MKV -> MP4 for PS3 script?

[atod]

Hi Folks,

I've been trying out a few scripts (one I hacked myself) to convert hidef MKV files to MP4 containers. Specifically, the main issue I'm trying to solve is converting DTS -> AAC audio. I noticed the scripts I used before used ffmpeg. I tried NeroAacEnc and found the audio quality is much better. Unfortunately, I'm having issues with MP4Box accepting the audio NeroAacEnc creates. I also hit one other issue and that is making sure HxW size of video is in multiples of 16. I was trying to use ffmpeg pad filter for that but couldn't figure it out.

Does anyone have a working solution they can share?

Thanks so much!

[Megahurts]

You can use Ripbot264 which will re-encode the video and audio to an mp4 file with AAC 2ch audio.

Or, you can use TsMuxer to remux to a m2ts file (with original audio) which will play on a PS3 without re-encoding.

[atod]

Thanks. I'm looking for 5.1 sound in the MP4, so don't think that will work. Also, the DTS MKVs need to be re-encoded to AAC. PS3 doesn't play DTS from MP4s, only AAC.

[Megahurts]

I made a mistake. Ripbot264 will re-encode DTS to AAC 5.1.

However using TsMuxer is much faster and the PS3 will play a m2ts file with DTS.

[atod]

Thanks. I forgot to mention I'm on Mac OSX and/or Linux. I don't think either of the above will work. So far, I have a working script and the converted DTS audio sounds great. The only issue I think is making sure the height / width are multiples of 16. From what I understand, PS3 will only play video that has multiple of 16 for those parameters. I'd like to figure out how to use ffmpeg to reencode with the correct sizing.

[Mountain Man]

I was trying to use ffmpeg pad filter for that but couldn't figure it out.

I don't know what version they changed it but instead of -padtop and -cropleft, etc they have gone to "-vf pad=width:height:x:y:color" (substitute "crop" for "pad" if you want to crop). Default color is black, so you can leave that out. x and y tell ffmpeg where you want the pad or crop applied. If you set up a pad of 100 pixels on the width and you want the padding even on both sides, you would put in 50 for the x value (and set y to 0). If you wanted the padding off center, you could put more or less in the x field and it will put the remaining padding on the right. y works the same but represents the top of the image. Also, in the past crop was performed on the input video and pad on the output video, but now both operations take arguments regarding the output and not the input video. This makes for a bit of a headache when resizing and fixing the aspect ratio at the same time. If doing a pad operation you first have to resize the video to the new size but original aspect ratio (resize it to the width and height the corrected video would be if you cropped off the padding), and then put the final width and height you want into the -vf pad filter and ffmpeg will fill in the missing space with padding. This post has a pretty good explanation of how the new syntax works.

Edit: I may be wrong about the order of operations always being resize first and then the crop or pad. I'm reading that you can set up a filter chain to control this. I haven't tried this, but when I used -s to resize I found it did the resize first and then applied the crop or pad. Can anyone confirm this?

I hope this helps.

[atod]

Thanks. I believe ffmpeg -crop / -pad re-encodes the video. Not good if you want to maintain original quality. I have a script that I will post below that works ok. It doesn't covert all videos, I think it's because of the H.264 encoding used in some of the newer MKVs isn't compatible with PS3. I wish I knew a way to detect the incompatibility and re-encode... Oh well, time to sell the PS3 for a media client that plays MKV.

Here is a script that converts MKVs to either MP4/AAC or M2TS/AC3 for playback on PS3. I used it and found the results pretty good, but some video doesn't play. Not sure why. I think PS3 is very limited on what video it can play.

One thing the script does is by default, when used $ mkvtomp4_new.sh blah.mkv, first check if pixel size is mod 16. If it is, the mkv is converted to mp4. If it isn't, mkv is converted to m2ts (which doesn't have the mod 16 limitation). The script prefers encoding to MP4/AAC because I find that AAC sounds much better then AC3 (at max bitrate 640k). NeroAacEnc does a excellent job I would say of creating AAC stream about 90% quality to the original WAV6/DTS stream.

