mkv2vob: New App to Remux MKV x264/AC3 which play on PS3

[3r1c]

V2.1.0 5/Mar/2008
Added XviD and x264 transcoding options.
Fixed wrong center/right channel order in AAC conversion.
Fixed some subtitle letters in latin character set incorrectly rendered (French, Spanish, etc...).
Fixed incorrect rendering of Chinese and Arabic characters.
Fixed out of sync on files mixed with NTSC video and PAL audio (untested, someone send me a sample if it doesnt work).
Work around tsmuxer bug with comma in file or directory name (causes Muxing Failed error).
Various other small code changes I forgot.

[jahobo]

hey 3r1c thanks for making this program and updating as much as you did as well.

ive been reading lots in this thread and well im still kinda slow at this but

you just add the x264 transcoding option.
so say if i convert the mkv to a x264 does the size change much as i want to convert this matrix 1080p 7.9gb mkv file into a source file small enough still to fit into a DLDVD???

would transcoding the mkv to a x264 change the size much ??? and the x264 can be played on the ps3 right???

[oszy]

I don't know why, but subtitles for me don't work. I've tried also english and hungarian subs, from mkv and from external srt file, but always the same result, no subs on picture. I've tried the new V2.1.0 5 verison, and also the previous releases. I can see in the dos.txt file, that the program recognized the subtitles.
Today I downloaded the newest version of Gotsent, and it's working. There are subs on the movie.

What could be the problem? I would like to use mkv2vob instead of gotsent, because there are much more options I can use, eg. encoding to x264.

[Ruiner29]

When I try to remux from mkv to Xvid I get an "ogg.dll missing" error when Virtualdubmod tries to start.
I'm using the newest release.
What gives?
If I get a copy of this ogg.dll is there a particular version I should look for and if so where do I install it ?

Or do I just get the newest version of Virtualdubmod and install it.

No problems with the mpeg2 setting though.

Forgive me if i'm making a noobish mistake, it's still pretty early in the morning here and i'm on my first of many cups of coffee LOL !

[andyd2k]

Anyone know why this may be happening? The first couple of files convert properly but now I'm getting corrupted files. File size is 0kb. The files playback just fine in VLC so not sure what is going on

Latest version actually says that the muxing fails now. Do I have to have anything else installed? Weird that the files play just fine within VLC but still have issues with this. The same files I do have trouble playing within WMP with the Vista Codec Pack - do I need proper mkv codecs installed in order to convert?

[mmace]

If I set it to transcode to MPEG2, it doesn't seem to be a legal Blu-ray MPEG2, would it be possible to have it changed so it was?

the reason I ask is that I often watch an MKV and then I want it on Blu-ray so I use the transcoded file from MKV2VOB (I set it to always transcode if I'm not in a rush to watch something and keep the MPEG2 as it's more compatible with other software) but it always needs transcoding again in any of the software I use (Nero 8.2/Encore CS3 or DVDit Pro HD - but if it was BD legal it would passthrough without anything needing to be done). Seeing that most people are converting hi-def files that are MKVs, would it be that hard for the transcode to be BD legal?
if others are playing the file on a PC or PS3 they won't notice the difference, but for people like me it save 2 transcodes and a lot of quality and a hell of a lot of time!

[raveelement]

Does the program always have to encode 1080p mkv's? It seems that even AC3 1080 mkv files need to be transcoded but that is not the case with 720p mkv's - these just remux quickly and its done.

I have it on automatic because it worked for me with every movie so far when playing on ps3. What will happen when I do NEVER, it wont play on ps3 then right?

Please shed some light on this.

[mmace]

Does the program always have to encode 1080p mkv's? It seems that even AC3 1080 mkv files need to be transcoded but that is not the case with 720p mkv's - these just remux quickly and its done.

I have it on automatic because it worked for me with every movie so far when playing on ps3. What will happen when I do NEVER, it wont play on ps3 then right?

Please shed some light on this.pretty sure it's covered in this thread somewhere

[iSkywalker]

Great Work 3r1c. Wrong center/right channel has been fixed and traditional chinese subtitle can be hardcoded on video. What a wonderful job! Is it possible to make traditional chinese subtitle font bigger? or can we do it ourself like to change the config file?

[knobbycheeseman]

Am I being really stupid or is there no way of keeping the correct aspect ratio of files after they've been passed through mkv2vob and moved into the new container?

I've tried on various films I've downloaded that have 2.35:1 aspect ratios with properly cropped off borders and when they're played back on the PS3 the only way of watching is in a small box with borders either side or stretched vertically to cover the 16:9 ratio over the space that should be black borders...

