Hi!

I've been doing quite a bit of research about how to convert high profile mkv files into something appletv can play. I've got perian running on it, but apple tv doesn't have enough power to handle mkv's. But that is neither here nor there.

My problem is attempting to convert the mkv to something that appletv can handle. I also need to do this on the command line without user intervention. Finally, I'd like to demux it rather than re-encode the whole thing.

What I've found so far is...

1) mkvextract tracks <filename> 1:video.h264 2:audio.ac3
2) use hexedit to change some strings in the file
3) mp4box -add video.h264 -add audio.ac3 output.mp4

This kind of works... First, you have to use something like hexedit or lvlchange.exe to change some strings around. On linux, I'd rather not use wine to run lvlchange and I just feel like there has to be an easier way. Second, on my MBP, when I play the file in Quicktime, the processor spikes and the video is choppy. Now, I'm guessing that if this happens on my MBP, it will choke appletv.

So now, I'm back to square one. I am hoping that somebody out there can suggest something because I know that there has to be a way to do this. Thank you in advanced for any help...