This script depends on:
- tsMuxeR (download the mac version, open the package, the non gui exe works, place it in your path)
- NeroAacEnc (download from nero the "windows" version)
- gpac (MP4Box, you will need to check out the latest svn rev and compile it, there was a bug in gpac
source from a few weeks ago surrounding this script)
- wine (to runs windows nero aac enc, install "mac ports", then "sudo port install wine")
- mkvtools (for mkvextract etc... you can install this "sudo port install mkvtoolnix")
- dcadec (you will have to download the source and compile this yourself, it compiles though)
- faad ("sudo port install faad2")
- aften (this is the ac3 encoder it does a good job, you need to download and compile it yourself)
- python (you may need to install this "sudo port install python27")
- mplayer ("sudo port install mplayer")


You can run this $ mkvtomp4_new.sh -2 blah.mkv , will force creation of .m2ts
$ mkvtomp4_new.sh -4 blah.mkv, will force creation of .mp4

-a X : specifies audio delay in msec
-v X : specifies video delay in msec

#!/bin/bash

last() {
  if [[ $# -ne 0 ]] ; then
    shift $(expr $# - 1)
    echo "$1"
  fi
}


mkvtom2ts() {
  order=`mkvinfo "$file" | grep "Track type" | sed 's/.*://' | head -n 1 | tr -d " "` #check if the video track is first or the audio track
  if [ "$order" = "video" ]; then
    fps=`mkvinfo "$file" | grep duration | sed 's/.*(//' | sed 's/f.*//' | head -n 1` #store the fps of the video track
    if [ -n "$DTS" ]; then
      mkvextract tracks "$file" 1:"${title}".264 2:"${title}".dts
      dcadec -o wavall "${title}".dts | aften -b 640 - "${title}".ac3
      rm "${title}".dts
    elif [ -n "$AC3" ]; then
      mkvextract tracks "$file" 1:"${title}".264 2:"${title}".ac3 
      # Great done for us!
    elif [ -n "$AAC" ]; then
      mkvextract tracks "$file" 1:"${title}".264 2:"${title}".aac
      faad -o - "${title}".aac | aften -b 640 - "${title}".ac3
      rm "${title}".aac
    fi
  else
    fps=`mkvinfo "$file" | grep duration | sed 's/.*(//' | sed 's/f.*//' | tail -n 1`
    if [ -n "$DTS" ]; then
      mkvextract tracks "$file" 1:"${title}".dts 2:"${title}".264
      dcadec -o wavall "${title}".dts | aften -b 640 - "${title}".ac3
      rm "${title}".dts
    elif [ -n "$AC3" ]; then
      mkvextract tracks "$file" 1:"${title}".ac3 2:"${title}".264
      # Great done for us!
    elif [ -n "$AAC" ]; then
      mkvextract tracks "$file" 1:"${title}".aac 2:"${title}".264
      faad -o - "${title}".aac | aften -b 640 - "${title}".ac3
      rm "${title}".aac
    fi
  fi

  # Change Profile Level to 4.1
  python -c "f=open('"${title}".264','r+b'); f.seek(7); f.write('\x29'); f.close()"

  echo "V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC, "${title}".264, level=4.1, insertSEI, contSPS, lang=eng" > "${title}".meta
  echo "A_AC3, "${title}".ac3, lang=eng" >> "${title}".meta

  $TSMUXER "${title}".meta "${title}".m2ts
  rm -f "$title".aac "$title".dts "$title".ac3 "$title".264 "${title}".wav "${title}".meta
}

