Burning in subtitles to mkv file

[Lazerface]

I am lucky enough to own one of the newer tv's out there that support playback of .mkv files. My problem is that the tv doesn't support subtitle files within an .mkv file (or playback of DTS audio, but I've got that covered) I've searched thru the How-to's, but none of them say how to keep the final file as .mkv

What am I asking (in a nutshell):
How can I take the subtitles from a .mkv file and burn them into the video stream of the .mkv file, while keeping the final output file a .mkv

[guns1inger]

You can use an encoder that can output mkv files - Xvid4PSP is one such program, but there are several more, or encode to mp4 and then build an MKV file afterwards (needless number of steps I suspect).

For Xvid4PSP, you may have to extract the subs first using mkvextractgui, before importing and encoding.

[SatStorm]

What you need is re-encoding. It needs time for each file and produce quality loss in picture. It doesn't worth it.

Better buy a media player (nmt based, like popcorn/wdtv/egrate/etc) for mkv, or use an old laptop with GeexBox.

[jman98]

I am lucky enough to own one of the newer tv's out there that support playback of .mkv files.

Given the limitations of such TVs for video playback, I would not use the word "lucky" to describe your situation.

If you value your time at all you might consider just buying a media player like one of the Western Digital models. You won't have to re-encode anything. And do note that TVs may have such "fun" limitations as refusing to play videos larger than 720x480 unless they are EXACTLY either 1280x720 or 1920x1080.

[Lazerface]

Given the limitations of such TVs for video playback, I would not use the word "lucky" to describe your situation.

So far it has taken any resolution I've thrown at it, and only gives me problems with the occasional file that is DTS audio.
The next issue is that this tv is not in a home theater setup, nor is it close to any sort of A/V rack or any of its devices (its mounted on a fireplace in a large kitchen/living room/dining room space) so buying another device just to play the occasional .mkv file is overkill. As is, I have a 25ft cable run to still figure out.

@guns1inger: Thanks for the link, I'll try that out. I only have one file I'd like to burn in subtitles to anyways!

[SatStorm]

For one file you can re-encode even with super. Just "tick" on ffdshow's icon at the taskbar the subtitles.

But doing re-encoding on a regular bases to burn hardsubs, it's a waste of time and electricity!

[hbx2006]

Hi,

You didn't mentioned what brand/model your TV is... let's assume it's an LG xxLHxxxx series

The problem with subtitles muxed inside MKV not showing is: your TV probably can't handle UTF-8 encoded SRT files. If I'm right, then try MKV with external srt file (having exactly the same name as mkv file). To make sure srt is ANSI encoded, open srt with Notepad and "Save as" -where you choose ANSI encoded. I'm 99% sure your TV will now show subtitle. Re-Save again as UTF-8 encoded, and TV won't show them -even srt file is outside of MKV.
But (if I'm right on above), that's only cause of the problem -not the solution, though. The thing is, by MKV specification, mkv only can contain UTF-8 encoded srt subtitles (which your TV can't handle).

Greetings,
Bogdan

[Lazerface]

You didn't mentioned what brand/model your TV is... let's assume it's an LG xxLHxxxx series

The tv is a Samsung PN50B650, and the subtitles file as extracted is a .ass file. There also some font files alongside it as well.

I tried a video only encode with Xvid4PSP, but it didn't seem to burn in the subtitles at all! I was encoding to x264, 2-pass target size mode, mkv file output. It wasted 5 hours of CPU time for nothing!

If anyone has any other suggestions, please feel free to inform me!

Thanks!

[johns0]

Can your tv play avchd folders?