.mkv to .avi/.mp4. Soft-subtitles. PS3 playback.

[Kisai]

I've got some video files, and whoever encoded them essentially set the difficulty for playback on the PS3 to hard mode.

They're .mkv, but not just any .mkv.



VLC can barely play these things.

multiAVCHD can't seem to encode this file.

mkv2vob gets an "Unsupported audio codec" error when I try to use it.

What I want is to be able to play it on the PS3, but I want it soft-subbed, so I can activate or deactivate subtitles from the PS3's video menu whenever I want. However, the PS3 can't play .mkv. But it CAN play .avi, .wmv, .m2ts, .mts, and probably a few more I'm missing.

Handbrake doesn't seem to have a problem with converting these for the most part... But it does have one problem: the subtitles. And after opening up SMPlayer, I can see why.





There's the opening and closing. Notice how half of the top line is either rainbow-colored, or faded out? That's because the people who made these videos were able to make the subtitles all fancy for lyrics, letting the colors of certain words change as they were sung (as in the opening), or actually moving and fading out (in the ending, any words that are sung actually move to the left a little and fade out).

Handbrake can convert these, but it can't get the subtitles quite right.



On one hand, the subtitles ARE soft-subbed, and I can turn them on or off in VLC. The bad news is that they're all glitched up.

Also, despite being soft-subbed, they're done in a way that the PS3 can't seem to detect them. The PS3 can PLAY this file thanks to Handbrake's conversion... But it can't activate the subtitles. It doesn't think there are any. (They'd be all glitched up anyway, as you can see.)

Does anyone have any idea how I can convert these into a format the PS3 can play with soft-subs? Keep in mind that these are the most finnicky video files I've ever seen, and barely anything can play them, let alone convert them.

I had an idea that maybe Handbrake can apply an external subtitle file to a video conversion. Maybe I could extract the subtitles from this video file, and remove all the coding for those fancy subtitles. (Take a look at the glitchy subtitles from the VLC playback. Looks like there's some coding that causes those fancy subtitles. Maybe I could get rid of that.) However, there'd still be the problem of the subtitles not showing up on the PS3. So does anyone have any ideas? I wanna be able to play these on the PS3, with soft-subs.

[FulciLives]

PS3 doesn't support soft subs unless you make an AVCHD but to make an AVCHD you have to have a video frame size that is exactly 720p or exactly 1080p and you do not have that.

You will have to re-encode.

You can leave the frame size "as is" and burn in the subs and make a M2TS file (this will support only one audio track).

If you absolutely must have the subs as "soft subs" then you will have to re-encode by adding black to the sides to pad it out to 1280x720 and then you can make an AVCHD which can have multiple audio streams and multiple soft subtitle streams.

*** EDIT ***
I re-read your post above and honestly, with such specialized subs, you are better off burning them into the image. That way you should get the correct look / layout.

I'm guessing they are ASS format subs, yes?

[Kisai]

PS3 doesn't support soft subs unless you make an AVCHD but to make an AVCHD you have to have a video frame size that is exactly 720p or exactly 1080p and you do not have that.

You will have to re-encode.

Er... re-encode... or convert, or something like that? Well, I'm not against such a thing, obviously. ^_^; Taking a look, I've already went through several video converters. And taking a look at the video resolution, it is 720.

AVCHD? According to this list, that's .m2ts or .mts. So I'd have to go with that option, then?

[FulciLives]

AVCHD cannot be cropped. So 720p has to be 1280x720 and 1080p has to be 1920x1080

You have cropped 720p video.

So if you want to make an AVCHD then you have to re-encode the video to make it 1280x720 because right now you have 960x720 and that will NOT work for making an AVCHD. So basically you want to add 160 pixels of black to either side which will make it 1280 in total for the width.

Again if you make an AVCHD then you can use soft subtitles but you will probably have to edit the subtitles to get them to work.

In this case the better option, in my opinion, would be to re-encode the video and BURN IN the subtitles. In this way you can keep the exact formatting of the subs. Not only will it look "proper" but it requires less work. If you do it this way then you can create a M2TS or MP4 file and you can leave the resolution at 960x720

AVCHD uses M2TS but it can't be cropped (as I said before). The benefit is you can have multiple audio streams and multiple soft subtitle streams. Now the PS3 can play a M2TS file directly but this is TOTALLY different from AVCHD. When playing a M2TS directly on the PS3 it can be cropped (or not) but you are limited to 1 audio stream and it does not support soft subtitles.

I can give you more details based on which way you want to go but if you choose to go soft subs then it will be on you to edit the subs to get them working (and you will not be able to have them formatted as they are now ... in other words ... you will have to convert them to standard SRT type subtitles and that doesn't support all the fancy stuff that is in your subtitles now). So in other words don't rely on me to get your soft subs into working order. When I'm presented with such highly formatted subs I just burn them in which saves me time and gives me the same formatting and look.

[Kisai]

AVCHD cannot be cropped. So 720p has to be 1280x720 and 1080p has to be 1920x1080

You have cropped 720p video.

So if you want to make an AVCHD then you have to re-encode the video to make it 1280x720 because right now you have 960x720 and that will NOT work for making an AVCHD. So basically you want to add 160 pixels of black to either side which will make it 1280 in total for the width.

