me everything I know.
    Quote Quote  
  10. Member
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Belgium
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by dragonkeeper View Post
    If its a movie, the simple answer is to buy the DVD, or connect you computer up to your TV.

    What you are trying to do is very simple, you have either failed to read the file requirements of the tools you have selected to do the conversion or have misinterpret the properties of your file and the tools can not properly convert them.
    If it' really that simple, why don't you share your knowledge and explain to hellfire45 and I how to reach our goal?
    Quote Quote  
  11. Member
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Belgium
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by poisondeathray View Post
    Originally Posted by hellfire45 View Post

    I also do not need the videos to be output in full 720p standard is fine.
    .
    .
    .

    I need to burn them onto a DVD that can be used in a divX player.
    Are you sure? Most standalone DVD Players only support 720x576 max resolution


    I do not have the subtitle tracks separate.
    What do you mean? If they are hardsubbed, they are encoded into the video (permanent), and video re-encoding will always have the subs

    If you mean soft subs, they are separate files, but still in the mkv. You can use mkvextractgui2 to extract them

    About the resolution, I feel the same as hellfire45 : although great quality is nice it really isn't essential. We would just like to get the damn thing on a dvd without losing the subtitles and in watchable quality.

    About the subtitles. The mkv file is just one file. There's no separate file for subs. It's no folder either. However, after conversion the subtitles are missing. We can only conclude that the subs are not hardcoded but must be embedded within the mkv file. Somehow the conversion tool "forgets" this file. This is what we are trying to fix.


    Is this making anything more clear?


    Thanks already for any help.
    Quote Quote  
  12. VH Wanderer Ai Haibara's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Somewhere on VideoHelp...
    Search Comp PM
    Din Viesel: You might consider installing VideoSpec or iMediaHUD. Both can give you more information about a video file, including subtitles (as long as the subtitles aren't hard-subbed).

    Keep in mind, however, that if the subtitles are of the .ASS format, whatever you're using to create a Video-DVD from the videos probably won't be able to use them, unless you re-encode the videos with hardsubs. In that case, you might be better off trying to find .SRT-format subtitles for your videos.

    To extract the subtitle streams from the MKVs, you might try iMKVExtract (see the link below). I'd suggest mkvtoolnix, though if the OS X version has a way to extract streams/files from an MKV, I haven't yet found it.
    Download iMkvExtract for Mac - Extracts specific parts from Matroska file to other formats. MacUpdate.com

    Also, you might have better luck asking your question in the Mac subforum, if you need more help.
    Last edited by Ai Haibara; 16th May 2012 at 06:09.
    If cameras add ten pounds, why would people want to eat them?
    Quote Quote  
  13. Member
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Belgium
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by Ai Haibara View Post
    Din Viesel: You might consider installing VideoSpec or iMediaHUD. Both can give you more information about a video file, including subtitles (as long as the subtitles aren't hard-subbed).

    Keep in mind, however, that if the subtitles are of the .ASS format, whatever you're using to create a Video-DVD from the videos probably won't be able to use them, unless you re-encode the videos with hardsubs. In that case, you might be better off trying to find .SRT-format subtitles for your videos.

    To extract the subtitle streams from the MKVs, you might try iMKVExtract (see the link below). I'd suggest mkvtoolnix, though if the OS X version has a way to extract streams/files from an MKV, I haven't yet found it.
    Download iMkvExtract for Mac - Extracts specific parts from Matroska file to other formats. MacUpdate.com

    Also, you might have better luck asking your question in the Mac subforum, if you need more help.
    I've been learning a lot about this stuff. The mkv is indeed a container with a video file, an audio file and a text file for the subs. I can't check right now but I'm pretty sure they're in .ass format. There is actually an application called dsrt that can convert ass to srt format. Most likely the ass format which is pretty complicated but offers a lot of possibilities is what's causing the problem. I found an excellent tutorial about how to go about things. Unfortunately for me it's for windows, unfortunately for hellraiser45 it's in Dutch. But maybe google translator may help.

    Here's the link, just in case.

    http://rsnijders.info/vakblog/2009/03/01/mkv-bestanden-met-ondertiteling-converteren-n...r-dvd-formaat/

    It mentions both applications you mentioned. If I can find a mac version I might be able to get things done. Unfortunately there's no mac version of convertxtodvd. Which is a shame 'cause it's a great application. Used it all the time back in my windows-days.

    Thanks for your help and especially for pointing out there's a mac subforum.

    Man, if I would be paying me by the hour I'ld be cheaper off buying a dvd player that supports mkv!
    Quote Quote  
  14. VH Wanderer Ai Haibara's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Somewhere on VideoHelp...
    Search Comp PM
    You can always buy a Blu-Ray player, or a media player like the WDTV. MKVs are better-supported among those - though, as far as I know, their support for ASS-format subtitles are still minimal, if any (but the media players are more likely to have better support for it than the standalone Blu-Ray players).

    Most likely the ass format which is pretty complicated but offers a lot of possibilities is what's causing the problem.
    It's mostly that a lot of programs either have issues (?) with parsing a subtitle stream inside a video container, or don't want to bother. In those cases, all you have to do is demux the subtitles and add them separately, rather than trying to get the program to do it automatically.

    I'm wary of converting .ass subtitles to .srt, which is why I didn't suggest it. The ASS format allows for far more versatility in subtitling over SRT (fonts, styles, colors, positioning, effects), and most ass > srt conversions are usually brute-force, which means all text will be converted and formatting lost, including small-text notes at the top of the screen, and instances where there's more than one line of text on the screen in different places can become messy. Be sure to view the converted SRT subtitles before you use them in your final project.
    (That's why I said it'd be better to just find an existing SRT set of subtitles for the video, if at all possible.)
    If cameras add ten pounds, why would people want to eat them?
    Quote Quote  
  15. Member dragonkeeper's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by Din Viesel View Post
    Originally Posted by dragonkeeper View Post
    If its a movie, the simple answer is to buy the DVD, or connect you computer up to your TV.

