Converting to MKV plus adding diff Audio & Subtitle tracks

[evile1690]

Hello there! Thanks for reading. It's my first time dealing with the MKV format and I'm having some problems. I'll try to explain in detail. Here goes:

In total I'll be using 3 source videos with the same content in different formats.

========
VIDEO-1
========

Format: AVI
PlayTime: 00:22:54.792

Video Stream:
Length: 00:22:54.791
Frames: 164810, 119.880 fps, 1581 Kbps
Codec: WMV3 (Family: )
Dimensions: 1280x720, AR: 16/9

Audio Stream:
Codec: MPEG-1 Audio layer 3, MPEG-1A L3,
Bitrate: 256 Kbps
Bitrate Mode: CBR
Sampling Rate: 48 KHz
Channel(s): 2 channel
Resolution: 16 bits per sample
Encoder: LAME3.96r
Language: Japanese

=======
VIDEO-2
=======

Format: Matroska (MKV)
PlayTime: 00:22:36.264

Video Stream:
Length: 00:22:34.875
Frames: 32517, 23.976 fps,
Codec: V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC (Family: )
Dimensions: 720x480, AR: 16/9

Audio Stream:
Language: Japanese
Codec: Vorbis, A_VORBIS,
Bitrate Mode: VBR
Sampling Rate: 48 KHz
Channel(s): 2 channel

Subtitle Stream:
Language: English
Codec: S_TEXT/ASS, Advanced Sub Station Alpha

=======
VIDEO-3
=======

Format: Matroska (MKV)
PlayTime: 00:23:05.855

Video Stream:
Length: 00:23:04.466
Frames: 41534, 29.970 fps,
Codec: V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC (Family: )
Dimensions: 720x480, AR: 16/9

Audio Stream 1:
Language: English
Codec: A_AAC, A_AAC,
Sampling Rate: 48 KHz
Channel(s): 2 channel

Audio Stream 2:
Language: Japanese
Codec: A_AAC, A_AAC,
Sampling Rate: 48 KHz
Channel(s): 2 channel

Subtitle Stream:
Language: English
Codec: S_VOBSUB, The same subtitle format used on DVDs

So here's what I want to happen:
I want to use Video 1 as my main output video because I want the HD dimensions. I want to take the English subtitles from Video 2. And finally take the English audio from Video 3 and add it as a separate audio track for my output.

I've read some threads here and there. I installed the programs MKVtoolnix, MKVExtract, XVID4PSP, Handbrake. BeSweet (which oddly doesn't work in my PC).

My questions:

1. I think I should first convert the AVI to an MP4 with the V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC codec and AAC audio right? How do I actually do this? (this seems to be the standard from the MKVs I usually get)

2. I tried testing to see if the subs from Video 2 would work with Video 1. At first everything was going smoothly til it reached around 30 seconds into the video and the subs became more or less 15 seconds late til the end. I think this is because the subs were timed from a 23.976 fps video. Therefore, should I make Video 1 to be 23.976 fps? Are there other ways to sync it?

3. I also tried testing the English audio from Video 3. But then it was out of sync with Video 1 too. Since Video 3 is 29.970 fps, what should I do to have it synced to a 23.976 fps video? (Assuming that I'll use the 23.976 frame rate to try and match the subs.

Honestly, I would have stuck with Video 3 altogether but it had those crappy vobsub subtitles so I found Video 2 (which is almost the same as Video 3 albeit the dual audio but with better subs). Finally I discovered Video 1 and I couldn't pass it up. I also plan to do this process for a whole season (24 episodes = 72 videos in total). What would be the easiest way to do this?

Thanks a lot in advance and I trust the experts here would be able to help me out,,

[Baldrick]

1. Use a converter....like handbrake or xvid4psp.

2. Try subtitle workshop to resync the text ssa/ass subtitles. It has builtin framerate conversion but you probably have to manually check also, load the video and sub. Add it to the mp4 with yamb.

3. I don't know what to use. Maybe eac3to with a gui.


But it's not worth the time to go through 24 episodes for this....

[evile1690]

About using handbrake/xvidforpsp, what x264 profile should I use? In xvidforpsp alone there are tons to choose from and I have no idea what to pick. I've read from some sites that it's best to go for the q22 setting. What do you think?

And thanks for the advice but I'm really picky and (maybe OC) when it comes to these things. Hahaha but this is a learning experience for me~

[Alexstarfire]

IMO the easiest way to do this might be to convert them all to be exactly alike, in terms of FPS and time anyway. Once they are all alike it should be a relatively simple process of taking what you want from each of the videos. You can use MKVextractor to demux the MKV files into the audio/video files. You can then use VirtualDub to get the videos alike and it shouldn't be too hard to find a program to cut the audio properly.

I've got to say, if you plan on doing this for tons of episodes then there really isn't an easy way to do this, that I'm aware of anyway. You might be best off trying to find just one video to use.

It'd be awesome if you could link us to the files, or something like that. I've never had to do anything like this before so I'm going off of theory instead of experience.