MKV Support "Unrecognized" MKV files... ??

[moon47usaco]

I have about 24 MKV files i want encoded for my iPod...

I have noticed the lacking support with MKV since the introduction of the universal binary versions...

Since release "W" up to the current one i get "Unrecognized" in the format and cannot re-encode MKV files...

I have an older Power PC version "V" witch reads "MOV" as the file type and although it is wrong (I remember having an older version that recognised "MKV" as the type before "V") as well as the other specs fo the MKV filesize, bitrate it will still reincode to a normal AVI...

I then use the newer version to get an IPOD compatible encode from that AVI encoded with version "V"...

Why is the new versions not recognizing these MKV files where older version could... ??

What happened to the MKV support... ??

Major... ??

[joshmunkey]

Have you tried uninstalling/reinstalling the application and/or its binaries, and additionally making sure that you installed the binaries correctly? I'm running version 0.0.9x on a PPC machine, and it works fine for me in recognizing matroska containers right off the bat.

[moon47usaco]

Tried uninstalling both the app and the support folder then reinstalling... Same problem...

Unrecognized in version "Y" but version "V" can read the file but does so incorrectly... Note that version "V" only recognizes it incorrectly but the encoding goes off without a hitch...

Because "Y" or "X" will not recognize it CAN NOT encode... Maybe there could be an option to force it to use a certain recognition pattern to base the encoding off of if it fails to automatically recognize like in this case...

Thanks for the idea joshmunkey... =]

But i think the problem lies in the way ffmpegX auto determines the file format, and in this case fails to do so... =[

[joshmunkey]

It's just hard to accept the fact that it's your build of ffmpegx, and yours alone, that has this failure to recognize the matroska container. My spider-sense, however weak, is telling me that either something has been installed incorrectly, or has been altered in a way that makes it not read correctly, or (possibly?) some other application is conflicting with ffmpegx (kind of a longshot). Have you tried re-downloading the separate binaries and installing them from the Install Binaries option?

[moon47usaco]

No its not that it is just MY application... I bileave that it happens to be these MKV's... Maybe i will try to upload a snippet of one of the MKV's and you can tell me if it works on your end... My guess is no but i could be wrong...

And yes when i reinstalled i cleaned out everything , downloaded and installed clean copies of ALL... App and bin packages...

[moon47usaco]

Here is a slice of the MKV i am working with... =]

It is about 5.00 seconds long but you can still re-encode it if ffmpegX will recognize it... =]

fate-stay01-slice.mkv

[joshmunkey]

Hmm, I do seem to remember there being a bit of an issue with early versions of the matroska container, but I thought that had been ironed out... Are the mkv files a bit old? If so, try this (assuming you have OS 10.4): download mkvtoolnix and load in an mkv file that won't work for you on ffmpegx. Under the output file name option, rename the file to "(file name)-1.mkv" and start the muxing process. After that's finished, try it out and see if it is recognized as an mkv file in ffmpegx.

Edit: oh you beat me to the post... Let me check it out then.

[moon47usaco]

So did you try the file and it did not work for you either... ??

I will try re muxing later tonight... =]

[joshmunkey]

It failed initially, but it is because for some reason or another, the video default language was called "RKK." Google fails me at the moment in finding out where the error stems from (as upon closer inspection, the video is labeled as "JPN"), but it's easily fixable. Download the mkvtoolnix application like i said, and load in the mkv files. Then select/highlight the video track and change the Language (under the "General track options" tab) to "Und (undetermined)" and mux it out with a changed output filename, as described earlier. It'll fix the problem and allow ffmpegx to properly recognize the file.

[moon47usaco]

How did you know it failed because of the language is there a log or something... ??

Also should i be using mkvmerge or what... ??

Not sure how to re-mux without extracting and re muxing from raw files... Witch is a pain... =[

[joshmunkey]

Yes, in the MKVMerge GUI there is an included error log. It read:

Error: 'RRK' is neither a valid ISO639-2 nor a valid ISO639-1 code. See 'mkvmerge --list-languages' for a list of all languages and their respective ISO639-2 codes.

I traced back where the RKK was listed, and in the command line input, the operation read as:

"mkvmerge" -o "/Volumes/Hard Drive 2/fate-stay01-slice1.mkv" --language 1:RRK --track-name "1:Fate/stay Night - 01 - The First Day" --default-track 1 --display-dimensions 1:688x384 --language 2:eng --track-name "2:English Audio" --default-track 2 --language 3:jpn --track-name "3:Japanese Audio" --language 4:eng --track-name 4:KRYM --default-track 4 --language 5:eng --track-name 5:fs1 -a 2,3 -d 1 -s 4,5 "/Volumes/Hard Drive 2/fate-stay01-slice.mkv" --track-order 0:1,0:2,0:3,0:4,0:5

So it became apparent that changing the video(track 1)'s language would negate the error.

[moon47usaco]

Oh i see...

MKVmerge GUI... ?? Under windows or Mac... ??

[joshmunkey]

Under mac. It's the application that is downloadable on the link that I provided 6 posts up (here). The GUI is only available for OS 10.4, not 10.3 though. For 10.3 you'd need to work it all through the terminal, which can be a drag and has a little bit of a learning curve. If I remember correctly, the 10.3 version also will not handle h.264 properly, though I could be mistaken.

[moon47usaco]

Oh... =]

I though it just installed the binaries like previous versions and i was going to have to command line this out... Well i still might but thats a nice addition... =]

[moon47usaco]

Hmm, I do seem to remember there being a bit of an issue with early versions of the matroska container, but I thought that had been ironed out... Are the mkv files a bit old?

Looks like they might be from around Oct 2007... ??

And yes remuxing them and changing the vid(1) lang fiked them and they encode in version "Y"... =]

Still not sure why it did not recognize them before... ??

Maybe Major will see my MKV snippit and can tell us why the newer version(s) W through Y do not recognize but Y does... =]