    What you are trying to do is very simple, you have either failed to read the file requirements of the tools you have selected to do the conversion or have misinterpret the properties of your file and the tools can not properly convert them.
    If it' really that simple, why don't you share your knowledge and explain to hellfire45 and I how to reach our goal?
    1. use MKVextract to extract video, audio and subtitle file.
    2. Convert subtitle file to SRT. *
    3. Use files in converter of choice,

    * If they are ass subs use DSRT to convert the files to SRT. if you dont know how to use DSRT instructions can be found here. I believe DSRT is windows only. If you're on a MAC, try Aegisub which also works on Windows.
    Murphy's law taught me everything I know.
    Quote Quote  
  16. VH Wanderer Ai Haibara's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Somewhere on VideoHelp...
    Search Comp PM
    Problem is, the Mac version of Aegisub is still currently classified as 'alpha-level software' - and does indeed tend to crash/freeze a lot. But you can use the Windows version of Aegisub on a Mac through Wine (with something like Wineskin Winery, for example).
    If cameras add ten pounds, why would people want to eat them?
    Quote Quote  
  17. Member
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Belgium
    Search Comp PM
    Okay, all that information should keep me busy for a while.

    Thanks very much everybody for the input.

    I'll let you know when (or if) I succeed. I'm kinda busy right now so it may take a while.

    Din
    Quote Quote  
  18. i am new here is Bigasoft mkv converter a good converter to convert mkv to other formats without losing subs ?
    Quote Quote  
  19. Member dragonkeeper's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    United States
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by sliver123 View Post
    i am new here is Bigasoft mkv converter a good converter to convert mkv to other formats without losing subs ?
    You've posted the same question twice today, are you trying to spam your product here? If it was a notable product I'm sure it would be listed in the tools section. The name alone is enough to make me not give it a first look, let alone a second look.
    Murphy's law taught me everything I know.
    Quote Quote  
  20. sorry about that double post.but does it mean its not good to install for mkv sub loss ?
    Quote Quote  
  21. Member
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Belgium
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by Ai Haibara View Post
    You can always buy a Blu-Ray player, or a media player like the WDTV. MKVs are better-supported among those - though, as far as I know, their support for ASS-format subtitles are still minimal, if any (but the media players are more likely to have better support for it than the standalone Blu-Ray players).
    Funny thing is, I have a multimediaplayer that is supposed to support mkv format. It's a Lacie Lacinema Classic. However, when i put movies in mkv format on it, it doesn't recognize them. Tried with three different movies.
    Last edited by Din Viesel; 21st May 2012 at 08:07.
    Quote Quote  
  22. Originally Posted by Din Viesel View Post
    Funny thing is, I have a multimediaplayer that is supposed to support mkv format. It's a Lacie Lacinema Classic. However, when i put movies in mkv format on it, it doesn't recognize them. Tried with three different movies.
    Have you tried remuxing the MKVs while disabling header compression? Header compression/removal seems to upset some players. MKVMergeGUI has a setting for disabling it in it's options.
    Quote Quote  
  23. Member
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Belgium
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by hello_hello View Post
    Originally Posted by Din Viesel View Post
    Funny thing is, I have a multimediaplayer that is supposed to support mkv format. It's a Lacie Lacinema Classic. However, when i put movies in mkv format on it, it doesn't recognize them. Tried with three different movies.
    Have you tried remuxing the MKVs while disabling header compression? Header compression/removal seems to upset some players. MKVMergeGUI has a setting for disabling it in it's options.

    No. Actually I don't even know what header compression is. I'm a huge noob but it's getting better. I really like this forum.

    I would open the mkv file with MKVmergeGUI disable header compression and save the file and that's it?
    Quote Quote  
  24. Originally Posted by Din Viesel View Post
    I would open the mkv file with MKVmergeGUI disable header compression and save the file and that's it?
    Just change the setting in MKVMergeGUI's options to disable header compression (I'm pretty sure it's enabled by default). Once it's set all MKVs it saves won't use header compression.

    Header compression mightn't be the reason the MKVs won't play, but quite often it is. If it's not then the player might require a specific AVC level when encoding. Level 4.1 is fairly standard these days but you might have to check the player's manual.
    Quote Quote  
  25. Member
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Belgium
    Search Comp PM
    Originally Posted by hello_hello View Post
    Originally Posted by Din Viesel View Post
    I would open the mkv file with MKVmergeGUI disable header compression and save the file and that's it?
    Just change the setting in MKVMergeGUI's options to disable header compression (I'm pretty sure it's enabled by default). Once it's set all MKVs it saves won't use header compression.

    Header compression mightn't be the reason the MKVs won't play, but quite often it is. If it's not then the player might require a specific AVC level when encoding. Level 4.1 is fairly standard these days but you might have to check the player's manual.
    Just to be clear : it's not only that they won't play. They simply don't appear on my television screen. As if they're not on the harddisk. I'll check the manual and see what it says.
    Quote Quote  
  26. Member
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    Belgium
    Search Comp PM
    I found out why I can't play mkv files. I have an older versionof the Lacinema which only supports avi. I converted to avi divx and it works just fine.

    I might still try and burn dvd's just for fun but for now I'm sticking with my Lacie.

    thanks all for your many replies, I'm a little less nooby then I was.

    greetz,

    Din
    Quote Quote  



Similar Threads

Visit our sponsor! Try DVDFab and backup Blu-rays!