MKVs are making me want to cry!

[J@ffa]

For the love of god, why does this format exist? Is there something wrong with regular .mp4 files?

Anyhow, I'm trying to get some .mkv files that I have to become .mp4s so that I can put them into iTunes in preparation for getting an Apple TV. I've searched for at least an hour, but now I'm ready to shoot myself. Surely there's some way of doing this, preferably without hours and hours of encoding? Thanks to anyone who can help me out!

[thoughton]

The only way I know (without reencoding) is a command line app called mkvextract. Demux the mkv and then depending what format video and audio is inside it recombine it in another container. Don't forget that you only need a format that QT understands (so you can make a reference movie out of it), it doesn't have to be something specifically supported by Front Row.

[J@ffa]

The only way I know (without reencoding) is a command line app called mkvextract. Demux the mkv and then depending what format video and audio is inside it recombine it in another container. Don't forget that you only need a format that QT understands (so you can make a reference movie out of it), it doesn't have to be something specifically supported by Front Row.

How do I remux it? I demuxed it, and I now have a .aac sound file (which I can open in quicktime) and a .h264 file (which I can't). I tried renaming the h264 file to a couple of things (.mov, .mp4) but no dice.

[jagabo]

How do I remux it?

ffmpegx mabye?

[terryj]

but then he gets into the "hours and hours of encoding"
he doesn't want.

Try our friend's new tool,
MoKgVm2DVD
this will at least get you an .avi ( using the h.264 codec)
I then would process that through ffmpegx, and that
shortens the time a bit, from "hours" to "minutes".

[dnix71]

I haven't tried it on an mkv, but with your particular file iSquint might work without demuxing.
An h.264 plus aac audio should be readable.

[mekronk]

but then he gets into the "hours and hours of encoding"
he doesn't want.

Try our friend's new tool,
MoKgVm2DVD
this will at least get you an .avi ( using the h.264 codec)
I then would process that through ffmpegx, and that
shortens the time a bit, from "hours" to "minutes".

MoKgVm2DVD now includes mencoder, mplayer, mkvextract, and ogmdemux as resources. This has bumped the file size up to almost 12 MB which forced me to move the file to:

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/2/27/830472/MoKgVm2DVD.zip

It also means, for those who have used it before, that you no longer need to include the "helper applications" in the same folder as MoKgVm2DVD.

J@ffa, though this app won't convert your .mkv file into a .mp4, it will, as terryj mentioned, quickly convert it to a .avi without demuxing or re-encoding. The .avi file you end up with should be more easily manipulated with the video tools available to mac users.

It's still very much beta (probably more like pre-beta). There are no instructions or Read Me yet, but hopefully it's fairly straightforward to use. Eventually I'll start a post here asking for beta testers, but until then, any feedback would be appreciated.

Good luck.

[jpschuck]

How do I remux it? I demuxed it, and I now have a .aac sound file (which I can open in quicktime) and a .h264 file (which I can't). I tried renaming the h264 file to a couple of things (.mov, .mp4) but no dice.

You'll have to use mp4box through the terminal. The mp4box binary can be found if you use the Finder to "Show package content" on ffmpegX (contents>resources).

1/ make a copy of mp4box anywhere else on your hard drive
2/ open a terminal window
3/ drag and drop mp4 box on the command line prompt
4/ type -add then drop the .h264 file
5/ type -add then drop the .aac file
6/ type a name for the output .mp4 file
The resulting command should be something like (of course there is no line break, and don't forget the spaces between each element)

/Users/jpschuck/Desktop/mp4box -add /Users/jpschuck/Desktop/video.h264 -add /Users/jpschuck/Desktop/audio.aac output.mp4

7/ hit return & wait until the muxing is done
8/ your .mp4 file is in your home directory

[billabong_84]

I am having trouble with the same thing...

I did what you all said...

I demux the MKV to a .h264 and converted the audio to .AAC

Then I used YAMB to make it into a MP4...

But I get audio with just no video, the video is just black.... Where did I go wrong? Did I skip a step?

[terryj]

I would follow my and merkonk's suggestions.
His app is top notch, and has only failed me once
( but it was on an ogm file, and I went back to
ffmpegx for that).

If you follow our steps, you'll get an .avi file
that you can then easily drop into iSquint,
Visualhub or even QT Pro and get an .mp4 flavor
that works....

[bergz]

Hello, all.

I'm having the same problem as the original poster. I've got an .mkv containing some x264 hp video. I haven't been able to find any codecs for the mac specific to hp (is this the same as avc / hp?).

I've tried extracting with mkvextract, ffmpegx and MoKgVm2DVD, and the video file is always unrecognizable.

I imagine that I don't have the right codec, but can't find it anywhere.

Thanks for any help,

--Bergz

[terryj]

VLC 0.86b should be able to play it.
Have You tried this?
You could then "hijack" VLC and get a quicktime
compatible file with iShowU from the .mkv file.

as for the codec, have youlooked here?

[bergz]

VLC 0.86b should be able to play it.
Have You tried this?
You could then "hijack" VLC and get a quicktime
compatible file with iShowU from the .mkv file.

as for the codec, have youlooked here?

Thanks for the tips, Terry. I've installed the codec you linked to but the video.vid file is still unreadable by VLC, MPlayer and QT Pro, even with .mp4 instead of .vid. It's strange because mkvextract has always identified the file as H.264. But not even ffmpegx can identify the resulting video.vid file.

I've downloaded the iShowU demo you suggested, and while your solution would probably work, I'm not quite ready to pay for the program as I can't see my needing it in the foreseeable future.

Thanks again.

--Bergz