Do the files I convert need to have a 1280 x 720 size? Or can I use anamorphic ones? I'm guessing the former...



im having the same problem
it seems as though mkv2vob is not maintaining the origonal files aspect ratio
the outputted file is stretched when set to play at 16.9 where the origional file adds the black borders to the top and bottom

test:- use vlc set aspect ratio to Default and play origional file
then use mkv2vob to convert the file
now play new file with vlc set to Default and see if it looks the same
mine are all stretched like they are on my ps3

Edit ive run more tests and the only way to get the right aspect in VLC with the out putted file is to set it to 221:100

origonal file
[Resolution] ......... [ 960x544 @ A.R.2.35
[Anamorphic?] ........ [ (YES) 1280x544

thanks

[3r1c]

This is because your mkv file has a custom DAR different from the actual pixel dimensions this will not be maintained in the conversion, and there is no way to fix this.

[Audioboxer]

Another great update 3r1c!

With the ability to transcode to x264 does this mean 1080p files WON'T be 2x the size now? :confused:

Thanks

[knobbycheeseman]

This is because your mkv file has a custom DAR different from the actual pixel dimensions this will not be maintained in the conversion, and there is no way to fix this.


thanks

is there any way i can use another program to sort out the aspect ratio before runing it through mkv2vob

cheers

[raveelement]

Another great update 3r1c!

With the ability to transcode to x264 does this mean 1080p files WON'T be 2x the size now? :confused:

Thanks


my 1080p transcodes dont double in size

[3r1c]

Another great update 3r1c!

With the ability to transcode to x264 does this mean 1080p files WON'T be 2x the size now? :confused:

Thanks

In x264 mode the bitrate of the transcoded video is set to the same as the source, so it will be around the same size.

[Quatre]

can i get some clarification on the new transcode option.

I'm assuming what it does is allow you to pick between mpeg-2, x264 and xvid as your output file when mkv2vob has to transcode the mkv via automatic, for adding subs, or when you force the transcode

why is transcoding to mpeg-2 the fastest even though it makes the largest file? i know cus its uncompressed but seems backwards that its actually the fastest.

xvid is medium speed as far as amount of time to transcode to that file type. I didn't realize ps3 had a 2gb limit on xvids. thats lame but good to know and good that mkv2vob automatically splits it accordingly if you choose xvid. is there any reason or benefit to choosing xvid? i guess if you want it split into 2gb files or something but otherwise the other 2 choices seem better.

and finally x264, thats confusing because thats what teh original file is, but i guess its x264 type that can play on the ps3 unlike the original mkv. its slowest to transcode but will be same size about as the original mkv (smaller if orig had dts i think cus the file gets smaller once dts is reencoded).

some ppl say transcoding degrades quality a bit, would transcoding to x264 be the least or no loss to quality because its closest to what the original file is?

mpeg-2 takes long enough and i dont mind the file size so i'll prob stick to that but i'm just wondering what the benefit might be of the other 2 choices.

[mmace]

why is transcoding to mpeg-2 the fastest even though it makes the largest file? i know cus its uncompressed but seems backwards that its actually the fastest.MPEG2 is compressed, not sure where you get the uncompressed from?

MPEG2 is easier for a CPU to do, x264 uses much more cpu power and will take longer

[Wilb]

V2.1.0 5/Mar/2008
Work around tsmuxer bug with comma in file or directory name (causes Muxing Failed error).


I'm getting a Muxing Failed on a couple of files that I've just tried running through mkv2vob - no bizarre characters in the name. Settings are Auto transcode, transcode to x264, automatic transcoding, no file splitting. Plenty of free space on the drive its outputting to.

Not sure the best way to debug the problem without a bit more verbosity in the errors.

[neuromax]

Hi, 3r1c
thank you vary much again for this tool.
I tried some files with subs and the rendering of the subs is a bit weird. They are on more than one line even if the text is only a few words, but I guess is the text file that is that way. The real trouble is that you have no control on subtitle size. I get very small subs and maybe it's that I'm used to bigger fonts, but I'm not able to follow the video with such small text to follow. Is there a way to force the subtitle size? I think it should be a command line parameter of mencoder.

[Glorioso]

3r1c, is it possible to change the subtitle size? I have somo problems with some files, not all files, with the final subtitle size, a preview pane and a subtitle size adjustment would be a nice addition tho the v3.0 :-D

[Renzz]

Great tool this - thanks 3r1c.

Could I also echo the request to have an option to allow the output directory to automatically get set to the same as the input? I have files all over the place that I am converting and this would be a great help.

