MKV Conversion Difficulty

[thatmantisguy]

I'm try to redub some episodes of a Japanese show with English audio. But I need to convert the video to something VirtualDub will recognise (no MKV support) like perhaps XviD AVI, and then use VirtualDub to add the audio. Unless you can think of a better way. The source content is in an MKV container as mentioned, and the video is in X264 format. I've tried using VirtualDubMod which is supposed to have MKV support, but it crashes upon opening the videos. I got Any Video Converter which is a free video converter, and tried converting to XviD. I'm also changing it to 16:9 aspect ratio (for better YouTube support), which Any Video Converter allowed me to do.

It works very well, except one thing. Any Video Converter will not allow me to disable the subtitles in the MKV when I convert, which is stupid. There's no way. So it always adds the subtitles to the AVI. Maybe I could remove the subs from the MKV? The bottom line is, I want to convert an X264 MKV to an AVI that VirtualDub will work with, without the subs, so I can dub new audio using VirtualDub. This is an awkward process, so again, if anyone knows a better way to do this, please tell me. I will need to convert the video anyway, since as I mentioned I am converting the video to 720p. (16:9)

Hope you could understand what I'm trying to say. Thanks.

[creamyhorror]

You don't need to dub it. You just need to use MKVMergeGUI to remux the MKV with your English audio track (or keep both tracks). You can choose to remove the subtitles as well.

If you need to change the aspect ratio to 16:9, you can set it in the muxing options. Youtube's system should recognise this. (Youtube accepts MKV, btw.)

Try to avoid recompressing unless the original file is unreasonably large.

[thatmantisguy]

Alright, but even so I'm increasing the res slightly so it is 720p. Otherwise it will be downscaled to 420p. All of my subscribers think it looks great upscaled a little bit.

As for the audio, I'll try out the software but I need to be able to adjust where the audio begins because the Japanese and English audio tracks might not begin at the exact same time. I know VirtualDub allows this. I'll give it a go though and thank you for the suggestions.

[creamyhorror]

Alright, but even so I'm increasing the res slightly so it is 720p. Otherwise it will be downscaled to 420p. All of my subscribers think it looks great upscaled a little bit.

It is a good idea to upscale when uploading to Youtube, because Youtube's encoding process messes up vertical resolution and thus clips look worse than they should for their resolution. I don't know about upscaling all the way to 720p, though.

As for the audio, I'll try out the software but I need to be able to adjust where the audio begins because the Japanese and English audio tracks might not begin at the exact same time. I know VirtualDub allows this. I'll give it a go though and thank you for the suggestions.

If you can determine the difference in the audio timings, just enter the offset in the muxer and that will be handled too.

I've seen people loading H.264 video in Vdub so it's possible, but someone else will have to tell you how.

[thatmantisguy]

I did try it, and it seemed okay at first. I disabled the subtitles, existing audio track, added a new one and remuxed. The video was ahead of the audio so I set a delay in the video track. After some fine-tuning I got it just right, and it seemed okay in VLC. Unfortunately when I converted the video (necessary for the upscale) the audio was out of sync. However, it did create an AVI with no subtitles, and I then used VirtualDub to do it.

It worked fine until about 2/3 into the video, when it seemed there was an additional delay in the new sound I was dubbing, causing it to go back out of sync. This is too frustrating to handle with basic tools, so I'm switching to the Premiere trial.

[creamyhorror]

After some fine-tuning I got it just right, and it seemed okay in VLC. Unfortunately when I converted the video (necessary for the upscale) the audio was out of sync.

Converted using what program? I'm guessing the program failed to apply the delay to the AVI. In that case, you should simply use MKVMergeGUI to mux the new video stream from the AVI into a new MKV, and add the English audio stream and set the offset you determined earlier. That MKV can then be uploaded to Youtube.

Oh well, do whatever works.

[thatmantisguy]

Any Video Converter, but your suggestion is a good one. However, as I explained there are differences in the audio track that made further editing a necessity. I've been able to get it done using Premiere. I appreciate your advice though, especially since I wouldn't be where I am without it, so thank you. I wish there was an easier method for doing this kind of thing but it seems Premiere is the best way.

Case closed, then. Again, thanks.