mkvtomp4 () {
  order=`mkvinfo "$file" | grep "Track type" | sed 's/.*://' | head -n 1 | tr -d " "` #check if the video track is first or the audio track
  if [ "$order" = "video" ]; then
    fps=`mkvinfo "$file" | grep duration | sed 's/.*(//' | sed 's/f.*//' | head -n 1` #store the fps of the video track
    if [ -n "$DTS" ]; then
      mkvextract tracks "$file" 1:"${title}".264 2:"${title}".dts
      #ffmpeg -ab 640k -aq 1000 -ac 6 -i "${title}".dts -acodec libfaac "${title}".aac
      dcadec -o wavall "${title}".dts > "${title}".wav
      $NEROAACENC -if "${title}".wav -of "${title}".aac
      rm "${title}".wav 
    elif [ -n "$AC3" ]; then
      mkvextract tracks "$file" 1:"${title}".264 2:"${title}".ac3 
      mplayer "${title}".ac3 -ac ffac3 -channels 6 -af format=s16le,channels=6:6:0:0:1:2:2:1:3:4:4:5:5:3 -vo null -vc null -ao pcm:fast:waveheader:file="${title}".wav -novideo -quiet -nolirc
      $NEROAACENC -if "${title}".wav -of "${title}".aac
      rm "${title}".wav 
    elif [ -n "$AAC" ]; then
      mkvextract tracks "$file" 1:"${title}".264 2:"${title}".aac
    fi
  else
    fps=`mkvinfo "$file" | grep duration | sed 's/.*(//' | sed 's/f.*//' | tail -n 1`
    if [ -n "$DTS" ]; then
      mkvextract tracks "$file" 1:"${title}".dts 2:"${title}".264
      #ffmpeg -i "${title}".dts -acodec libfaac -ab 640k "${title}".aac
      dcadec -o wavall "${title}".dts > "${title}".wav
      $NEROAACENC -if "${title}".wav -of "${title}".aac
      rm "${title}".wav 
    elif [ -n "$AC3" ]; then
      mkvextract tracks "$file" 1:"${title}".ac3 2:"${title}".264
      mplayer "${title}".ac3 -ac ffac3 -channels 6 -af format=s16le,channels=6:6:0:0:1:2:2:1:3:4:4:5:5:3 -vo null -vc null -ao pcm:fast:waveheader:file="${title}".wav -novideo -quiet -nolirc
      $NEROAACENC -if "${title}".wav -of "${title}".aac
      rm "${title}".wav 
    elif [ -n "$AAC" ]; then
      mkvextract tracks "$file" 1:"${title}".aac 2:"${title}".264
    fi
  fi

  # Change Profile Level to 4.1
  python -c "f=open('"${title}".264','r+b'); f.seek(7); f.write('\x29'); f.close()"
  MP4Box -new "${title}".mp4 -add "${title}".264$delayvstr -add "${title}".aac$delayastr -fps $fps
  rm -f "$title".aac "$title".dts "$title".ac3 "$title".264 "${title}".wav
}

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib

delayv=0
delaya=0
m2ts_flag=0
mp4_flag=0

while getopts "24v:a:" OPTION 
do
  case $OPTION in
    v)
      delayv=$OPTARG
      ;;
    a)
      delaya=$OPTARG
      ;;
    2)
      m2ts_flag=yes
      ;;
    4)
      mp4_flag=yes
      ;;
  esac
done

lastvar=$(last "$@")
file=$lastvar

delayvstr=""
delayastr=""

if [ $delayv -gt 0 ] ; then
  delayvstr=":delay=$delay"
fi
if [ $delaya -gt 0 ] ; then
  delayastr=":delay=$delay"
fi

ENCBR=384000
NEROAACENC="wine /opt/local/bin/neroAacEnc.exe -2pass -ignorelength -q 1.00 -br $ENCBR"
#TSMUXER="wine /opt/local/bin/tsMuxeR_1.10.6/tsMuxeR.exe"
TSMUXER=/opt/local/bin/tsMuxeR
title=`basename "$file" .mkv`
AC3=`mkvinfo "$file" | grep AC3` #check if it's AC3 audio or DTS
AAC=`mkvinfo "$file" | grep AAC`
DTS=`mkvinfo "$file" | grep DTS`
WIDTH=`mkvinfo "$file" | grep "Pixel width:" | sed 's/.*: //g'`
HEIGHT=`mkvinfo "$file" | grep "Pixel height:" | sed 's/.*: //g'`

if [ $(( $WIDTH % 16 )) -ne 0 ] ; then
  echo "Width $WIDTH: Is not divisible by 16!"
  M2TS=true
fi
if [ $(( $HEIGHT % 16 )) -ne 0 ] ; then
  echo "Height $HEIGHT: Is not divisible by 16!"
  M2TS=true
fi

if [ "$mp4_flag" == "yes" ] ; then
  M2TS=false
fi

if [ "$m2ts_flag" == "yes" ] ; then
  M2TS=true
fi

if [ "$M2TS" == "true" ] ; then
  echo "Creating M2TS file..."
  mkvtom2ts
else
  echo "Creating MP4 file..."
  mkvtomp4
fi

# if [ -f "${directory}/${title}".mp4 ]; then
# rm -f "$file"
# fi