MKV (h.264 file) conversion to AVI or MP4

[killwill169]

Hi,

I have a mkv file that I have been trying to convert to avi or mp4 to play on my philips dvp 5992. However, I have a mac with tiger installed, and no leopard, so the programs are really limited. I've tried using handbrake, but i can't get the latest version because I have tiger and handbrake requires leopard. Handbrake supposedly can convert mkv files. I've also tried iConvert, but that quits on me every time I drop a file on it. I've also tried aimersoft total media converter for mac, by saving the mkv as a quicktime mov, and then putting it into the app, but the fps ends up either way too high or way too low when I convert the mkv to avi. I've also tried MKVtools, but the conversion to avi takes way too long, and the conversion to mp4, with the settings of video pass thru and audio conversion to aac fails miserably, with the message, "MKVtools suspects a processing error has occured. If you stop, a log file of the suspected error process will be placed in the same folder as your video" (spelling errors are not mine). The log file is below:

MEncoder dev-CVS-051126-18:35-3.3 (C) 2000-2005 MPlayer Team
Mac OSX static build for ffmpegX
AltiVec found
CPU: PowerPC
success: format: 0 data: 0x0 - 0x5d550c7b
[mkv] Track ID 1: video (V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC), -vid 0
[mkv] Track ID 2: audio (A_AC3), -aid 0, -alang chi
[mkv] Track ID 3: subtitles (S_TEXT/UTF8), -sid 0, -slang eng
[mkv] Will play video track 1
[mkv] Will play audio track 2
Matroska file format detected.
VIDEO: [avc1] 720x480 24bpp 23.976 fps 0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
[V] filefmt:31 fourcc:0x31637661 size:720x480 fps:23.98 ftime:=0.0417
================================================== ========================
Opening audio decoder: [liba52] AC3 decoding with liba52
Using AltiVec optimized IMDCT transform
AC3: 5.1 (3f+2r+lfe) 48000 Hz 448.0 kbit/s
Checking for AltiVec resampler : 0x0000000a, 2
Using AltiVec optimized resampler
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16be, 448.0 kbit/29.17% (ratio: 56000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [a52] afm: liba52 (AC3-liba52)
================================================== ========================
Ignoring video stream!
videocodec: framecopy (720x480 24bpp fourcc=31637661)
Building audio filter chain for 48000Hz/2ch/s16be -> 48000Hz/0ch/s8...
AE_FAAC, counldn't set specified parameters, exiting

Exiting...

So here are my questions:
1. Is it possible to run Handbrake, an osx 10.5 only program, on my mac which runs tiger, with a little hacking?
2. Why is iConvert quitting, and is there a way to fix it and use it to convert my mkv?
3. Is there some way I can successfully use aimersoft total media converter to convert my mkv to a watchable avi (or mp4)?
4. What's wrong with MKV tools and why does the conversion fail, and how do I fix it so that it will work?
5. Are there any other applications for mac (preferably free) that can perform mkv conversion quickly for use on my philips dvp 5992?


An image of my settings in MKVtools is attached.

Please help.

Thanks,


Will

[poisondeathray]

Try avidemux (cross platform)

video=>xvid
audio=>copy
format=>avi
press save with extension (e.g. "myvideo.avi")

[rumplestiltskin]

Just for grins, have you tried MPEG Streamclip? Sometimes that works for me when I have one of these bizarre mkv files that someone decided to foist off on the community. You have to exercise patience as MPEG Streamclip loads in the file (you can see it loading in the timeline bar) but I often can find one of the conversion options that works for me.

[killwill169]

Try avidemux (cross platform)

video=>xvid
audio=>copy
format=>avi
press save with extension (e.g. "myvideo.avi")

I just now used AviDemux, and I selected for the video, "copy", for the audio "aac (faac)", and then saved it as an avi... however, the proportions of the length to width are incorrect... the video is stretched.

Anyways, thanks for the quick reply. I'm wondering where I can adjust the aspect ratio and resolution, and all that good stuff, as well as where i can find the "save with extension".

Thanks,

Will

[killwill169]

Just for grins, have you tried MPEG Streamclip? Sometimes that works for me when I have one of these bizarre mkv files that someone decided to foist off on the community. You have to exercise patience as MPEG Streamclip loads in the file (you can see it loading in the timeline bar) but I often can find one of the conversion options that works for me.

