MKV to DVD Encoding on my 8-Core Mac Pro

[Alexius]

I don't know what it is, but I find that with all of the programs I've tired (Quicktime Pro, VisualHub, iDVD, Toast 8, MPEG Streamclip, ffmpegx), most of which have support for my multi-core processor, the speed at which the encoding from a H.264 MKV source to a VOB DVD file is extremely slow and that it would take approximately ~250 minutes for a 219 MB file. Is there any other way to speed up the process so I can have a set of 13 of these MKV files (episodes of an anime series) put onto a DVD? I'd rather not leave my computer on for 24 hours encoding movies. :S

~Alexius

[terryj]

Not at the particular moment, no.
Most apps that would handle the conversion
are optomized to run universal, and aren't
built to be only optomized for Intel MC processing.

Once you see apps written especially for Snow Leopard
(OS X 10.6) then you'll see this become more commonplace.

There are however steps you can take to speed up the encoding
on the computer, or steps you can take to get the
content encoded faster to disc.

To help speed up the encoding, the FLATEST file possible
will encode the fastest to what you want the output to be.
MKV's have to load fully in any Quicktime based app before
transcoding to mpeg-2. ( QT, Streamclip).
To speed this up, convert each MKV to DV Stream, thus flattening
the files, and then encode the DV Stream files to DVD.
It's splitting hairs I know, but it does shave time
(250minutes per MKV x 13 = 54 hours to encode) off
of the current way, due to everything just being DV audio/video.

To get the content encoded faster to disc, if you have a video card
that supports TV out, you could play each mkv in FullScreen
using QT PRo or VLC, and then record each to DVD by using
a standalone DVD Recorder that accepts RCA or SHVS input
of video.

I currently do this ( although I use Miro as my player of choice,
along with flattening the mkvs using engumm's tool [MoKgVm2DVD])
and I can get 13 mkv's at a half hour run time out in 6 hours to DVD.
A LOT faster, and not so much tying up the computer.....

[Herve]

hi, just an explanation:
these softs

Quicktime Pro,iDVD,Toast,MPEGStreamclip

use Perian to decode mkv (it rocks but it's very slow)
(I don't know what are doing the 2 others, I don't use them)
and QuickTime is mono-thread

it would take approximately ~250 minutes for a 219 MB file

PS: size doesn't matter
but duration and complexity of the picture does

about dvd encoding:
I reach almost realtime with mkv (with my mini 2*1.83)
Your problem is not about encoding but about decoding

bye

[Alexius]

hi, just an explanation:
these softs

Quicktime Pro,iDVD,Toast,MPEGStreamclip

use Perian to decode mkv (it rocks but it's very slow)
(I don't know what are doing the 2 others, I don't use them)
and QuickTime is mono-thread

it would take approximately ~250 minutes for a 219 MB file

PS: size doesn't matter
but duration and complexity of the picture does

about dvd encoding:
I reach almost realtime with mkv (with my mini 2*1.83)
Your problem is not about encoding but about decoding

bye

What do you use to encode your MKVs to DVD?

[Herve]

my own soft (see sign)
with FFmpeg decoding
PS: MovieConverter doesn't handle mkv subtitles

bye

[terryj]

For what its worth, Toast will encode to realtime your files,
provided they are in a flattened Quicktime format, as rules
of Q.R.E.A.M. ( Quicktime Rules Everything (on) A Mac) apply.

to simplify, if Quicktime likes it, it will encode it faster.
DV Stream is the best, followed by .mov, then .mp4/.avi.

as Herve and I have both pointed out, it's not about
Decoding the MKVs, but about Encoding them in the container
format they are in into your finalized file format (mpeg-2).

The only way, under any type of mac PPC or Intel, is to
get the mkv's into file formats / containers that Quicktime based apps
process quickly.

In the other thread, you had asked what if you stripped the contents
of the .mkvs out using mkvtoolnix to get them back into their elementary
parts, and then somehow muxed them together, if that would be faster?

I wouldn't look at as "Will it make it faster" as opposed to "Is it a necessary step"? and the answer would be " yes, since your using
Quicktime based apps to encode to mpeg-2."

Because the problem with .mkv, and .ogm as well as .wmv for
that matter, is that Quicktime has to use Perian to load all the
data into Quicktime FIRST, before it can decipher what codecs
are used in the file, where if say an .mkv has xvid video and
.mp3 audio, the seperate xvid and .mp3 files can be read much
easier in Quicktime, as there is no extra layer wrapper ( container)
to get through first to see what is necessary in the elementary streams of the file.

If you use mkvtoolnix to break and then rejoin the files it would be just
as time consuming as if you processed the files directly with engumm's
tool. The only difference is that his is a " drag drop, and let run over night"
tool, and mkvtoolnix requires someone manually running each file,
one at a time.

[Alexius]

Alright! That makes a lot of sense. Thanks all of you. While I like eugumm's tool, I find that the easiest method for me is to wrap all of the MKVs in MOV formats using the "Save As" feature in Quicktime and then processing those files through VisualHub. Leaving it overnight, I managed to convert a big chunk of them to a really good-looking set of VOB files with burned subtitles.

Thanks!

~Alexius

[terryj]

no prob!

[Herve]

just for info, you managed to use subtitles inside mkv wrapper with VisualHub? do you have a tutorial?
(I just tried with a mkv with sub inside and I just had an error message during encoding "the variable stitchstack is not defined" )
bye

[terryj]

I'd like to know this too Alexis...You saved as a REFERENCE MOVIE
in Quicktime and dragged dropped that into Visual Hub and it worked?
I just tried it myself and got the same result as Herve....

Did you flatten the movie file by Doing Save AS and creating a new
QUICKTIME MOVIE file with subs burned in?
I'm trying this now, and I believe this will work.....

[Herve]

Did you flatten the movie file by Doing Save AS and creating a new
QUICKTIME MOVIE file with subs burned in?
I'm trying this now, and I believe this will work.....

I tried it
a mkv (+ Perian) opened in QTPlayer and save (with or without dependencies) => a file with visible subtitles loaded in vidéo (and can be decoded by every QuickTime compatible app)
But subtitles are inside the video, and I don't like this for DVD (I prefer external subtitles that can be disabled)
bye

[terryj]

gotcha Herve...yes it is nice to be able to switch them on and off,
but for that, you'd have to author in DVDSP to achieve this affect.

For most of my .mkvs ( Japanese anime), I'd just go ahead and do
the flattening and get it out to disc.....

[Herve]

gotcha Herve...yes it is nice to be able to switch them on and off,
but for that, you'd have to author in DVDSP to achieve this affect.

not really, every Mac GUI is able to do it. With spumux you can force or not the display of a subtitle. With dvdauthor you can force -or not- the display of one sub too (or none, or a special one, etc)
dvd standard is very simple: if you use an overlay (=subpicture =subtitle for example), you can force its display, or just display it or not (and the user with its remote control can enable ou disable it). It's just a range of number to affect to the stream before its readout.
PS: every GUI on mac use these tools

bye