MKV Conversion; Very Specific.

[Miaoven Winter]

Hey guys, heard this was the place to come for technical help, so here goes.

I've got a MKV file, 4.36 GB, 1h 54m long, 720p (1280x720), in AVC at 4817 Kbps, and AC3 audio at 640 Kbps (overall bitrate at 5461).

My goals are to convert this to a format playable by a PS3 or X360 (AVI preferably), keep the high level of quality, hardcode a set of ASS subtitles, and decrease the file size to just under four gigs so I can fit it on a flash drive. I am currently using Avidemux to facilitate this.

1. Can this be done? AD does the subtitles wonderfully, so I'm stuck on what codecs/bitrate/container I need to use. Quality and subtitles are the most important factors here, the file size is not crucial.

2. If it can, can it be done with AD? If not, what program do I need to use?

3. If it can't, what can I get away with doing, and with what program?

If it can be done with AD or any other program, I'm gonna need a guide (not necessarily step-by-step) on what conversion settings I need to have. If you need more specifics on the source video file, I do have MediaInfo data.

In addition, I happen to be converting this on a SSD (where AD is installed), with the source video file on a USB 3.0 external and the output going to another platter, since I don't want to write the file to the SSD. Would the process move along faster if I had the source ON the SSD itself before proceeding? Or do I need to have everything, from the source to the final product, kept on the SSD to see the most beneficial results?

Thanks in advance.
-M.W.

[Baldrick]

I would try convert to a mp4 with h264/AVC video and aac audio. Calculate the average bitrate(you find bitrate calculators under our tools section) and use 2-pass encoding. If size is not that important you can try constant quality encoding.

[Miaoven Winter]

I would try convert to a mp4 with h264/AVC video and aac audio. Calculate the average bitrate(you find bitrate calculators under our tools section) and use 2-pass encoding. If size is not that important you can try constant quality encoding.

Ok, so when I go to the codecs list, there isn't a 264 option, so I choose MPEG-4 AVC, right? (Kinda stupid that they don't just list H.264 or x264 when they already have H.263 there.)

Are there any specific settings I should change under the Configure menu?

Oh, and there's nothing wrong with me using the calculator in AD, right?

Edit: Ok, I've got a major issue. After converting, I end up with three files, one with no specific type, a .stat file, and a .stat.mbtree file. The hell do I do with these?

[Miaoven Winter]

Bump and update. While waiting, I tried to just swap the container from MP4 to AVI, since as I posted before, the MP4 results were incomprehensible. VLC was able to play this AVI file fine, but once it got to my PS3 or 360, it was able to recognize the file, but was unable to play it. O.o Really unsure why that was.

Since then, I've found this new method of turning the MKV directly into an AVCHD folder, which the PS3 recognizes as a separate video file and is then able to play. Using this without re-encoding the video allowed me to keep the quality at max, and was absolutely beautiful on my PS3 while testing (file size is also no longer an issue, as the folder breaks up the video file into multiple sections). However, while the program I'm using (multiAVCHD) allowed me to input my own ASS subtitles, it had to convert them to SRT and then softcode them. This I cannot have. I need the font and positioning of the ASS file.

So I'm right in saying that I cannot even have ASS subtitles softcoded, let alone hardcoded, without re-encoding the entire video, yes?

I'm looking for as much help as possible, as quickly as possible. I'm trying to get a showing of this through ASAP, so any help will be much appreciated.