Unfortunately, I can not exercise patience. I tried that already, and it took forever (many, many hours, perhaps even days). Thanks anyways.

Will

[poisondeathray]

Try avidemux (cross platform)

video=>xvid
audio=>copy
format=>avi
press save with extension (e.g. "myvideo.avi")

I just now used AviDemux, and I selected for the video, "copy", for the audio "aac (faac)", and then saved it as an avi... however, the proportions of the length to width are incorrect... the video is stretched.

Anyways, thanks for the quick reply. I'm wondering where I can adjust the aspect ratio and resolution, and all that good stuff, as well as where i can find the "save with extension".

Thanks,

Will

you can't use those settings, your standalone player will reject it. xvid/mp3/avi is the usual combo, unless your player is extraordinary. Since your source is AC3, you can just copy the audio instead of using mp3

you can't copy the video, you have to re-encode, and aac isn't compatible in avi container, and most SAP's can't use aac

press "configure" when xvid is selected and you will find the other settings for aspect ratio etc..., but not all standalone units will accept this. It's usually safer to resize and use 1:1 square pixels

just enter the extension manually when you press save is what I meant (not sure if it applies on mac, but you have to on linux/windows)

[killwill169]

Try avidemux (cross platform)

video=>xvid
audio=>copy
format=>avi
press save with extension (e.g. "myvideo.avi")

I just now used AviDemux, and I selected for the video, "copy", for the audio "aac (faac)", and then saved it as an avi... however, the proportions of the length to width are incorrect... the video is stretched.

Anyways, thanks for the quick reply. I'm wondering where I can adjust the aspect ratio and resolution, and all that good stuff, as well as where i can find the "save with extension".

Thanks,

Will

you can't use those settings, your standalone player will reject it. xvid/mp3/avi is the usual combo, unless your player is extraordinary. Since your source is AC3, you can just copy the audio instead of using mp3

you can't copy the video, you have to re-encode, and aac isn't compatible in avi container, and most SAP's can't use aac

press "configure" when xvid is selected and you will find the other settings for aspect ratio etc..., but not all standalone units will accept this. It's usually safer to resize and use 1:1 square pixels

just enter the extension manually when you press save is what I meant (not sure if it applies on mac, but you have to on linux/windows)

So if I use these settings, will the conversion take a long, long time?

Thanks for the tips,

Will

[poisondeathray]

If your listed spec are correct, it will take a long time, proportional to the length of your video (e.g. probably a 5-6 hours for a 2 hour video)

More modern computers might take 15-30 minutes for a 2hour video

Test it on a small section for compatibility before you waste time doing the whole video (you can mark in/mark out a section)

[killwill169]

aw man! was hoping for a quick solution... are there any other apps that can speed up this process of conversion? And also, how fast must a computer be in order for it to process 15-30 minutes, as you said?

Thanks,

Will

[poisondeathray]

not really, encoding is pretty much hardware limited, the bottleneck will be the CPU usually

and xvid doesn't scale well with multiple cores compared to h.264 (e.g. core i7 with hyperthreading has 8 logical cores, but xvid doesn't scale much past 2 or 3...) , so you are pretty much limited by clockspeed

so if you overclock a core i7 to 4Ghz+ it can easily do it in that time. Your video is only standard def

Another option is to get a media player that has better support for file types, e.g. WDTV, Tvix, Popcorn Hour etc... , or use HTPC. Then there is no time wasted

[emmgunn]

Hi killwill
It looks like you've got a power pc, and unfortunately there seems to be a bug with mencoder trying to encode some aac audio. That's why you are getting the error. There is an updated version of MKVtools now available with newer hacked together version of mencoder. It's only been tested on intel machines but it may work for you.

Regardless of that, as mentioned in above posts, unless there has been some major improvements in divx capable dvd players, you really need to convert to avi with xvid video and, in your case you can pass thru the ac3 audio. Most every video encoding application uses either ffmpeg or mencoder (UNIX apps) to do their processing so the speeds are going to be about the same, and with a power pc it's just not going to be very fast unless you can pass thru the video which is only true if it's already encoded with something like xvid, mpeg4 or divx (MKVtools tells you which you have, if it says AVC then it's h264 and you need to re-encode). Before I upgraded to better computers, I would basically fill the MKVtools queue with a bunch of videos and let it run night and day.

