MKV to AVI (720p BRRIP)

[Xungas]

Hi.

Whick is the best program to do MKV to AVI (720p BRRIP) with output AC3 audio?

I try XVID4PSP and Megui but I didn't like... Very confused.


Thanks!

[dfisher052]

Format Factory or XmediaRecode. Experiment with them. Once you learn how to get the best out of them they are the best (IMO).

[yoda313]

Also avi is not really the best output container these days for high def video (assuming you are keeping it high def, if you are converting to standard def than avi is ok). You should consider using mp4 or mkv as the container. Likely you are converting to h264 and its better to use mp4 or mkv with h264. You can use avi with h264 but its not ideal. Edit - please note mp4 would be accepted by a wider range of devices than mkv - however check with the unit you are playing back on to be sure - however if you are playing back on a computer only than any will do just fine but settop units have stricter requirements on what they'll read).

Format factory is a good choice. I agree with dfisher052.

[hello_hello]

AutoGK, if you're converting using Xvid. It just takes a little more work to do it because AutoGK was never designed to convert MKV files or MP4 files so it doesn't support them. However..... it's the only encoder GUI I'm aware of which runs a compression test, tells you what sort of quality to expect, then reports what the exact quality will be after the first pass. As a result I sometimes run the compression test a few times until I get it right (I aim for between 70% and 75%), the output file sizes are never the same, but the quality of each encode relative to the original never varies all that much. Once you know how to do it, encoding MKVs and MP4s using AutoGK is pretty easy. It take me around a minute to "set up" an MKV for encoding. Three minutes if the audio needs to be converted.

What is your destination playback device? Depending on the device you may be able to put the existing video and audio in an MP4 container and not have to convert anything. You just resave the MKV as an MP4 using something like Yamb.
If you are converting from high def to standard def then please, please, please, take the time to learn how to convert the colors correctly when encoding. It's very easy and you'll be able to do what no "scene" encoder seems able to mange, and given it's a couple of lines in a script.... I don't get it. The internet is still being littered with standard def AVIs and MP4s where the colors don't display correctly. If I see one more AVI encode where the actors have unnaturally red faces I think my head will explode.

Anyway, if you're interested I wrote a guide for converting MKVs and MP4s to AVI using AutoGK. The link is below. It may look a little daunting, but it explains which tools to install and how to use them to set up the encode. Once you've got it organized, the actual preparation only takes a few minutes.
If you're just wanting to convert an MKV to AVI to temporarily stick it on a portable device, then one of the one-click type encoders mentioned earlier will do the job, probably aside from the color issue which apparently doesn't annoy anyone else on the planet except me. http://doom10.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=epr336r871mb7bqfrf0ihdcdc3&topic=325.0

[videobruger]

MediaCoder

[Cauptain]

MEGUI is some complicated for beginner but will work perfect.

I will search a old video tutuorial to show this on my PC and upload to topic.


Claudio

[MilesAhead]

Quick AVI Creator will do it also. It's a bit quirky. The suggested bit rates tend to be way too low. But I've found if the source mkv looks high quality, then I can get good looking results using xvid one pass with about 4000 kbit bit rate. It gives a choice of mp3, ac3 or keep current audio when converting using xvid. To get one pass mode you need to edit xvid.presets file yourself.

The xvid.presets file is generated dynamically. You may have to start and abort a run to get it to write it the first time. As written by QAC it only has the Exact File Size section. I added the One Pass Mode section myself

[Exact File Size]
xvid_encraw.exe -i "$video_input" -pass1 "xvid.stats" -bitrate $video_bitrate -progress 10
xvid_encraw.exe -i "$video_input" -pass2 "xvid.stats" -bitrate $video_bitrate -progress 10 -avi "$video_output"

[One Pass Mode]
xvid_encraw.exe -i "$video_input" -pass1 "xvid.stats" -bitrate $video_bitrate -avi "$video_output"

Once you modify the file then after it processes the audio it will pop up the avs script. When you hit the Process Video command, then it will give a choice of Exact File Size or One Pass Mode in a drop down box.

If you only want to use 2 pass mode then you don't have to edit anything. But for all the extra time it takes I don't see the point of using 2 pass mode with xvid_encraw.exe. At least on my equipment, one pass mode looks fine... unless of course you have a crap source video. Remember to bump up the bit rate when this dialog box is showing. If you use the default the output will look really nasty.

edit: to do things like burn in subtitles, size the video frame, crop, or use other video filters etc.. you edit the .avs script. See docs for AviSynth for more info. If you don't make any changes then the output resolution will be the same as the input.

QAC isn't the fastest but it has a preview mode using AvsP editor. If the preview looks good and it starts processing, then it usually completes successfully. It's a good way to learn to use xvid_encraw.exe directly.

[FulciLives]

I rather like XVID4PSP but I stick with the older 5.x version.

I use v5.0.37.6 rev90

That was the last good version before they ruined the interface and made it into something I do not like.

However I don't understand the need for HD AVI when you apparently have a HD MKV. In other words your desire for converting makes no sense. I see no benefit over HD AVI when you already have HD MKV.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

*** EDIT ***
OK I see now the file is a Blu-Ray rip reduced to standard definition. That's just stupid. You need to not download such crap.

[hello_hello]

If you only want to use 2 pass mode then you don't have to edit anything. But for all the extra time it takes I don't see the point of using 2 pass mode with xvid_encraw.exe. At least on my equipment, one pass mode looks fine... unless of course you have a crap source video. Remember to bump up the bit rate when this dialog box is showing. If you use the default the output will look really nasty.

