Looking for free software to convert mkv video to DVD

[jimdagys]

I have a 30 minute video (see G-spot). For some unknown reason, most of the G-spot is empty. The video appears to be mkv container with x264 AAC. The video plays fine using Media Player Classic - Home Cinema. I wanted a DVD, so I used DVD Flick (1.2.2.1 build 442). On my standalone DVD player, the resulting DVD video plays fine, however, the audio is about 1/4 speed and pitch, making the whole thing quite useless. I am wondering if there is free software that I can try to convert this video to DVD.

[Tom Saurus]

So there is no audio distortion before you put it through DVD Flick. My suggestion and probably somebody else has a better idea is to install Freemake Video Converter. Be wary though when installing Freemake Video Converter that you don't install those toolbars and other stuff you don't want in the process. Well anyway Freemake Video Converter has an option where you can convert your file to a .mpeg2 file. Mpeg2 files if they have the right specs are suitable to be made into DVDs. Before this it might be a good idea to install Media Info to get an idea exactly what the specs are for your original file. All this being said, I am sure someone will come up with a better method to get you on the right track than what I have written down. Is there a option in Media Player Classic to give you some information on the file that you are playing. I know that VLC allows you to look at the file specs by playing the file, going to Tools and selecting Codec Information. In the comments part of the page here at Videohelp there is mention of audio distortion problems when it comes to .avi files.

So my suggestion is to use Freemake Video Converter to make a .mpeg2 file and play that file and see if the audio and video are to your liking. Then if meets all the DVD specs perhaps there is another free DVD Authoring Program you can drop it into and make your DVD; hopefully that program is smart enough just to turn the files into .vobs and not re-encode it again. I would use the 2 pass option in the Freemake Video Converter. I hope I have been of some help.

It looks like MediaInfo is now Adware so perhaps give some thought before installing it.

[Slowburn]

Try AVStoDVD. Works great.

https://www.videohelp.com/tools/AVStoDVD

[Chug a Bug]

People still use Gspot?

Install the latest version of MediaInfo and then choose settings View > Text

Right click on file, choose MediaInfo from the menu

should show whats in there.

[MilesAhead]

Try AVStoDVD. Works great.

https://www.videohelp.com/tools/AVStoDVD

It's also the only package I've found that has QuEnc 0.75 alpha multi-threaded. I've used this QuEnc one pass high bit rate CBR such as 8500 kbit, to produce very high quality DVD from .mkv. For such a short file AvsToDVD may even auto select it as the encoder.

[jimdagys]

Thanks for the ideas. Turns out I had "Convert x to DVD" (payware) in my toolbox. But that also gave a DVD that had messed up audio. This time I played the DVD files in Media Player Classic before wasting time to burn the DVD. Something about the audio in the original mkv files makes it difficult to convert to DVD. Playing the original mkv file with Media Player Classic has perfect audio. I'll try AVStoDVD and see what happens.

[Tom Saurus]

This is just an idea, I could be wrong, but maybe the audio in the .mkv is variable bit rate and converters don't like that. Maybe demux the .mkv file and get the sound portion and convert it to constant bit rate audio and then mux them back together. I could be totally wrong; hopefully someone will come along a give you the right answer if I am wrong.

[MilesAhead]

If that doesn't work you could try putting it through one of those tools that only converts the audio, then muxes it back to mkv or to mp4. Then convert to DVD. Make sure the audio you convert to is DVD compliant. Then in your DVD converter you may be able to set it to use that audio stream untouched. No sense doing everything 8 times.

[Tom Saurus]

MilesAhead: Thanks for your explanation. Is that a picture of Jimmy Hart in your Avatar? The guy who used to be a manager for the Nasty Boys in the WWE.

[jimdagys]

I used AVIDemux to try to post a 30 second sample. This sample plays perfectly in Media Player Classic Home Cinema, but still has an audio problem with DVDFlick. The audio plays way too slow. The 30 second sample should make it easy to try other DVD converters. I have attached a screenshot of the clip info from AVIDemux.

[pepegot1]

Try "Video to Video Converter." It's better than some I paid for. Fairly good parameter control for customization.