Also, if you're having aspect ratio issues you might want to try batch unpacker plus which you can find on the same web site as MKVtools. Besides unpacking bitstreams (to fix the stuttering you see in some videos during panning) there is an option to change the pixel aspect ratios, though you DVD player should also have the ability to fix this.

[rumplestiltskin]

I use El Gato's Turbo264 and it does a nice job converting almost anything to H264. It requires at least a G4 and offloads the encoding from the CPU to the chip inside the dongle. It manages the encoding faster than what my 2.4GHz Intel iMac can manage (which is real-time or better, usually). I'm not sure whether your Philips would play the resulting videos, however.

I'd be glad to upload a few minutes of converted video for you to test if you wish. PM me with your eMail address if so.

[killwill169]

Hi killwill
It looks like you've got a power pc, and unfortunately there seems to be a bug with mencoder trying to encode some aac audio. That's why you are getting the error. There is an updated version of MKVtools now available with newer hacked together version of mencoder. It's only been tested on intel machines but it may work for you.

Regardless of that, as mentioned in above posts, unless there has been some major improvements in divx capable dvd players, you really need to convert to avi with xvid video and, in your case you can pass thru the ac3 audio. Most every video encoding application uses either ffmpeg or mencoder (UNIX apps) to do their processing so the speeds are going to be about the same, and with a power pc it's just not going to be very fast unless you can pass thru the video which is only true if it's already encoded with something like xvid, mpeg4 or divx (MKVtools tells you which you have, if it says AVC then it's h264 and you need to re-encode). Before I upgraded to better computers, I would basically fill the MKVtools queue with a bunch of videos and let it run night and day.

Also, if you're having aspect ratio issues you might want to try batch unpacker plus which you can find on the same web site as MKVtools. Besides unpacking bitstreams (to fix the stuttering you see in some videos during panning) there is an option to change the pixel aspect ratios, though you DVD player should also have the ability to fix this.

I'm using version 2.1 of MKVtools. If I upgrade to 2.2, will the aac problem be fixed?

Thanks,

Will

[killwill169]

I use El Gato's Turbo264 and it does a nice job converting almost anything to H264. It requires at least a G4 and offloads the encoding from the CPU to the chip inside the dongle. It manages the encoding faster than what my 2.4GHz Intel iMac can manage (which is real-time or better, usually). I'm not sure whether your Philips would play the resulting videos, however.

I'd be glad to upload a few minutes of converted video for you to test if you wish. PM me with your eMail address if so.

I'm trying to convert from h.264 to xvid or divx, not the other way around.

Thanks,

Will

[killwill169]

Ok, so I finally figured out how to convert the mkv file to an mp4 file. As I stated earlier, I tried using Aimersoft Total Media Converter to convert the mkv to an avi. I first opened the mkv in quicktime, then saved it as an mov so that Aimersoft Total Media Converter could recognize it. This took about 5-10 minutes. I then opened Aimersoft Total Media Converter, dropped the mov file in it, and then set output as an mp4 rather than an avi. I encoded the mov as an xvid, and the audio as aac. The encoding took 50-60 minutes approximately. So now I have an mp4 file that can be played on my philips dvp 5992, though the loading takes a long time. The quality is great, the aspect ratio is the same.

For future reference, all mac users should use aimersoft total media converter in order to convert mkv/mov to mp4, but the convert-to-avi function isn't working, so don't use that.

On another note, MKVtools seems to be working and encoding the aac, but it's taking a long time, for some reason.

One last thing, the subtitles originally found in the mkv file unfortunately do not work with the new mp4 file. I extracted it using MKVtools as a .sub file, but when I open the new mp4, the subtitles don't show. Is there any way I can extract the vobsubs from the original mkv file and use it as an external subtitle file for the new mp4?

Thanks to all who posted and helped me with this,


Will

[rumplestiltskin]

IIRC, Jubler can convert valid .sub files into .srt files. Those should work with your Philips player, right?

[killwill169]

IIRC, Jubler can convert valid .sub files into .srt files. Those should work with your Philips player, right?

I'm not sure the .sub file is valid... I extracted it using MKVtools

[killwill169]

I just extracted the subtitle files. Turns out they're VOBSubs, the graphic type, with two files, a .sub file and an .idx file. I can't get them to work with my mp4. I was wondering if anyone knows of a program that can convert these files (.sub and .idx) to .srt so that they will work with my .mp4 file.

Thanks in advance,

Will

[rumplestiltskin]

D-Subtitler will do this, I believe.

