Are there are other apps like gotsent? Looking to convert mkv to mp4

[AndyD]

I'm determined. I finally got a file converted! Looks like I finally got Belight/sweet to work. I had issues with it recognizing neroAacEnc.exe but it was because I was using a very old version of the app (2.1). Updated it to 2.2 RC1 and it worked! So...

used mkvtoolnix and mkvextract to extract the files. Then used Belight to conver the ac3 file to aac. Finally used Yamb to conver the two to mp4

Now the only issue is that it didn't play on the 360. I assume it's because of what you mentioned (and forgot from your previous reply) - I converted the audio to 5.1. Trying again with stereo set instead of 5.1 to see if that makes a difference. I'll report back soon!

[AndyD]

Well, that failed miserably. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I don't get an error but I also just get a black screen with no playback. Doesn't crash the system but just nothing happens. Converting the audio to AAC using the LC profile to see if that makes a difference

[AndyD]

It didn't. Now looking into WMV HD but I'm afraid that will require far more time

[AndyD]

I haven't tried this but from what I gather from the guys over at xbox-scene - the issue may be with trying to stream the file. Looks like the 360 doesn't support streaming of mp4s but will play off of dvds or external hard drive

[poisondeathray]

Have you tried tversity?

[AndyD]

I tried it back when I was trying to transcode xvid and that never worked as good as I hoped. I can only imagine I would have less luck with hd streaming. I'll probably end up converting to wmv hd when I find some time.

Appreciate everyone's help during this. It was a frustrating experience but I learned some things so it's not a complete loss

[MrJspeed]

Hello AndyD!

I think I'm in the same boat as you. I recently got an Xbox360 and have been trying to play some HD Media.
I use Tversity and have been mostly successful in figuring out how to view everything until now.

I recently got ahold of some 720p HD .mkv movies that I've been trying to view on the Xbox via Tversity.

For those who have settled as Vista 64Bit to being the problem with Gotsent not working, I'm sorry to say, I have the same problem. I'm running XP 32Bit 1.8ghz amd, and the problem is when I have the mp3 or ogg radio button as the audio output, it extracts the video, but doesn't convert back and generate a file. GOTSent only seems to work if AC3 or DTS is selected for the audio output, otherwise, its completly useless.

What I ended up doing is converting a small 720 .mkv file (about 60 secs worth) to mp4 having AC3 selected as the audio output. I didn't think the XBox would take it, but it ended up working. I have my Xbox wired into my router, and I was able to stream the 60 sec clip great... full 720p quality, no lag, etc.

I then converted the entire movie, which to my delight doesn't take very long (compared to re-encoding HD content), to mp4. For whatever reason, it doesn't work. I'm not sure why it worked with the small clip and not with the entire movie. This could be a problem with Tversity or not. Then again, I'm not sure why it played the small video since I was under the impression that Xbox doesn't play AC3 audio. Since then I've tried converting the mp4 to another format, but that just gets into a huge mess cuz it takes several hours, and there is quality loss.

I've overcome every Xbox360/Tversity problem until now. I have the next 2 days off of work so I'm gonna be using the time to try to figure this thing out. I'll post my solution (if i find one). If your Xbox is wired (not wireless) into your router, I really suggest not giving up on streaming HD content. Right now this is the only option I have. My XboxHD is 15 gigs and don't have any means at the moment of transfering over stuff. I've been able to stream some .divx full 1080p content with 5.1 mp3 surround through my crappy 11mbps router and have it look absolutly amazing with no lag.

A few questions for whomever may have the knowledge:
As far as GOTSent not working with MP3 and OGG, can anyone prove me wrong? I'd like to know why it's stopping at stage 1 on the convert process. I installed GotSent and AC3filter and left everything on the default settings (except slecting mp3 as output audio) and it doesnt finish converting.

[draven1968]

I got an Xbox360(with the dashboard update) and have been to get MKV working here's what ive encounted.