[TSJNachos]

It sounds to me like the audio in the original file is probably not the problem. My guess is that your video has a framerate that is not compliant with any DVD standard. Most of the programs I've seen will attempt to just convert the framerate, potentially at the cost of some loss of motion smoothness. However, it seems to me that perhaps your programs are attempting to preserve the motion smoothness, by simply speeding up or slowing down the video, and then doing likewise for the audio to maintain synchronization, resulting in cr@p audio. Boy, I'd much rather have jerky video, anyday.

If you could open the file in MediaInfo, as suggested above, that might help. Also, where do you live? Do you live in a country that uses NTSC signals? Or how about somewhere that uses PAL? SECAM? Depending on what TV standards/signals are used where you live, you might need 29.970 (in such cases 23.976 may be used), 25, or whatever SECAM uses.

[El Heggunte]

@ jimdagys: the sample you uploaded contains HE-AACv2 (aka "parametric stereo").

Suggestion: first, demux with ffmpeg to an audio-only MP4, and then, decode with faad or NeroAacDec.

[usalabs]

I suggest looking at this site here:- http://www.effectmatrix.com/Free-MKV-DVD/index.htm

[jimdagys]

Problem solved. I used Avidemux on the original file to change the audio from the original AAC to AC3 (see screenshot 2). I then fed the file into DVDFlick and had no problem. I didn't try the suggested mkv to DVD converter
http://www.effectmatrix.com/Free-MKV-DVD/index.htm
because AAC wasn't listed as permissible audio (see screenshot 1)
Thanks for all the suggestions which helped me solve the problem.

[Tom Saurus]

jimdagys: I am glad you have got this problem solved. So now the sound is now up to par along with the video, that is the way it should be.

[MilesAhead]

For that matter you could have done the entire conversion in AviDemux. Select the MPeg PS muxer. Then use any free authoring program like DVDAuthorGui to create the VIDEO_TS structure from the .mpg file.

[jimdagys]

Miles Ahead,
Could you please complete your answer and tell me what settings for Video Output and Audio Output (see screenshot), assuming I am using the original mkv/AVC1/AAC file that needs to be converted before using DVDAuthorGui. I like to have a few different ways to do the same thing.

[MilesAhead]

Does not one in the Video drop down say something about MPEG PS ?? That will produce an mpg file with "navpacks" that can be directly input to DVDAuthorGui. Otherwise you need to feed it separate .m2v and audio file. I'm sure there's Guides on this forum for using DVDAuthorGui and there's a ton of documentation about AviDemux. Look in the Wiki. I'm not going to reproduce it here. Once you're on the Wiki you'll see what I mean.

For some reason there seems to be a problem browsing the Wiki page. See the forum to get started.


edit: Ok, sorry. I just downloaded 64 bit AviDemux 2.60. I don't use it for DVD output and they changed the settings in the video dropdown. Used to say MPEG PS. Now I would guess it would be the mpeg encoder. But I'd find a guide here or ask on the forum.

Another nice thing to have is the old TMPEGEnc freeware. It has MPEG Tools in the file menu. It still comes in handy now and then for quick simple mpeg mux and demux.

On the output it still does say MPEG PS Muxer. That should do it. I got out of the habit of using AviDemux as an encoder when they killed one pass avi that looked good. Usually I bring it up to fix an index or extact the audio. I still have 2.4 that has a decent avi one pass mode. They cut way down on the motion detection since that version. One pass isn't even worth using now. (Of course the answer on their forum is "use 2 pass mode." Duh.

Edit2: also for downsizing from HD to SD I find this FitCD Tutorial useful.


But for downsizing I've had good luck with BilinearResize. But the only way to know which filters you like is to try some. AviSytn is a bit of a strange beast. It seems weird because you don't run it directly. It's a library that's pulled in when you use an .avs script. See tutorials how to use it. It's extremely powerful. I've been messing with it here and there for years and I only know a few of the capabilities. I do this stuff casually. I'm not a "20 encodes a day" type of guy.

[jimdagys]

I am using Avidemux 2.6. The choices for video and audio are in the following screenshots. Just tell me which ones to choose to make a DVD compatible file. I'm disappointed though in Avidemux, because if you search Google you can find a Avidemux tutorial by Bladrick that talks about using the "auto" function as a 1-click way to make a DVD compatible file. But that definitely doesn't work in my version. I see one can download old versions, but I'm not that interested. If they've deproved the software, it's not worth spending a lot of time.

[MilesAhead]

If you didn't read what I wrote the first time, or the second time, what's going to make this time different?
I'm not into hand holding. I answered the question already.
Read the thread.