Double trouble with MKV conversion for Xbox360

[jayvee]

Hey guys,

After reading several tutorials and trying out a lot of software, and not getting the results I want, I decided to plea for help. :P

I have two mkv files I wish to convert so I can play them on my Xbox360 (through TVersity), and both are giving me different problems. Oh, I have downloaded the fall update and divx / xvid work fine!

=== File 1 ===
Properties: x264 Video, AAC Audio (stereo)
What I want:In order to preserve the video, I want to create a mp4 file and convert the audio to any format Xbox360 likes (e.g. mp3)
What I tried:

mkvextracgui doesn't do much, and running mkvextract.exe produces this error message:

Warning: The extraction of video tracks is only supported for RealVideo (CodecID
: V_REAL/RVxx) and AVI compatibility tracks (CodecID: V_MS/VFW/FOURCC). The trac
k 1 will be skipped.
Warning: Track ID 2 has an unknown AAC type. The track will be skipped.
Nothing to do.

VirtualDubMod also produces a looong list of errors when I open the file, the last lines being:

[!] MKV: A frame of stream 1 (at 3526960 ms) had only a forward reference 
    (maybe broken file).

[!] MKV: A frame of stream 1 (at 3526920 ms) had only a forward reference 
    (maybe broken file).

[!] MKV: Video frames seems to be weirdly ordered.

[!] Couldn't locate decompressor for format 'ÿÿÿÿ' (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. Only 'Direct stream copy' is available for this 
    video.

The Stream list window doesn't even show the video stream...

When I use GOTSent (with AC3 audio), it stops after extracting the video stream (which seems to work!). When I choose "mp3" for Audio, this is what mkvextract shows:

Extracting track 1 with the CodecID 'V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC' to the file 'D:\movie.h264
'. Container format: AVC/h.264 elementary stream
Extracting track 2 with the CodecID 'A_AAC' to the file 'D:\movie.mp3'. Containe
r format: raw AAC file with ADTS headers

However, it still can't work with the audio stream.


Actually, I can't even hear audio when I play the file in Windows Media Player. I have downloaded dbpoweramp, but it failed to install properly and didn't work at all, so I immediately deinstalled it. For clarity: it was not installed at all when I tried the above.



=== File 2 ===
Properties: x264 Video, AC3 Audio (5.1)
What I want: Since I really want surround sound and Xbox360 only supports stereo with x264 (correct me if I'm wrong), I want to get an avi with ac3, which I will then convert using Windows Media Encoder. If you see a better way to get a video with surround sound, let me know!
What I tried:

GOTSent produces great video (File.mp4), but I can't hear any sound!
mkvextract GUI extracts the audio (to track2.ac3), but not the video!

Now how do I mux these together so I can reencode with WME? Wouldn't it be better to get the .h264 file instead of the .mp4? Which command line switches should I use for mkvextract?

If I try mencoder, I get this:

E:\Appz\_Multimedia\mplayer>mencoder -oac copy -ovc copy -o e:\Lotr.avi -audiofile D:\Track2.ac3 D:\movie.h264
MEncoder 1.0rc1-3.4.2 (C) 2000-2006 MPlayer Team
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz (Family: 15, Model: 2, Stepping: 9)
CPUflags: Type: 15 MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 0 3DNow2: 0 SSE: 0 SSE2: 0
Compiled with runtime CPU detection.
Warning streams need a type !!!!
success: format: 0  data: 0x0 - 0x0
libavformat file format detected.
[h264 @ 00AF21A0]non existing PPS referenced
[h264 @ 00AF21A0]decode_slice_header error

... these last two errors goe on and on for a while, until I get:

VIDEO:  [H264]  0x0  0bpp  25.000 fps    0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
libavformat file format detected.
[V] filefmt:65536  fourcc:0x34363248  size:0x0  fps:25.00  ftime:=0.0400
videocodec: framecopy (0x0 0bpp fourcc=34363248)
audiocodec: framecopy (format=2000 chans=5 rate=48000 bits=0 B/s=48000 sample-0)

Writing header...
ODML: Aspect information not (yet?) available or unspecified, not writing vprp h
eader.
Writing header...
ODML: Aspect information not (yet?) available or unspecified, not writing vprp h
eader.
Pos:   0.9s     22f ( 0%)  0.00fps Trem:   0min   0mb  A-V:0.084 [0:383]
Skipping frame!
Pos:   1.2s     32f ( 0%)  0.00fps Trem:   0min   0mb  A-V:0.084 [3720:384]
Skipping frame!
Pos:   1.6s     42f ( 0%)  0.00fps Trem:   0min   0mb  A-V:0.084 [3849:383]
Skipping frame!

... this also continues a while, when I hit CTRl-C, I get:
Writing index...08f ( 0%) 691.30fps Trem:   0min   0mb  A-V:0.068 [2671:384]
Writing header...
ODML: Aspect information not (yet?) available or unspecified, not writing vprp h
eader.

Video stream: 2671.627 kbit/s  (333953 B/s)  size: 26569331 bytes  79.560 secs
2208 frames

Audio stream:  384.000 kbit/s  (48000 B/s)  size: 3841536 bytes  80.032 secs

Your help will be greatly appreciated!

[t0nee1]

Have you tried with MeGUI ?......I just ran a test conversion to try out the XBox360 latest update and it worked great....
http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/Xbox_360_H.264_Conversion_Guide_page1.html
http://blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/archive/2007/11/30/december-2007-video-playback-faq.aspx
Good luck!.....

[jayvee]

Sorry for the late response, I've been busy with other stuff (work, bleh).

I had used MeGUI before, but found it hard to use the interface, and it stopped encoding a few times. I am now using it again, and it looks like the first video ([mkv with x264 video] to [mp4 with x264 video]) is working.
// edit: unfortunately, MeGUI reencodes the video! That's totally unnecessary, plus it will degrade quality. How do I just copy the stream?

But how do I convert the second video (which is actually more important)? I have the original mkv with x264 video and ac3 audio and I have demuxed it into an .h264 video file and an .ac3 audio file. Which application do I use to mux these together?