Joining question (err..muxing?)

[DiGNAN17]

Well, I've had an interesting little journey. Every time I try to do something new in working with video, I end up downloading nearly a dozen applications, and eventually taking the path of least resistence until I get it right. What I need now is some help at the end of my path

So I have these MKV files. Man, these buggers are tough to convert. All I want is an AVI in the end, and I tried using River Past's Video Cleaner to do so, but it fails with every file I feed it.

So, I eventually used mkvextract, and got an AVI (appears to be DIVX5), and an AAC audio track, which I then used Foobar2K to convert to a normal WAV file.

Now what? How do I put these two together? I tried importing them into TMPGEnc, but the program freezes when I try to start converting. Plus, that would make an MPEG and that's not really what I want.

So, any opinions on what I should use to join these two? I couldn't even load the AVI into Premiere, so I'm not so sure what to do...

*edit*
I just realized, this is a muxing question, right? I appologize if this should go elsewhere. Just let me know, of a moderator can move me...

[Capmaster]

Don't worry. This post seems appropriate in either the forum it's in or the authoring forum

[Baldrick]

it is called multiplexing, use virtualdub https://www.videohelp.com/faq#multiplex

[DiGNAN17]

Thanks so much for the help, guys. I'm having a problem, though.

When I open the video file with virtualdub, I get the following error:

Couldn't locate decompressor for format 'DX50" (unknown)

VirtualDub requires a Video for Windows (VFW) compatible codec to decompress video. DirectShow codecs, such as those used by Windows Media Player, are not suitable.

Will it help if I use that VirtualDubMod that I've been seeing mentioned here and there?

Again, I really appreciate the help, guys. Thanks.

-Matt

[DiGNAN17]

Okay, I have successfully completed the multiplexing of my AVI file and my WAV file. Now I'm getting some strange results, which I'm sure are a result of something in the AAC conversion process.

You see, this all started because of the audio. When I played my MKV file, I would get dialog in the left ear, sounds and music in the right. So, I figured I'd try to side-step the codecs, and see if some of these tools could do that for me. I thought foobar2000 had, but now, with the final AVI, all I get in both ears is the background noise and music. Strange, huh?

Also strange is that when I play the WAV file that foobar makes on various programs, the effect is different. The only program I've found so far that plays the audio correctly is Winamp. So naturally, I tried using the disk writer plugin to make a "normal" WAV file. Well, that didn't work either.

I guess I always just assumed that a WAV file was a WAV file. That it was like plain text. From there you could make something else. But this is strange, and I'm further convinced that codecs are simply evil.

Please help!!

[DiGNAN17]

Well, I figured out what was going wrong. Well, kinda. I've at least figured out how to get the basic result I want: a simple AVI with a simple stereo (or even mono) audio track. Easy, compatible, etc.

So my process is insanely long for what would probably considered such a stupid thing. Basically, I loaded the WAV file into GSpot, and saw that it had 6 channels in it. I guess each of the programs I was using was deciding to play a different track. So, I loaded the file into the multi-track mode of Cool Edit Pro, put them through a mixdown, and got my simple WAV file. Put it through VirtualDub (regular), and I have my simple AVI file.

I'd be perfectly happy if it didn't take so long and if I didn't end up with a 700+MB file. Can I use VirtualDub to multiplex with MP3 audio???

Anyway, thanks for getting me started. This forum rules.

Oh, and I still despise codecs with a fiery passion.

[underwurlde]

Yo!

"Oh, and I still despise codecs with a fiery passion."

Ahh, don't give up on them, they're just innocent little converters & if we didn't have them then terabyte disk drives would be a must!

The confusing issue is the huge amount of possiblites available to store Video data. You have containers (AVI, MOV, MKV), video compression codecs and audio compression codecs.

Understanding the basics of these 3 combinations goes a LONG way! And yes, I have about 2.5 Gbs worth of proggies that I use to cope with said formats. Bitchin!

Anyway,

ACC or Advanced Audio Coding is used for high quality audio compression & provides better quality than MP3 for similar file sizes. It supports the coding of multichannel audio (up to 48 main channels) and appears to be the first thing to have bitten you in the arse because you only seem to have grabbed one or two of these tracks!

You saw 6 channels i.e. surround sound - a damn good audio source that I would stick with!

In other words MKVExtract the ACC audio track and DivX video tracks separately. Join them back together into an AVI container using VirtualDub. If VirtualDub does not provide the options you need try NanDub/ NanDubMod.

Simple!

To answer your question though, yes you can input a WAV file audio source, compress it to MP3 and create a new AVI in one stroke using VirtualDub thus:

Open Video AVI file
Video->Direcect Stream Copy
Audio->WAV Audio.. select WAV file
Audio->Full processing mode
Audio->Compression.. select MPEG Layer-3 & select desired bit rate etc
File->Save as AVI.. select output file name


Andy

[DiGNAN17]

Thanks! I appreciate the response.

First off, I'm actually okay with codecs. I suppose what I hate with a passion is how they are used in Windows Can't blame me for that, can you? In my experience, if I install a codec, it's put in some mysterious location, and I can't even tell how to uninstall it, should problems arise. There are so many things about codecs that bring in needless frustration. I loved mplayer because I don't really need Windows codecs, but now I find out that it does use them.

Argh! And I think this is actually the main problem I'm having with the audio track of this file. The problem is that whatever codec was installed to read aac files DOES NOT WORK. What's worse, I have no way of knowing which one it is, and then how to uninstall it and get it working again. I need it playable in Windows, so I need the codec to work! ARGH!

Anyway, I appreciate the advice.

I tried loading the MP3 file into VirtualDub like you said, but it hadn't worked. Instead I got some vdub-mp3-freeze thing that seemed to do the job.

Anyway, it hasn't been the easiest experience. I'll try to get the audio multiplexed with the video and retain the possible surround sound, but I just don't think my computer will play it. That's what started all of this!

[DiGNAN17]

Do you know of any program that will convert a surround sound AAC file to AC3?