.TS to MKV - What makes this conversion so difficult?

[Tiernan]

I have a small test file (captured from UHD and a Moto 6412) resulting in a 50MB .TS file. VideoRedo reports:

File Size: 59176196 ( 0.06 GB )
Program Duration: 00:01:44.14
File Type: TS Stream
Encoding: MPEG 2
Video stream Id: 1984 (x7C0)
Encoding Dimensions: 1920 x 1080
Display Size: 1920 x 1080
Aspect Ratio: 16/9
Frame Rate: 29.97 FPS
Bit Rate: 80.000 Mbps
VBV_Buffer: 1194 KB
Profile: Main/High
Progressive: Prog or Int
Chroma: 4:2:0
Audio Format: 5.1
Audio Stream Id: AC3: 1985 (x7c1)
Audio Bit Rate: 384 Kbps
Audio Sampling Rate: 48000 Hz

and I've been trying to find a simple process to convert this to a working MKV file (1080 or 720 would be fine) for archiving purposes, but have had nearly no luck with that process (having used FFMpeg to downconvert to 720 X 480 for some time, I'm finally in a position to be able to play these captures back in HD and would like to maintain that quality). I've tried both SUPER and AutoMKV, attempting to keep the original audio stream (just a basic ac3 format, afterall) and convert the video to MKV/MP4 and mux appropriately. SUPER (v2008.build.25) would either generate an error, indicating some problem with the audio, or nothing. AutoMKV creates a lot of batch files, AVI Synth files, but no actual usable result (also indicating that it can't conver the audio)

Is there some aspect of this conversion that I'm missing - some complication in going from what should be basically a standard MPEG2 stream to MKV? Suggestions or direction would be much appreciated. Thanks for your help.

[Baldrick]

Tried Staxrip? Or megui, but it's probably not the simpliest process....

edit: Use this if you want to shrink and convert to h264. If you don't want to shrink the file it's no point to make a mkv...

[Midzuki]

First demux the TS file, then use MKVmergeGUI
(from MKVtoolnix) or AVI-mux GUI. No need for
converting the MPEG-2 video into H264 if you
really want to maintain the original Hi-Def quality. 8)

[Tiernan]

Thanks for the replies, guys. While I do want to maintain as much of the original HD quality as possible, space concerns dictate that, for now at least, if I can maintain MOST of the same quality, and use less space, that I'll need to go that route.

Truthfully, given how ubiquitous the mpeg4-based format is becoming (and the quality that can be maintained while getting amazing bitrates, filesizes and picture quality), nevermind the fact that this appears to be THE HD standard (whether it be via Blue-ray or non-media based delivery), it's just something that I've decided I need to learn more about and get comfortable with (just like VCDs/MPEG1, and MPEG2/DVD before it).

For the moment, HD delivery (at least on Comcast boxes) is going to be via .TS streams, so it'll be helpfull (nay important) to be able to deal with both formats easily. So, it's a shame that there arent more tools out there (so far) to make this easier.

So, to summarize, I do want to maintain as much of the quality as possible, but MP4 appears to be the way to go, storage-wise. I guess I need to try STAXRIP or MEGUI (the only other 2 that seem to do this kind of conversion that I've not tried yet)

[poisondeathray]

Choose what bitrate/filesize you want. Your original is 80Mbps or 80,000kbps (huge).

The easy way would be to use ripbot264, but the max bitrate is about 8000kbps for video. You can keep 6-channel audio. I bet this is sufficent quality, try it out. You can use mp4 or mkv containers

If you want customized options, use avisynth scripts with MeGUI => this approach may be daunting for beginners

Good Luck

[Tiernan]

Thanks for the specifics poisondeathray. Although VideoRedo is reporting 80Mbps, I think actual is more like 12-15 to a max of 25 (typical for UHD), so I guess that does beg the question as to what is an appropriate bitrate for an averge x264/MKV HD file (1080 or 720p). I've tried to play back another MKV I have which might be typical for a 720p, and it seems to run from 2500 to 6500, so I'm guessing that a 1080 would need to be a bit higher (though with VBR, it might be hard to tell)

Is there a good program out there to indicate/report actual bitrate on a x264/MPG4/MKV files?

Trying out the suggested programs now...

