The MKV from HELL! Help Save my remaining hair.

[nick_unbc]

I have a very good quality .mkv video that I have been trying to convert. The original file plays perfectly on my laptop. I have all applicable and needed codecs. I would be happy with any format that I could play in a ps3, xbox360 or standalone player. For starters, I have a fresh reboot and no extra backround programs running during any of these attempts. I have tried converting to Divx (with Tmpgenc xpress, Dr. Divx, mkv to avi, prism and more) with various different setting ( hq, lq, high bitrate, low bitrate, original resolution 1280x528, lower resolution, etc...) and always with the same result, great looking video which stutters every few seconds seems to drop frames and is unwatchable. (by the way, i also tried these conversions and the following ones with the extracted streams via mkvextractgui) Moving on, converting to mp4. Trying some of the above programs as well as well as YAMB, results in clip that plays fine on the computer, but will not play on the ps3, xbox etc... I also tried converting the mp4 output to other formats, but this just resulted in a file that had the same problems I have had with converting to that format (ie: divx stutter etc...) Also tried extracting mp4 streams and conversion, unwatchable. Converting using mkvtoVOB results in file that plays fine on laptop, but when used on ps3, xbox etc... seems like very low framerate and sound out of sync. Converting to dvd using the programs I have downloaded trying to get this to work, as well as nero ultimate 8 (inputed .vob file from mkvtovob which played fine on computer) results in video which plays for a bit then pauses for 4-5 seconds, starts again for a bit, then pauses for 10 seconds before skipping randomly to more than an hour into the clip. If i rewind the clip from that point, the entire video is there, and if I restart it and fast forward, the entire video is there. So WOW!!! This isn't so much about really needing the video, but It has pissed me off so much, and i've wasted so much time, that it's now a battle of the wills. If anybody has any suggestions, I would be eternally grateful. PS: I have been able to convert files to various formats with this computer without any problems. Somebody mentioned fame serving to me, but I have no idea if that would help in this situation, and the file doesn't work in virtualdubmod.

Original file info: MKV
2hr 6min 4.37gb
1280x528
ac3 audio
bitrate around 4000kbps (sorry, don't have file on this rig to check)

[nick_unbc]

also should mention i tried alltoavi with guide, and result is a file with a black screen with no error message, but with video position not moving, won't respond to changing video position

[t0nee1]

Are you streaming to the PS3 or burning to disc and playing?

Extract with MKVExtract Gui> import video and audio in tsmuxer, pick m2ts output ,and change Level to 4.1 in general track options window and mux...
If burning to disc, change file extension to .mpg and burn with IMGburn ,using the UDF 2.50 file sys.

[nick_unbc]

tried both as well as standalone dvd player (divx certified), xbox 360. I will give it a shot and let you know

[nick_unbc]

I have created the m2ts file as you suggested, which plays back perfectly on the computer. Going to burn it however, it seems the process makes the movie too large to fit on a dvd5. Can you suggest a process to strip the long credits and/or opening credits so that I can fit the movie on a single disc. Either with the original mkv (then repeat m2ts conversion) or with the m2ts stream. The file is listed as 106% of disc space currently.

[t0nee1]

What are the specs of your original audio file?
If 1536kbps convert to 640 > 448kbps etc..then mux...Hopefully you'll get a small enough file to fit DVD-5 disc...
This works good for me,or use a similar tool...
https://www.videohelp.com/tools/DAudioK

[nick_unbc]

Thanks alot man, for all the wasted time i spent doing this, all it took was 10 minutes with your idea to get it working. I ended up just giving up and splitting the file onto 2 discs. I don't really get why that worked, but basically the same idea with other programs and equally compatible formats failed miserably. Either way, kudos.

[t0nee1]

Great ,glad it worked for you.... 8)
But it wasn't my idea at all,I've learned in this great forum and others...heck I learn something new every day.....

Cheers!