MPEG2 > H.264 video converter with Dual audio streams?

[idsane]

Hi all,

Quick question. Any recommendations on video converters to go from MPEG2 ripped dvds to h.264/MPEG4 pt 10, while keeping at least 2 audio streams? I am using Nero 8 right now to do this, but the program is very inflexible and I have to reset my parameters every time. This takes forever to set up when converting TV show DVDs that have lots of episodes. Thanks

[idsane]

What are most people even using to convert to h.264 / avc / mpeg4pt10 ?

[poisondeathray]

You can do the dual audio mux manually with mkvmergegui, I don't think there are many 1 click converters that support dual audio.

For the encoding, you can batch encode or queue up as many episodes as you want with MeGUI or ripbot264, but for the muxing of dual audio into .mkv, i think you have to do it manually

I use MeGUI for x.264 encoding because it has the most options/configurations

[Midzuki]

What are most people even using to convert to h.264 / avc / mpeg4pt10 ?

Speaking in the name of myself

Avisynth
x264
mp4box
MKVtoolnix
tsMuxeR

[John]

Handbrake has the option for h.264, and two audio streams, I use this myself, as it was the quickest I could find. IMHO.

[RickA]

StaxRip as well as AutoMKV can both do dual audio streams with H.264. As mentioned above you can easily use mkvmerge to add extra streams into the mkv container. There may be a mp4 equiv muxer if you are partial to them instead.

Cheers,
Rick

[idsane]

Thanks for the leads guys. I don't know much about the mkv format, but am pretty sure I want to keep everything as h.264, since this seems to be 'the' new format that everything will be compatible with (My zune already is, blueray players will be etc). My main reason for converting them all is to save space on my HTPC hard drives, and to be able to grab files and throw them on the Zune with no converting. I need the second audio stream b/c I like to listen to the commentary track of the episode or movie.

[poisondeathray]

You should beware that just because something is h.264, doesn't mean that it's Zune compatible. There are hundreds of different settings & configurations for AVC/h.264 that may cause incompatibilities. Most portable players are very limited and cannot support many of the advanced quality features. Only a PC can playback completely unrestricted profiles & settings

For the Zune:
-limited to the baseline profile
-AVC Level 3 max
-1 reference frame
-no mixed reference frames
-no CABAC
-no B-frames or B-pyramids
-no I4x4, P4x4, I8x8, P8x8, B8x8

(essentially everything turned off)

Some more details for Zune support, including other file types:

VIDEO SUPPORT

Windows Media Video (WMV) (.wmv) – Main and Simple Profile, CBR or VBR, up to 3.0 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25 frames per second). Zune software will transcode HD WMV files at device sync

MPEG-4 (MP4/M4V) (.mp4) Part 2 video[4] – Simple Profile up to 2.5 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25 frames per second). Zune software will transcode HD MPEG-4 files at device sync

H.264 video[4] – Baseline Profile up to 2.5 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25 frames per second). Zune software will transcode HD H.264 files at device sync

If you don't know how to program these settings, give free zune converter a try (I don't know if it works, I never used it before)

[idsane]

Thanks for the tip poison. Yeah right now I am just using nero recode with the baseline h.264 profile (as you said, almost everything turned off). Right now I am only doing seasons of my fav cartoons that I can always have on my server (simpsons, south park, etc), so I really don't notice any quality lost. Through tests I found that b/w 750 and 1000 kbps looked perfect on my HDTV through my HTPC. If I ever decide to do movies, however, I am guessing I will either have to pump up the bitrate, or use something more than baseline profile and just forget about the Zune compatibility thing (maybe in the future more than baseline will be compatible?). Hard drives are so cheap nowaday though, I don't know how much more stuff I will be converting. Just picked up my second 750 GB drive for less than a bill!