[poisondeathray]

Try mediainfo to parse for better information

There is no "appropriate bitrate." What looks good to me might not look good for you and vice versa. Just encode a few small sample clips at different bitrates and select one that is suitable for your tastes, or compact enough for your requirements

[Tiernan]

Thanks again for suggestions. I installed STAXRIP (in addition to the billion add-ons that it required) and... 3+ hours later, an almost, but not totally useless 1GB MKV file from a 2.36GB .TS 22min TS test file. Quality was at 51%, video bitrate at 7025, and indicating a Compressibility of .23. (the original audio was just carried over "add existing audio". So, it appears that this process needs more work.

I've done some research in the mean time, and it appears that FFMPEG itself should be able to handle converting to MKV/MP4. Now I just need to find a good batch file to steamline the process...

[krenoja]

I have used Mediacoder for transcoding mpeg2 files to H264 and it works great for me.

[Soopafresh]

Try the AutoMKV utility as well. It was designed to create h264 MKV files at very high quality. You can also batch queue the jobs.

If all you want to do is put the TS file into a MKV container, then try the GDSmux utility which is found in the Haali Media Splitter folder. Works without re-encoding.

[Tiernan]

Thanks for the further suggestions. I was able to do an additional encode using FFMPEG, but it appears that bringing the audio over is another challenge (VLC would not play back with audio)

I'll give Mediacoder a try (it's FFMPEG-based, right?), as I do want to recode while maintaining as much of the original quality as possible (I'm looking for approx. 1GB files/~45 min. TV shows)

I'd tried AutoMKV before, and the initial results at that time were empty - couldn't get it to convert at all. I'll have another look at it.

The question that really needs to be asked is - since this is all going to one MP4 some form or another, how do you decide what codec to use (assuming that it's probably going in a ".MKV" container) - AVC, VC-1, H264, MP4...?

[poisondeathray]

The question that really needs to be asked is - since this is all going to one MP4 some form or another, how do you decide what codec to use (assuming that it's probably going in a ".MKV" container) - AVC, VC-1, H264, MP4...?

.MP4 is a container, like .AVI or .MKV. AVC is synonomous with h.264.

h.264 and vc-1 are very close in quality at same bitrate, I think h.264 has the slight edge. If you read the forums at doom9, that seems to be the consensus as well.

I've mentioned what has been successful for me already; 1) ripbot264 - easy 2) avisynth with megui - slightly more complicated. Another option would be to demux the streams with TsMuxeR, re-encode the raw h.264 to a lower bitrate, package the video & audio stream into mkv with mkvmergegui.

Good Luck

[kouras]

First demux the TS file, then use MKVmergeGUI
(from MKVtoolnix) or AVI-mux GUI. No need for
converting the MPEG-2 video into H264 if you
really want to maintain the original Hi-Def quality. 8)

and how the new MKV file would be different from TS, then?

[poisondeathray]

First demux the TS file, then use MKVmergeGUI
(from MKVtoolnix) or AVI-mux GUI. No need for
converting the MPEG-2 video into H264 if you
really want to maintain the original Hi-Def quality. 8)

and how the new MKV file would be different from TS, then?

One difference is the mkv overhead is smaller (5-6%), so smaller filesize (on a dvd you would be saving 200-300MB)

[artemis17]

What are the avg bit rate or encoding settings for bluray x264 rips and or TV 720p Rips ? anyone know? I wanna convert my .TS into MKVs according to those standards

[[_chef_]]

What are the avg bit rate or encoding settings for bluray x264 rips and or TV 720p Rips ? anyone know? I wanna convert my .TS into MKVs according to those standards

There are NO such "standards".

[buzzqw]

I suggest to try HDConvertToX

since it use eac3to to handle audio, it's more efficent (and secure) than automkv

BHH

[artemis17]

Can someone explain how HD mkv TV rips are done so fast in the scene? The only way i know of ripping PVR HD video is to .TS and i have a pretty damn decent computer which takes hours to convert to mkv how are they doing it so fast?

[ranosb]

First demux the TS file, then use MKVmergeGUI
(from MKVtoolnix) or AVI-mux GUI. No need for
converting the MPEG-2 video into H264 if you
really want to maintain the original Hi-Def quality. 8)

Yes I believe this is the way to go;
- Tsmuxer to demux
- Mkvtoolnix/MkvMergeGUI to join the video & audio into a mkv file (Splitting done here if required for dvd5/dvd9)
I recommend 4250k for Dvd5's
- Tsmuxer to Avchd

Burn with Imgburn!