No way to use a target quantizer in single pass mode rather than a target bitrate? Wouldn't that give you consistent quality without having to worry about bitrate? Is Xvid's single pass, target bitrate mode a constant bitrate mode? I assume so but I can't remember.

I would agree there's very little visual difference between a single pass target quantizer encode and a 2 pass encode, assuming the bitrate for each is the same. At least not unless you want to compare the two frame by frame. I mainly stuck with 2 pass encoding as Xvid's VBR control doesn't work in single pass mode. Probably not much of a problem these days.

When I first read your post and saw you recommended a 4000 kbit bit rate, I thought "what?" but I assume you're referring to encoding high definition video without reducing the resolution?

[jagabo]

Xvid4PSP supports Xvid's Target Quantizer mode.

[MilesAhead]

Note the subt line

MKV to AVI (720p BRRIP)

Even if I input 4000 kbit for an SD avi encode, xvid_encraw would reduce the bit rate. It may have happened that I left that value in by mistake on a run, but I can't recall the actuall bit rate that was used. Probably in the area of 2400 kbit or somewhere thereabouts. I'm not expert in xvid_encraw. That's why I used QAC as a quick way to get params that will work.

Here's xvid_encraw help output. As for QAC it's a Python script. The source is there in the download.

Usage : xvid_encraw [OPTIONS]

Input options:
-i string : input filename (stdin)
-type integer: input data type (yuv=0, pgm=1, avi/avs=2)
-w integer: frame width ([1.2048])
-h integer: frame height ([1.2048])
-csp string : colorspace of raw input file i420, yv12 (default)
-frames integer: number of frames to encode

Output options:
-dump : save decoder output
-save : save an Elementary Stream file per frame
-o string : save an Elementary Stream for the complete sequence
-avi string: save an AVI file for the complete sequence
-mkv string: save a MKV file for the complete sequence

BFrames options:
-max_bframes integer: max bframes (2)
-bquant_ratio integer: bframe quantizer ratio (150)
-bquant_offset integer: bframe quantizer offset (100)

Rate control options:
-framerate float : target framerate (auto)
-bitrate [integer] : target bitrate in kbps (700)
-size integer : target size in kilobytes
-single : single pass mode (default)
-cq float : single pass constant quantizer
-pass1 [filename] : twopass mode (first pass)
-full1pass : perform full first pass
-pass2 [filename] : twopass mode (2nd pass)
-zq starting_frame float : bitrate zone; quant
-zw starting_frame float : bitrate zone; weight
-max_key_interval integer : maximum keyframe interval (300)

Single Pass options:
-reaction integer : reaction delay factor (16)
-averaging integer : averaging period (100)
-smoother integer : smoothing buffer (100)

Second Pass options:
-kboost integer : I frame boost (10)
-kthresh integer : I frame reduction threshold (1)
-kreduction integer : I frame reduction amount (20)
-ostrength integer : overflow control strength (5)
-oimprove integer : max overflow improvement (5)
-odegrade integer : max overflow degradation (5)
-chigh integer : high bitrate scenes degradation (0)
-clow integer : low bitrate scenes improvement (0)
-overhead integer : container frame overhead (0)
-vbvsize integer : use vbv buffer size
-vbvmax integer : vbv max bitrate
-vbvpeak integer : vbv peak bitrate over 1 second

Other options
-noasm : do not use assembly optmized code
-turbo : use turbo presets for higher encoding speed
-quality integer : quality ([0..6]) (6)
-vhqmode integer : level of R-D optimizations ([0..4]) (1)
-bvhq : use R-D optimizations for B-frames
-metric integer : distortion metric for R-D opt (PSNR:0, PSNRHVS
M: 1)
-qpel : use quarter pixel ME
-gmc : use global motion compensation
-qtype integer : quantization type (H263:0, MPEG4:1) (0)
-qmatrix filename : use custom MPEG4 quantization matrix
-interlaced [integer] : interlaced encoding (BFF:1, TFF:2) (1)
-nopacked : Disable packed mode
-noclosed_gop : Disable closed GOP mode
-masking [integer] : HVS masking mode (None:0, Lumi:1, Variance:2)
(0)
-stats : print stats about encoded frames
-ssim [integer] : prints ssim for every frame (accurate: 0 fast:
4) (2)
-ssim_file filename : outputs the ssim stats into a file
-psnrhvsm : prints PSNRHVSM metric for every frame
-debug : activates xvidcore internal debugging output
-vop_debug : print some info directly into encoded frames
-nochromame : Disable chroma motion estimation
-notrellis : Disable trellis quantization
-imin integer : Minimum I Quantizer (1..31) (2)
-imax integer : Maximum I quantizer (1..31) (31)
-bmin integer : Minimum B Quantizer (1..31) (2)
-bmax integer : Maximum B quantizer (1..31) (31)
-pmin integer : Minimum P Quantizer (1..31) (2)
-pmax integer : Maximum P quantizer (1..31) (31)
-drop integer : Frame Drop Ratio (0..100) (0)
-start integer : Starting frame number
-threads integer : Number of threads
-slices integer : Number of slices
-progress [integer] : Show progress updates every n frames (10)
-par integer[:integer] : Set Pixel Aspect Ratio.
1 = 1:1
2 = 12:11 (4:3 PAL)
3 = 10:11 (4:3 NTSC)
4 = 16:11 (16:9 PAL)
5 = 40:33 (16:9 NTSC)
other = custom (width:height)
-help : prints this help message

NB: You can define 64 zones repeating the -z[qw] option as needed.

[Intel Core i7]

Hi.

didn't like... Very confused.


Thanks!

why that?