(I think I may be wrong but I'm trying to be helpful.)

[ffooky]

Unfortunately D-Subtitler only works if the subs are still in the original VOBs.

The only workable solutions involve running Windows-only programs such as VobSub. I've never managed to get this to work with wine/Darwine but maybe CrossOver can manage it? If you don't have access to a PC or a Windows licence you can still download the RC of Windows 7 and run it as a virtual machine with VirtualBox though shared folders are a bit tricky.

[Meritocracy]

No need for a Windows only solution.

Avidemux, which was mentioned earlier, can convert VobSub to srt.

[killwill169]

No need for a Windows only solution.

Avidemux, which was mentioned earlier, can convert VobSub to srt.

I have AviDemux. How do I use it to convert the .idx+.sub into .srt?

Thanks,

Will

[killwill169]

(I think I may be wrong but I'm trying to be helpful.)

Thanks

[Meritocracy]

I have AviDemux. How do I use it to convert the .idx+.sub into .srt?

Click here.

Go down to Making the '.srt' File. Should be rather simple from there on.

Good luck.

[killwill169]

Unfortunately, the mp4 file doesn't show the subtitles, even after I used AviDemux. For one of my converted mkv-mp4 files, the movie inspector says:

Format: MPEG-4 (Perian), 720 x 384, Millions
AAC, Stereo (L R), 44.100 kHz
FPS: 25
Data Size: 1.03 GB
Data Rate: 1617.92 kbits/s
Duration: 0:01:32:17:44
Normal Size: 720 x 384

Text subtitles don't show up, even with the same name, and even as .srt or .sub+.idx. Please help,

Thanks,

Will

[Levina]

Another way to change the MKV container to MP4 is with Quicktime Pro. Here's how.
Load the mkv file. Wait for it to load the whole film (takes a bit of time).
Then choose File > Export. Select Movie to MPEG4 and click on Options
Select the file format MP4 (not MP4 (ISMA))
Select Video format: pass through (as your file is already MPEG4)
Click the Audio tab and choose MPEG2 (as you can't have AC3 streams inside an MP4 file). Set your other settings or use default.
Click OK and Save.

To extract the subs from your MKV container I would suggest you use mokgvm2dvd, the earlier version of MKVtools. I find that it can do what MKVtools often cannot, at least not on Tiger. You can find it here: http://www.emmgunn.com/mokgvm2dvd/mokgvmdownload.html (bottom of page)

O, and make sure that in Perian the audio settings are set to Stereo and not Dolby.

Edit: I should have read all the way to the end of the thread, then I would have known that your problem is down to only the subs now. Oh well...

[killwill169]

Another way to change the MKV container to MP4 is with Quicktime Pro. Here's how.
Load the mkv file. Wait for it to load the whole film (takes a bit of time).
Then choose File > Export. Select Movie to MPEG4 and click on Options
Select the file format MP4 (not MP4 (ISMA))
Select Video format: pass through (as your file is already MPEG4)
Click the Audio tab and choose MPEG2 (as you can't have AC3 streams inside an MP4 file). Set your other settings or use default.
Click OK and Save.

To extract the subs from your MKV container I would suggest you use mokgvm2dvd, the earlier version of MKVtools. I find that it can do what MKVtools often cannot, at least not on Tiger. You can find it here: http://www.emmgunn.com/mokgvm2dvd/mokgvmdownload.html (bottom of page)

O, and make sure that in Perian the audio settings are set to Stereo and not Dolby.

Edit: I should have read all the way to the end of the thread, then I would have known that your problem is down to only the subs now. Oh well...

lol, that's ok.

[Levina]

Good sport!
By the way, apparently Quicktime won't play external subtitle files with mp4. But VLC will.

[killwill169]

hmmm, have to go with avi then... what other formats can work on a philips dvp 5992 player, or on any typical dvd player with divx and usb support?

Thanks,

Will

Edit: Perhaps MPG would work, with the external subtitles?

[Meritocracy]

The 5992 like most other divx compatible standalones prefer xvid/divx. That's always been the case and is surely listed in the player manual. h.264, regardless of the container it's wrapped in, isn't going to play period.

As poisondeathray mentioned earlier in this thread, xvid/mp3 or AC3/avi is the combination you want to stick with.

FYI, the 5992 has no problem displaying VobSubs, so there's no real need to convert to srt.

EDIT: AC3 rather than AAC.