Extracting .MKV cabinet to .AVI?

[Gew]

Hiya!

So, 'mkvextract' is kinda neat. However, I can only "extract" the streams as seperate video/audio, which is kinda dull. So, my question is regarding the possibility of extracting MKV -> sort of original .AVI file, with audio/video streams as of original. To make myself even more clear, "re-extract" them in the matter that even the checksum of the "new compiled" .AVI matches the original AVI. Is this possible?

Or is the only possible way on doing this - still - first extracting audio/video seperately, and then re-joining them with a tool like VirtualDubMod? I've read forums for an hour, containing this question on posts from like ever since y2k4, with no real exhaustive answers.

So, _if_ you still need to make it a-step-at-the-time, which application is the best one out there nowadays for rejoining audio/video streams to a new target AVI? I mean since VirtualDubMod is halted for like >2 yrs.. Something better when it comes to format support etc, since (from those old posts I read) there was some difficulties on the support for some Matroska files with VDubMod.

Thanks for all the answers.
And still,, best thing would be if I could get the audio/video joined instantly already from the beginning! ;>

[guns1inger]

You wont get a checksum match simply because the structure of the mkv and avi containers are too different. However why the checksum should matter is beyond me.

Can you put the contents of an mkv into an AVI ? Maybe. Not all of the centents can go into an AVI. MKV is capable of holding several different files - jpegs etc) that an AVI wont handle, so they go out the window immediately.

Then there is the supported codecs. Not all video and audio codecs behave nicely in an AVI container.

You could try AVI Demux, which will open mkv files and allow you to write the content out to an AVI container.

I tested this by creating an mkv with H264 video and AAC audio - a typical use of mkv. I loaded this into AVI Demux 2.4+ and with audio and video in Copy mode, wrote the contents out to an AVI file. G-Spot confirmed that the video content was indeed H264, although it couldn't identify the audio.

However, nothing I have would play it. This includes VLC, The KM Player, and Media Player Classic. The mkv, on the other hand, plays happily in everything.

[Gew]

Aww, well, the checksum match was simply to make myself clear in the point that I'm looking for something as/real close to the _original_ w/o any modifications.

So, sounds like this AVI-Mux is wack. I just read about some application called AVI_Mux-GUI, not sure if it would be any better in this matter. However, I still think it's kinda strange..

I mean..
MKVextract.exe allows me to regain just about the original, just without the a/v appended (testing with a .MKV containing Xvid video/MP3 audio). So, why should that last piece of work be so hard? It should really(!!) be a feature in MKVExtractGUI.

[guns1inger]

AVI Demux - different application entirely.

If you have an mkv with Xvid/mp3 content then I suspect AVI Demux will happily make a playable AVI out of it.

Like I said in my previous post - it will depend to some degree on what the content of the mkv is.


Confirmed : AVI Demux will take an mkv with Xvid and mp3 content, and repack this into an AVI container without changing the content in any way. It is very fast as well (OK - these were short test clips). G-Spot confirms the validity of the AVI file created.

[Gew]

But - still..

There's no native full-extraction-of-original-sources feature in the Matroska container; thus making it easier for i.e. mkvextract.exe to do the trick..? I mean, perhaps this is a paradox itself, 'cuz it would ruin the whole fine point with the Matroska format? ..or is it?

[guns1inger]

The point of the matroska format is simply to create a playable file with various codecs, subtitle formats and other guff. It is not designed to be a method of carrying around video and audio to be re-packaged elsewhere. There is no benefit. Similarly, MKVExtract if for demuxing content from the MKV container, not repackaging it in other formats.

If you check my previous post you will see that for AVI supported codecs, AVI Demux is a single program solution to your question. If the AVI container doesn't nicely support the codec (AAC audio, for instance) then you will either have to re-encode (again, AVI Demux can do this in the same pass), or use a tool that can shoe-horn it in, and live with any playback issues that arise.

[Gew]

Okey..

Well, now I've come to the conclusion..
The _not_ included feature in mkvextract for joining the audio/video output parts to one final product .AVI is _not_ an issue of compitability or something like that, but really just about trademark concern. MKVExtract will produce the video in the .AVI format just because it's the easiests way to do, but we're not talking an actual container, but just a elementary AVI video stream. The Matroska team will - of course - not in any way encourage people to use the old .AVI container, which they would sort of be doing if they inplanted a full-extraction-to-avi-container feature.

It's taking me the whole night to figure out this "political aspect", so I'm pretty pleased with myself

Anyways, I've found a simple was to reach my goal. I'm using MKVExtract to extract the streams from the MKV container, then I use this wonderful (yet ~2yrs since halt in dev. :Z) application: "AVI-Mux GUI". It will insert my Xvid/MP3 into a fully consistent AVI container. Just wonderful! Also tried using avidemuxgui aswell as VirtualDubMod. Both these apps resulted in defects in the AVI structure though, like unrecognisible strings; causing the file to be unrecognisable without the correct file extention. One other time I had this bad sync issue, plus the third time the audio flew in 200MPH so that our family sounded like Donald Ducks.

However, hail AVI-Mux GUI Is there any similar GNU app out there, more recent? I'm always getting the creeps of using old releases of things. I know, alot of these problems are actually in my own head, like a light touch of (e)nforced (c)ompulsive (d)isorder. Whatever..