I had a 40min MKV (4.3gig) file used GOTSENT..didnt work
Used MKVEXTRACT and split the vid into 2 parts...
used GOTSENT again and it worked...BUT...played the newly created MP4 files of the Xbox360 and
the vid would "pause" for a second at regular intervals (every 3-4 minutes)

So i gave up and used Riverpast Video Cleaner and converted both parts to WMV9
played them trough the Xbox360 and worked PERFECTLY !!! BUT !!! took 12hours to re-encode on
my pc

Next REALLY BIG program i also have a 3 HOUR vid(8.4gig) in MKV format !! ....didnt even comtemplate using
Riverpast Video Cleaner for that... so i tried Videora360 (this program didnt work at all with the above file)

Split the video into 2 parts with MKVEXTRACT...used Videora360 and selected MKV Passthrough profile...
Nope...didnt work

Split the video into 3 parts used Videora360 and selected MKV Passthrough profile...
And it worked...put the files on my external drive plugged in the xbox and they play perfect....
took a total time of about 40mins to process all 3 three parts sweet (better than a couple of days

Conclusion....
maybe something funny going on with file sizes and/or video run time and/or AC3/AAC
dunno...im not an expert...i just try different ways to do things and pray to god it works

anyways, hope this helps anyone with ideas

Cheers
Phil

[MrJspeed]

i actually got mine to work and got it to stream over Tversity no problem. I stumbled upon this topic on another forum and found 11 pages of posts of problems and some solutions:

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=620160&st=0

Basically, here are some of the roadblocks people need to get through:

*** XBox won't play remote files if they are over 4GB in size. This was actually the problem I was having. I tried playing the file and it was giving me an error, saying it wasn't supported. GOTSent gives you the option of splitting the file every 4GB. I did that and it worked. The only downside is that halfway through the movie, I'm gonna have to select the 2nd file. Its not that bad I guess...

*** The movie needs to be 1920 or les res, and the bitrate needs to be less than 10k. This shouldn't be a problem with 720p movies, but may be a problem with 1080p. If your movie is too rich you might just have to re-encode.

*** If you're using GOTSent, be sure you have AC3Filter installed. You also might need Community Codec Pack.

-------------------

There are tons of post on that other forum, and I'd say at least 50% of the people w/ problems end up getting it resolved. I'd read through it, I'm sure you'll find your scenario there somewhere

[LordNikon]

Ok.. I had the same problem in Vista x64, ther was simply no one click tool to convert a MKV to a file that could be played on my XBOX 360.
So I took some free tools and made a simple interface, where you choose the mkv, and output folder an click convert, that is it.
It converts the ac3 stream to an AAC (128kbps .. I don't mind the slight audio quality decrease) and then uses MP4Box, to make a MP4 container.. with a avi extension(I needed this).

For now it work only with the NTSC frame rate... 23.something, didn't have the time to find a way to read the frame rate form the source file.

It is simple and it has bugs, but for me it works.

http://www.luknja.com/MKVBoxer-0.1b.zip

Feel free to distribute this file to wherever or whomever you want, and remeber it's a beta (or worse)

p.s.
The connection could be slow

[LordNikon]

OK, obviously it doesn't work.. I get a black screen, but the xbox doesn't say the format is not supported or anything.
So, could someone point out my problem?

When converting I take mkvextractor to extract the h264 and ac3 tracks.
Then I use AZID to get a wav from the AC3. This wav is normalized and then converted to a constant bit rate AAC (128) with LC profile.
This AAC and the h264 are then joined with MP4Box...

I can't find the mistake.. you can also use the programm to see the process in detail, and point out the mistake if any.

Thanks!


EDIT:
OK, I think I found the problem.. i didn't change the profile level.. now it is 4.1, end the first test worked.

EDIT2:
http://www.luknja.com/MKVBoxer-0.1b.zip should work now.. at least I could convert all files tested so that they successfully played on the XBOX 360.

[AndyD]

I managed to get it working! I had install yet another program but it did the trick. You have to change the h264 level from 5.1 to 4.1 using h264info. Takes a couple of minutes. So in case anyone wants to do the same...

mkvextract and mkvtoolnix to extract the video and audio
converted the audio using besweet/belight + nero aac codec
changed the h264 level to 4.1 using h264info
then used Yamb to convert the video and audio to a mp4 set 25 for framerate since the source file had that for framerate.

If I knew how to program, I would spend the time writing a unified app. Having to use all of this is a bit annoying but it's free and it works. The whole process took about 30 minutes. I lose 5.1 in the process but I don't have that kind of setup now anyway and I plan on keeping the source files backed up just in case.

[Clifurd]

Do any of you get this VERY LOUD BEEPing sound after you convert a file?