Converting h.264 MKV to Play on PS3/Xbox360

[Startropic1]

I have an mkv movie that apparently is h.264 according to MediaInfo and uses Vorbis audio, and includes subtitles. I tried using Alltoavi to convert it to an avi for playback on my PS3 or Xbox 360 (preferably PS3), after a couple hours Alltoavi gave me an avi that according to Gspot has h.264 video and MP3 audio--and neither my PS3 nor my Xbox360 can play it.

I've read a couple guides on the subject of converting h.264 vidoes for viewing on PS3, one suggests mkv2vob but doesn't say how to configure the program and suggests I'd have to use a program like TVersity to get the PS3 to see the .vob file.

One guide this site links to http://jcafe.vnmanga.com/index.php/topic,1636.0.html appears to be down.

Now I'm a bit confused, can someone please tell me how to get this thing to play on my PS3 (or Xbox360) ? I still have both the mkv and the avi that AlltoAvi gave me, so I can work from either one, whichever is easier.

[Baldrick]

I would use handbrake or xvid4psp and convert to mp4 h264 or choose the mp4 xbox or ps3 profiles.

[guns1inger]

I use Xvid4PSP. If the content is already compliant I just use the Copy mode to repackage into the mp4 container

[Startropic1]

copy mode won't work because there are subtitles in the mkv and they don't transfer to an avi/mp4

I tried muxing in an avi with the subs hardcoded into an mp4 with ACC audio encoded by xvid4PSP but my PS3 still won't recognize it as playable.

[guns1inger]

Post a mediainfo output of the avi file so we can see what you are working with.

Yes, if you soft subs you have a problem. The PS3 will not read soft subs, so you have three choices

1. Re-encode with hard subs
2. Use something like PS3 Media Server that will transcode on the fly so you see the subs
3. Convert to DVD/Bluray with soft subs

[Startropic1]

Here is the mediainfo log of the mp4 I created:
General #0
Complete name : [Name Deleted].mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format/Info : ISO 14496-1 Base Media
Format/Family : MPEG-4
File size : 970 MiB
PlayTime : 1h 58mn
Bit rate : 1142 Kbps
StreamSize : 2.23 MiB
Encoded date : UTC 2009-05-27 17:14:28
Tagged date : UTC 2009-05-27 17:14:28

Video #0
Codec : H.264
Codec/Info : H.264 (3GPP)
PlayTime : 1h 58mn
Bit rate : 1010 Kbps
Width : 672 pixels
Height : 432 pixels
Display Aspect ratio : 1.556
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
StreamSize : 858 MiB
Encoded date : UTC 2009-05-27 17:14:28
Tagged date : UTC 2009-05-27 17:15:29
BitRate_Nominal : 989489.340

Audio #0
Codec : AAC LC
Codec/Info : AAC Low Complexity
PlayTime : 1h 58mn
Bit rate : 129 Kbps
Bit rate mode : VBR
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : L R
Sampling rate : 48 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
StreamSize : 110 MiB
Encoded date : UTC 2009-05-27 17:15:19
Tagged date : UTC 2009-05-27 17:15:29

The video stream has the subs hardcoded.

Here is the log of the original mkv I started with:
General #0
Complete name : [Name Deleted].mkv
Format : Mk
File size : 1.27 GiB
PlayTime : 1h 58mn
Bit rate : 1528 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2006-07-22 17:33:57
Writing application : mkvmerge v1.7.0 ('What Do You Take Me For') built on Apr 28 2006 17:20:19
Writing library : libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.0
Cover : Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes / Yes

Video #0
Codec : MPEG-4 AVC
Codec/Info : MPEG4 ISO advanced profile
PlayTime : 1h 58mn
Width : 672 pixels
Height : 432 pixels
Display Aspect ratio : 16/9
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Title : Only Yesterday - Omohide Poro Poro

Audio #0
Codec : Vorbis
Bit rate mode : VBR
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48 KHz
Title : 2.0 VORBIS
Language : Japanese

Text #0
Codec : ASS
Codec/Info : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Title : ass
Language : English

Text #1
Codec : UTF-8
Codec/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Title : srt
Language : English

[mh2360]

Have you tried converting to XviD with AC3 audio and hard subs?

If the source is HD, you can still keep it that way, as both the 360 and PS3 should handle HD XviD files OK.

xvid4psp should handle the conversion OK, just choose the "AVI Hardware HD" profile, set the audio to "AC3 192k" and set the video to "2 pass size", with the size of your original MKV file as the required output size.

[guns1inger]

Wild assumption, but is your PS3 up to date with the latest firmware ?

[Startropic1]

I tried encoding it as an xvid through xvid4psp with the settings you suggested, but xvid4psp won't hardcode the subs during the process. I end up with an avi without any subtitles.

[Startropic1]

Wild assumption, but is your PS3 up to date with the latest firmware ?

Yes it is.