Aww, really? It HAS to be wide-screen? That's the only video format PS3 can use soft-subs with?

Again if you make an AVCHD then you can use soft subtitles but you will probably have to edit the subtitles to get them to work.

That's what I assumed in my first post, seeing the glitchy subtitles in VLC with the coding showing up.

In this case the better option, in my opinion, would be to re-encode the video and BURN IN the subtitles. In this way you can keep the exact formatting of the subs. Not only will it look "proper" but it requires less work. If you do it this way then you can create a M2TS or MP4 file and you can leave the resolution at 960x720

Well, I WOULD like to have the original resolution, but I'd prefer soft-subbed. I just think that bit of advancement for the PS3 would be neat. ^_^ Kind of a novel thing.

AVCHD uses M2TS but it can't be cropped (as I said before). The benefit is you can have multiple audio streams and multiple soft subtitle streams.

Multiple audio too? That'd be nice for a few other videos I have with multiple language settings, and soft-subs as well. But those other shows I'm thinking of were created in widescreen, so I don't have to worry about video size there.

Now the PS3 can play a M2TS file directly but this is TOTALLY different from AVCHD. When playing a M2TS directly on the PS3 it can be cropped (or not) but you are limited to 1 audio stream and it does not support soft subtitles.

So if I convert this .mkv into .m2ts and keep its original resolution, it'll be playable of course, but soft-subbed won't be possible. That's... a rather strange technical restriction. That the video resolution HAS to be a certain size.

I can give you more details based on which way you want to go but if you choose to go soft subs then it will be on you to edit the subs to get them working (and you will not be able to have them formatted as they are now ... in other words ... you will have to convert them to standard SRT type subtitles and that doesn't support all the fancy stuff that is in your subtitles now). So in other words don't rely on me to get your soft subs into working order. When I'm presented with such highly formatted subs I just burn them in which saves me time and gives me the same formatting and look.

Well, as mentioned, I suspect I'd have to edit the subtitles and get rid of that coding anyway. I automatically assumed those fancy subtitles were an SMPlayer-only thing, or very near to it, when it was the only video player I've seen with subtitles like that. I've never seen a DVD do that. And obviously, VLC can't do that, otherwise I'd definitely know it by now. Also, it'd be compatible with the coding in those subtitles if it was. No, no, I never expected anything to be able to do subtitles like that, and I don't really care. Like I said, I'd probably have to open up the subtitle data and just delete that coding stuff to make it more readable. That shouldn't be too hard, I hope.

So is there anything that can turn this 960 x 720 .mkv into a 1280 x 720 .mt2s/.mts file? And apply soft-subs?

[FulciLives]

Well if I was doing this I would probably use RipBot264 and I say that because I know it is possible to see the AviSynth code that RipBot264 creates and you can edit it. This is crucial in this case since you have to pad the image with black (on either side) so you get a resolution of 1280x720 and I simply don't know an easier way to do that other than using RipBot264. Although come to think of it you can probably use XviD4PSP as well for this.

The best option is to just make a MKV and make sure you use a setting that is PS3 safe (which isn't hard since the PS3 is very capable and can handle Level 4.1 with crazy high bitrates). Also you will probably want to convert the 5.1 FLAC audio to 5.1 AC-3 (using a bitrate of 640kbps) but I don't normally deal with such audio files so I don't know if RipBot264 and/or XviD4PSP can handle that conversion.

Anyway once you have a MKV with the proper resolution and AC-3 audio you can then use a program called tsMuxeR to create the AVCHD and it should let you import your SRT subtitle file (if not add it to the MKV before attempting to use tsMuxeR with it).

There's also a handy program called AVCHDMe which will make sure the file structure of the AVCHD is PS3 friendly. My understanding is that you do NOT need to do this if you are burning your AVCHD to a DVD disc BUT you can actually put it on a USB Thumb Drive and play it that way on a PS3 but to do that you have to run AVCHDMe which makes sure the file structure is A-OK so basically you make the AVCHD first with txMuxeR then run it through AVCHDMe. Basically all this program does is make sure the file structure is changed to 8.3 filename format. Also it makes sure no single file is bigger than 4GB (but you have to select that option in tsMuxeR yourself).

[FulciLives]

Well I was able to find the exact same file on the internet. My observations:

This is a 10-bit video file and although I've heard of such files this is my first download of one. Anyway this could maybe be why you had issues playing it. However I had no issues playing it. I tested with VLC and MPC-HC and it looked and sounded fine either way and yes that included the subtitles. Just so you know I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit.

As for converting ... both HandBrake and RipBot264 failed. I imagine this has to do with it being a 10-bit video file. However I did get it to convert with XviD4PSP and I created a M2TS with burned in subs and 640kbps 5.1 AC-3 audio. Tested on the PS3 and it worked a treat.

I used XviD4PSP Official 5.037 Version. There are newer versions but this one still works great and seems to have more functionality than the newer versions.

Please note it took my computer close to 2 hours to convert just one 25 minute episode. My computer specs are in my profile.

[SubJunk]

Also just a quick note, you can watch them on the PS3 without any conversion if you use Universal Media Server. It supports all subtitle types and does it in realtime