Converting HDTV .ts file to mkv

[Bully9]

I've copied a downloaded HDTV .ts file to my PC, demuxed using tsmuxer and combined the AC3 primary audio file with the .264 video file using mkvmerge to produce an mkv file. The problem is the sound goes right out of synch when i play the file. It seems to me i'm doing something quite basic wrong but i'm not sure what. Is it possible to rewrap a ts as an mkv like this without reencoding? Thanks.

[The Mariner]

Are you just trying to make a smaller file ? If so, you don't need to go the trouble to demux/remux... just use a transcoding program like Freemake Video Converter, Handbrake etc.

[Baldrick]

Have you tried import the ts directly in mkvmergegui ?

[Bully9]

Not looking to make the file smaller, or transcode - just mystified why it won't work. Can't open the .ts file in mkvmergegui - 'unsupported container format' (which is why i demuxed in tsmuxer first).

[Baldrick]

It should handle .ts files. But maybe not .ts with h264 video. YOu could try make a m2ts with tsmuxer and try open it in mkvmergegui and see if it makes any difference.

Or try remux with something else avidemux, open .ts, under video and audio choose copy, format: mkv and save a mkv.
Or ffmpeg, "ffmpeg -i video.ts -vcodec copy -acodec copy video.mkv"

[Bully9]

Baldrick - i already tried the m2ts mux, but it makes no difference - i get the same message. (incidentally, .ts/m2ts isn't in the list of supported files to add in mkvmerge). Mediainfo doesn't state h264, it just gives format as AVC and a 'codec ID' of 27 whatever that means. But videoredo states 'encoding h264' in file info.

Thanks for the other suggestions - I could try these routes but i was really interested as to why the method i tried didn't work. And i never have much luck with avidemux - something always goes wrong

[Baldrick]

avc is h264.

mkvmergegui version 5.8.0 lists Mpeg transport streams (.ts/.m2ts/.mts) when you add files.

[Bully9]

Right - i'll try a later version. I use a very old one because i had problems when i updated, but that was a long time ago.
Update - yes 5.8.0 does exactly what i wanted to do. Thanks.

[Selur]

yup, when going from transport stream to mkv you should use mkvmerge (mmg if you need a gui) since this way, you won't loose the time stamps, if you extract the streams first and do not extract/create a matching timecode file, ts->raw->mkv tends to get asynch,..