[jamespoo]

hay i can convert a ts in mpeg2 in megui and i dont need to do all theose other things

[Tiernan]

jamespoo - While MeGUI can be used to create a script (which could then be used in another programs,) it's really meant to create MP4-based files (AVI, MP4, MKV, etc.) Once you load the TS file, then create the D2V file, you can go to the AVS Script Creation option, which has the ability to automatically create an AVS script for you. Once it has created what it considers to be an appropriate AVS script for the file, THEN you can use HCGUI for MPEG-2 conversions.

To everyone else - I just wanted to stop in long enough to say thank you for all of your suggestions, guidance, directions, etc. I've been working with MeGUI, AVS, HCGUI, etc. for several months now, and while I won't go so far as to say I'm comfortable with or proficient with the AVS scripting, what I HAVE learned has allowed me to handle quite a variety of conversion complications over these months. MeGUI is definitely one of the better, if not the best way to go about this TS-MKV conversion process.

Your patience has been appreciated.

[fritzi93]

I suggest to try HDConvertToX

since it use eac3to to handle audio, it's more efficent (and secure) than automkv

BHH

I agree. And it's also easy with HDconvertToX to simply mux the audio and video without re-encoding into MKV, just copy the streams. As indicated by many posts above, there are a number of ways/tools to do it.

[DisneyDisciple]

HDC has been working very well for me -- my only issue is a lingering problem I have with the sound. I used "Copy Audio" to convert a short test .ts in 5.1 to an .mkv, but the sound is noticeably different in the .mkv. I think it has to do with the dialog normalization -- I can't seem to defeat its removal in HDC, or recreate it in the .mkv.

I'm attaching the "post this file" although HDC seems to have gotten confused with 2 different files. (In both cases, I was trying to accomplish the same thing) The named file is about a minute long, but the data seems to be from a different encode I did of a 23 minute .ts.

Any thoughts?

[DisneyDisciple]

(Looking at this report again, I think this is when I experimented with a different decoding option -- will try again and post new report)

[DisneyDisciple]

This is the new report (I had it set for "Copy Audio" again, but it looks like maybe the then-unchangeable pull-downs below in the audio tab had it working 2 channels). The audio has the same issue, 2 channel or no. I am including another log which refers to where the dialog normalization is removed.

[Shalafi]

Hello guys,

I'm new here but i'm not an amateur in this things. Actually i was a ripper/uploader for a scene release group about 7-8 years ago and did many DVDRips once upon a time Tools like GordianKnot/DVDecrypter/VirtualDub(MOD)/NanDUB are similar to me but as i said, it was a long time ago.

Now i decided to back those good days and try to make some back-ups for my DVB-S record .ts files.
I'm recording from different channels (Mostly HD ans sometimes SD) My set-top DVB box is a Dreambox DM800.

After recording and transferring the files to my PC, i decide to try newest codecs and tools to convert them to MKV.
After googling and reading some stuff, downloaded Mencoder/Mplayer/MeGUI package. Cannot find any sequental header for video, checking PID's not working. After demuxing (ProjectX) have a file with .264 extension and can't load this file to indexer! also this file wont rendered by any player on my PC like VLC, Media Player Classic, Mplayer...
It is failed..

Then tried Automen. It can not index the file or cannot render the video to encode/ cant find video PID bla bla Tried on the filter section different encoders (Mencoder, ffmpeg, avsynth etc)
I have to set bitrate and file length manuel because it cannot index/render the input file. After bitrate calculating with other tools,
maunel bitrate and croppin i can add the job to queque and run/start it.
Then it's open a cmd window and endless command lines in it. Without any result.
It is failed..

Then HDConvertXTo. Same story: requested average bitrate: 1375, final average bitrate: 1915 for XviD, so wrong filesize after encoding.
For x264 "cannot find the video, pls check your video PID" also cant see/load/open raw 264 file (extracted from ts)

It is failed..

Tried MediaCoder.. Receiving (after hours encoding): Error code 11 without any result but a disaster.
It is failed..

Tried AutoGK It can convert SD ts files (720x576) to avi but HD TS files cant load at the beginning! so no chance.
It is failed..

