MoKgVm2DVD - a new OGM and MKV tool

[emmgunn]

Hi All!
Though not ready for prime time, I've got a web site for a new tool (MoKgVm2DVD) for handling .mkv and .ogm files - http://emmgunn.awardspace.com/. Here is an excerpt from the readme for some general info:


MoKgVm2DVD is an application that is meant to provide the tools needed to prepare .ogm and .mkv files for use in DivX enabled DVD players. Note, this application will not allow you to play these files in non-DivX certified DVD players. When you open either of these two types of video “container” files in MokgVm2DVD, you will be presented with a list of video, audio and subtitle tracks contained in the file. Sometimes there will be enough information for you to determine what each track represents. If not, you can select a video and an audio track (and optionally a subtitle track) to preview the tracks in an Mplayer window.

Once you’ve determined which tracks you are interested in, you can either convert the tracks into an .avi file (with some limited re-encoding options), or you can extract the tracks into separate files to manipulate in your favorite video application.

MoKgVm2DVD is just an applescript, graphical front end for several command line tools. Mencoder and Mplayer do the brunt of the work. The extractions are done by Mkvextract and Ogmdemux.

MoKgVm2DVD should run on sytems 10.2 and later, though no testing has been done on systems other than 10.4. The version of Mkvextract used is 1.6.5, which might not work on systems earlier than 10.3, so you might have trouble with extracting .mkv tracks if you are using 10.2.


I know a few people have already tried MoKgVm2DVD, but I haven't received much feedback, so it's hard to tell how well the application is functioning on different systems. I use it all the time, but for all I know it won't even start up for the rest of you (I've found applescript can be a bit finicky). I'd like to eventually post MoKgVm2DVD on Version Tracker, but I was hoping to first get feedback from the video experts of this forum. If you have something to share, you can either pm me, e-mail me at emmgunn@pacbell.net, or post it here.

I'm also looking to add some more functionality to MoKgVm2DVD and could use some help finding the appropriate command line tool. In particular, I would like to be able to determine if a video track has been encoded with either gmc or qpel. I know that mpeg4modifier will do this, but the Mono framework is required, and I'd like to stay away from that option. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[jpschuck]

I'm also looking to add some more functionality to MoKgVm2DVD and could use some help finding the appropriate command line tool. In particular, I would like to be able to determine if a video track has been encoded with either gmc or qpel. I know that mpeg4modifier will do this, but the Mono framework is required, and I'd like to stay away from that option. Any ideas would be appreciated.!

Avidemux is also able to check if the file is using packed Bitstream, qpel and GMC. But this one requires X11 to be installed.

[terryj]

Hi, I've given feedback on the app thus far,
and it does what you set it out to do.

While I have not had a smooth transistion with the files
I have tested with the version released in Feburary 2007,
( I had to then bounce the files through ffmpegX to get my
final desired result) , I do have files now that I will test with
this current version to see re-encoding to xvid 1 pass will
be an "all one" solution for my particular needs.

Thanks for the hard work thus far.

[sdm]

Hi emmgunn,
I've given a couple of trys on .MKV(h264+AC3)
I was hoping to use your app to make .AVI(h264+AC3)
I just used passthrough for the audio and video.

In every try, I end up with a small avi created in a couple of seconds and it won't open in QT, Mplayer or VLC.

I don't intend to burn to DVDr, I just was hoping to add the videos to iTunes.

I realize your intent is to create .AVI (DivX+???), but what do you think of working with h264 video?

The extract feature seems to work nice.

Thanks,
--sdm.

[emmgunn]

I've given a couple of trys on .MKV(h264+AC3)
I was hoping to use your app to make .AVI(h264+AC3)
I just used passthrough for the audio and video.

In every try, I end up with a small avi created in a couple of seconds and it won't open in QT, Mplayer or VLC.

This sounds like an mencoder, the processing engine MoKgVm2DVD, issue. I don't have much experience yet with h264 and mencoder, but to be honest, I didn't think that mencoder would have such a problem with it. I just updated MoKgVm2DVD. If you try this version, there is an option in the help menu that will let you keep the log files created by mencoder. If you check the log file we can see what it is that mencoder is unhappy with. Note, if the log file is very large you might need to type cmd-r to reveal all the details.

Avidemux is also able to check if the file is using packed Bitstream, qpel and GMC. But this one requires X11 to be installed.

Bummer. That is exactly what I was looking for. Any chance that there is an older command line version?

[emmgunn]

I think I found the problem. Mencoder doesn't like to copy audio from one container to another (e.g., aac from a .mkv into an .avi). There is a way to do it but apparently this may introduce sync issues. Converting audio to mp3 will work, though I personally would like to be able to keep ac3 surround sound. This may take a while to sort out all the issues. If there are any mencoder experts out there, I'd love to hear your opinions.