WMV-HD Encoder?

[therock003]

I need to convert some h264 videos to wmv-hd (VC-1) for certain compatibility purposes.

How will i go about doing that? Windows Media Encoder is the first software that pops up, but can i use any other VC-1 encoder with possibly better results?

Also what container can handle best wmv-hd? For example can i mux it to .mp4 with no issues or is it better to stay as .wmv? Another thing i need is to at least retain the original Audio.

So with this criteria in mind, what's my best approach?

[therock003]

I tried handbrake but it doesnt allow for wmv-hd.

I then tried tmpg express 4.7, which does support it, but mostly i dont like that i forces audio to be re-encode to wma format. IF i only encode video, can i later mux the original audio stream into the resulted wmv file no matter what the format of the audio is? Mostly i care about retaining the mp3/ace format.

[El Heggunte]

If you don't mind learning/using Avisynth,
both WmNicEnc and AVS2ASF are the beter alternatives to Windows Media Encoder.
As for the container, you can set Avs2Asf for outputting a pure VC-1 stream,
which will be happily accepted by MKVmerge. Gabest's MatroskaMuxer can generate
an intermediate .MKV file from .ASF/.WMV sources.

[therock003]

What files can avs handle?

I dont want any special effects such as croppinf framerate conversion or anything.

I want the simplest of things. To take mkv/,p4/mov files and encode them to vc-1 wmv while also retaing the original audio.

Windows Media encoder cant handle the containers i mentioned so it's a no go.

I cant find the wmv9 encoder on Super, so i guess that leaves AVS scripting.

I also tried E.M. HD Converter which handles lots of file formats, but i dont see any option to direct copy the audio channel as is.

Why is this so complex?

[mh2360]

Have you tried Microsoft Expression Encoder?

Many are put off by the fact that it is a "trial" version, when in fact WMV/VC-1 encoding is free and fully functional. You only need to pay to get H.264 encoding.

I dont think you will have much luck with VC-1 in a MP4 conatiner, but you could try MKV with the original audio track.

[Baldrick]

mh2360: I think it didn't exist 3 years ago...

It was just another spammer that posted to an old thread.

[El Heggunte]

[ i g n o r e ]

[mh2360]

mh2360: I think it didn't exist 3 years ago...

It was just another spammer that posted to an old thread.

Doh!

Must check the dates before I post...