Then Handbrake.. It made some MKV files for me but not usable (Source was like 3GB and after Handbrake 6,5GB)
All settings like crop/bitrate/preset/filesize/filters are ignored by Handbrake..
It is failed..

Then, Staxrip... (It is the only one tool that can convert my HD ts files to XviD with manuel settings! but not to MKV)
It is failed..

AutoMKV..... Try to indexing then it is suck. For example:

 
 
14:31:03 0.98.4  - - - - - - - - - - - - - START JOBS - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14:31:03 Selected Input file:     D:\videoworkshop\Great.track_2505.mkv
14:31:03 Selected Output dir:     D:\videoworkshop\temp\
14:31:03 Selected Final Name:     Great
14:31:03 Selected Container type: MKV
14:31:03 Selected Encoder:        X264
14:31:03 Selected Size:           1264 / 1
14:31:03 Selected Profile:        2_Pass_Better_Quality.xml
14:31:03 Selected Resizer:        SimpleResize (neutral soft) / 720
14:31:03 Selected Filters:        SeeSaw()
14:31:03 Selected Deinterlacer:   Interlaced
14:31:03 Selected Field Order:    TFF
14:31:03 Manual Crop&Resize       Enabled
14:31:03 Left Crop:               8
14:31:03 Top Crop:                4
14:31:03 Right Crop:              8
14:31:03 Botton Crop:             12
14:31:03 Manual Width:            1280
14:31:03 Manual Height:           720
14:31:03 Manual Crop              Enabled
14:31:03 Left Crop:               8
14:31:03 Top Crop:                4
14:31:03 Right Crop:              8
14:31:03 Botton Crop:             12
14:31:03 Enabled FFMPEG Encoding: h264 High Quality
14:31:03 Using Matrix: M4G_High_Detail_V3.1.cfg
14:31:03 Working by Command Line: queue1.ini
14:31:03 Track Language 1:        NONE
14:31:03 Audio Codec 1:           Lame
14:31:03 Track Language 2:        NONE
14:31:03 Audio Codec 2:           Nero AAC
14:31:03 Enabled Use DirectShowSource for AUDIO and VIDEO
14:31:03 
14:31:03 Extracting audio track 0 NONE with ffmpeg
14:31:07 Number of Frames:        68729
14:31:07 Framerate:               25.000000
14:31:07 Movie length in Seconds: 2750
14:31:07 Movie Width/Height:      1920/1088
14:31:07 Checking script...movie.avs
14:31:11 "D:\Program Files\AutoMKV0984\exe\BeSweet\ffmpeg.exe" -i "D:\videoworkshop\Great.track_2505.mkv" -pass 1 -r 25.000 -threads 4 -vcodec libx264 -b 3740000 -cropleft 8 -croptop 4 -cropright 8 -cropbottom 12 -s 1280x720  -deinterlace  -qmin 10 -qmax 51 -an -partitions all -deblockalpha -2 -deblockbeta -1 -directpred 2 -refs 3 -bf 3 -subq 7 -mixed_refs -dct8x8 -o -y "D:\videoworkshop\temp\movie.mp4"
14:31:11 "D:\Program Files\AutoMKV0984\exe\BeSweet\ffmpeg.exe" -i "D:\videoworkshop\Great.track_2505.mkv" -pass 2 -r 25.000 -threads 4 -vcodec libx264 -b 3740000 -cropleft 8 -croptop 4 -cropright 8 -cropbottom 12 -s 1280x720  -deinterlace  -qmin 10 -qmax 51 -partitions all -deblockalpha -2 -deblockbeta -1 -directpred 2 -refs 3 -bf 3 -subq 7 -mixed_refs -dct8x8 -o -y "D:\videoworkshop\temp\movie.mp4"
14:31:11 Encoding finished:       00:00:08 elapsed time
14:31:11 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
14:31:11 Script movie.avs
14:31:11  
14:31:11 #loadpluginstart
14:31:11 
14:31:11 #test1
14:31:11 
14:31:11 #importstart
14:31:11 
14:31:11 #test2
14:31:11 
14:31:11 movie = directshowsource("D:\videoworkshop\Great.track_2505.mkv",fps=25.000000,convertfps=true,audio=false)
14:31:11 movie = isRGB(movie) ? ConvertToYV12(movie,interlaced=true) : movie
14:31:11 movie = isYUY2(movie) ? ConvertToYV12(movie,interlaced=true) : movie
14:31:11 function getOrder(clip c) { 
14:31:11 order = GetParity(c) ? 1 : 0 
14:31:11 Return order } 
14:31:11 #filter1start
14:31:11 
14:31:11 #test3
14:31:11 
14:31:11 movie = LeakKernelDeint(movie,order=1,sharp=true)
14:31:11 last = movie
14:31:11 crop(8,4,-8,-12)
14:31:11 fixed_aspect = 1.789276
14:31:11 #Aspect_Error = -1.#IO%
14:31:11 #resizestart
14:31:11 
14:31:11 #test4
14:31:11 
14:31:11 SimpleResize(1280,720)
14:31:11 #filter2start
14:31:11 
14:31:11 #test5
14:31:11 
14:31:11 SeeSaw()
14:31:11  
14:31:11 - - - - - - - - - - - - FINISHED JOBS - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

