Extracting MPEG4 From MKV

[Volvogga]

I got a bunch of video/audio files from a friend of mine that I would like to put onto DVDs. The majority of these files are OGM container format, and I was able to convert these files over to AVI by following a guide on this site by Baldrick, which involved using VirtualDubMod. The three Matroska files are giving me a lot of trouble, though. VDubMod wouldn't even open it untill I got a patch from SourceForge, and now it tells me that there is an error in the video stream. It identifies the stream as four "y"'s with two dots over them (sorry, I don't know the character's ASCII code).

My next attempt was with MKVtoolnix. With this program I can Extract the audio and subtitles, but the video bombs out. Even using the fullraw (think thats the switch) switch leaves me with a useless file. MKVToolNix identifies the stream as "V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC". Researching this, I descovered that this is MPEG4 format (obviously) and that the writer of MKVToolNix does not know how this format operates and is not really that interested in learning (at least he 'sounded' that way on the forum), so the format is not supported.

So that is what I have tried. I ask if anyone knows of a program, patch for one of these programs, or maybe a good way to hit my computer to get the MPEG4 video stream out of the MKV container. I'd really appreciate any help with this, as the groove in my desk is getting quite deep from the impact of my forehead. Thanks in advance.

[Baldrick]

it could be vfr video, try mkv2vfr from http://haali.cs.msu.ru/mkv/ . command line tool and works like
mkv2vfr video.mkv video.avi video.vfr

[Volvogga]

Thanks for the reply Baldrick. I got the app that you mentioned, and either that doesn't work, or I'm doing something wrong. Here is my input/output:

>mkv2vfr.exe [mkv file] track1.avi video.vfr

muxing App: libebml v0.7.4 + libmatroska v0.7.6
WritingApp: mkvmerge v1.4.2 .....yada yada
Title: [the title]
No Video Tracks Found


Any Ideas from that output. Like I said, I don't know if the avi and vfr needed some sort of substitution or not. Thanks.

[Baldrick]

tried mplayer?
mplayer video.mkv -dumpvideo -dumpfile video.avi or similiar

or it could be a corrupt mkv.

can you play it with no problems?

[Volvogga]

Mplayer... no. You will have to give me a little bit of time, as I have to burn the file and move it to my Linux box.

Also, I just noticed something interesting. The title of the file is long and confusing, so I never paid much attention to what it said. Having a closer look, I noticed this:

***(H264.AC3_5.1)***.mkv

I know AC3_5.1 is audio, but is H264 the video?

Anyway I'll try Mplayer in the meantime. Thanks.

[Volvogga]

Oh... sorry. I forgot to mention that it plays fan-freakn'-tasticly.

[Baldrick]

mplayer works fine under windows.

and yes it is probably h264 if it says that, maybe the x264.

[Volvogga]

Baldrick,

Well, the h264 doesn't tell me much, as I am new to all of these formats (I was hoping it might give you a few ideas). In anycase, I transfered the file over to Linux and started it in Mplayer. The file played, but with no subs and slow video (unaccelerated 4Mb Ati, so I'm not worried). I have no idea what codecs are installed in Linux at the moment, and all I remember is downloading a codec pack off of Mplayer's website.

I tried the command that you posted, and I got a lot of information. When all was said and done, I was left with one avi file. This file does not play. I then tried to rename the file to .mpeg with the cp comand. This file, also did not play.

I'll try downloading Mplayer for Windows tomarrow, so I can be sure on the codecs, and then I'll try that again. Thats got to be the closest thing to having the video so far. Thanks for your help, and I hope you may be willing to help me out a little more in the near future. Thanks again.

[Baldrick]

have you tried convert the mkv directly to dvd with like avi2dvd?