AutoX264... Succeeded for one time and made an incorrect filesized MKV (want to create 2cd but get from Autox264 like 540MB, tried twice!)

All failed...

Now i am a bit confused then i decided to try something shareware, something commercial. Downloaded and installed AVS converter. It has lot of built-in presets and supports many different formats (in/out) It is very usefull.. and it did it! I am very upset because this software can make waht other freewares couldnt. BUT it has disadvantages!

Files (created by AVS) are really bad, i mean they have a bad scree/video/audio quality.
I can not specify a final filesize.
I can not set another bitrate option vor encodign preset(s) otherwise it fails! or it wont encode!
I can not choose for some audio options which i like to use, like copy audio or VBR/ABR Lame encoding.
I can not make a crop. It has a autocrop option anmd it is very poor.
After 4500 kbps encoding (a file 45 minutes length) it gave me a MKV which you can see bloks at the frames!! Like a cheap youtube video on a HD screen!
After 1250 kbps encoding XviD the quality is still unacceptable for me because i know what it should be/how it looks like after 1250 kbps!
I can not specify pass (1/2/3) options..

So it is just like a joke.. It can convert to any format and it is working but annoying because the final quality is too bad and really poor! and i cannot change the settings for a simple encoding..


I tried a few different ts files, ripped/recorded from different channels like nat.Geo.HD, Nat.Geo WILD HD, Discovery HD, History HD or SD channels.. My SD records and ts files are encoded to xvid by AutoGK without anyproblem. Didn't try to MKV because not needed!

I tried all that tools with different ts files and different ways, tried projectX to demux and get raw .264 & ac3 files to encode which is failed to load.
Tried to put ts elements (after demuxing) in mkv with mkvmergeGUI then tried to encode again but not worked. All same errors.
Tried also without any filter to make it easy for conversation/encoding but wont worked too.
So all resulted same. A big disappointing.
What am i doing wrong?
PS: If you want I can paste all errors/screenshots/logs from those tools that failed.

[milOtis]

Try the AutoMKV utility as well. It was designed to create h264 MKV files at very high quality. You can also batch queue the jobs.

If all you want to do is put the TS file into a MKV container, then try the GDSmux utility which is found in the Haali Media Splitter folder. Works without re-encoding.

BINGO! I know this is an old thread, but this is Exactly what I needed to do...ts to mkv without reencoding. I need to normalize the audio though...any way to do that where it will reencode the audio but not the video?

[Shalafi]

BINGO! I know this is an old thread, but this is Exactly what I needed to do...ts to mkv without reencoding. I need to normalize the audio though...any way to do that where it will reencode the audio but not the video?

In fact, you can use HD stream extractor (a bulit-in MeGUI Tool) to extract Audio and video streams from TS if the ts file recorded from any HD Channel, or you can extract the audio from ts file with TS Remux if your source is a SD channel. Tehn use Staxrip to encode our ts file but for the video convertion choose the "just mux" and for audio choose what you wanna use for conversation.
Or eac3to to conver your extracted audio.. Done..

[Shalafi]

At this time StaxRip is the only one tool that i am using without any issue or errors. It is doing the job almost perfect.
Thanks for the developer. Really great tool. It convert all my ts files without any fails to mkv or avi.

[meltcity]

Does anyone know why MKVs of broadcast TV always seem to have the original AC3 5.1 recoded to AC3 2.0 at the same bit rate?

Is there a technical reason that makes it difficult to preserve the original audio?