I have also noticed one minor cosmetic bug - when you set the output to be split, when it comes to the splitting stage the progress bar only gets about 5% of the way across then stops, although the actual split continues and finishes ok.

[haydoot]

Subtitles looks like very small, old version's subtitles better than this...

[Ot4c0n]

3r1c, can you please adjust the subtitles size?

A question, could it be an option on the future to have selectable subtitle like dvd or something like that just to not do the transcode?

Great great tool. Congrat's 3r1c

[Ot4c0n]

A question, could it be an option on the future to have selectable subtitle like dvd or something like that just to not do the transcode?

Don't mine. Obviously it's not possible since it should be the Ps3 the one that could have a selectable subtitle option for single videos like divx, mpg, etc... Right?

[_leech_]

Quick question: do the MPEG2 and XviD options produce as close to a 1:1 visual copy of the source?

Also, is there a way to change the subtitles without having to re-encode from the source MKV all over again?

[ajamils]

V2.1.0 5/Mar/2008
Added XviD and x264 transcoding options.
Fixed wrong center/right channel order in AAC conversion.
Fixed some subtitle letters in latin character set incorrectly rendered (French, Spanish, etc...).
Fixed incorrect rendering of Chinese and Arabic characters.
Fixed out of sync on files mixed with NTSC video and PAL audio (untested, someone send me a sample if it doesnt work).
Work around tsmuxer bug with comma in file or directory name (causes Muxing Failed error).
Various other small code changes I forgot.

Thanks for the latest upgrade.

[oom34]

Greek Subtitles looks like very small :confused:

[milousebw]

Thanks for your fantastic software ! The french subtitles are very small too !

[Jorgensen]

When I have converted some mkv's movie, sometimes the sound disappears for a second. This happens again and again in every half a minute or so. Have anybody else experienced the same? What should I do to make these movies work?

The only thing these movies have in common (I can't find any other) is that the language of the audio track is undetermined, is that a problem?

[naj]

I've noticed 3 bugs you should know:

1. In DivX mode, virtualdubmod asks for a ogg.dll file, so it didn't work; once I added the file from the official package to the tools folder, it worked (I had to re-encode everything again).

2. In h264 mode, there must be some bug in finding out the original bitrate of the movie, since a 102MB sample went to 3.7MB, at ~400kbps. This obviously is a "i can't watch" movie encode ;)

3. Subtitle size is now too small, less than half it used to be. Although I always thought it used to be a little bigger than it should, I think that now it's very very small... Maybe an option to set the size on the gui would be helpful.

Once again, many thanks for everything you've done, it's always been up-to-date and very refreshing to see the development of this great tool. Keep it up, please :)

[knobbycheeseman]

This is because your mkv file has a custom DAR different from the actual pixel dimensions this will not be maintained in the conversion, and there is no way to fix this.

thanks ive figured it out using some other programs
now my files play with the correct aspect ratio on my ps3
only adds 30 mins to my conversion time

many thanks for this great piece of software
keep up the good work :thanks:

[cappahdap]

thanks ive figured it out using some other programs
now my files play with the correct aspect ratio on my ps3
only adds 30 mins to my conversion time

many thanks for this great piece of software
keep up the good work :thanks:

Hey knobby, what program did you use to correct the AR? I've been having the same problems... Thx :)

[asif9t9]

I'm not actually having any issues anymore (just can't find enough movies to keep up!!). But can someone explain to a n00b the transcode options. When I put a file into mkv2vob, I'm not too concerned with how long it takes. Should I always choose x264? Xvid? mpeg2? I just want to know I'm getting the best quality. Otherwise, whenever I obtain a movie, I just make sure it's a proper mkv from a legit source. Usually if it says bluray in the filename, you're good to go.

[carbonkid]

How long it will take to transcode a 2 hour movie in .x264 mode?

[_leech_]

I just ran into an issue with a 1080p MKV using the latest version. At first mkv2vob detected the video as not needing decoding but the resulting file wouldn't play on the PS3 (black screen, no error). Played fine on the PC. Next I tried to force it to encode in MPEG2 but that failed (error transcoding).

[andyd2k]

Is there no way to tell why muxing fails? I have several files that are refusing to mux even though they play just fine

[ajamils]

Is there no way to tell why muxing fails? I have several files that are refusing to mux even though they play just fine

I'm having the same issue with couple of movies.

[Kinan]

Installation of the latest version crashes at my PC ("Installation ended prematurely because of an error"), is it possible to get the program in the old style rar archive?

Thanks in advance .)

[mikeymoves@gmail.com]

GREAT app!! Even runs well in Parallels on a mac...

There is a question that was posed earlier that hasn't been answered and I am having the same problem!! When streaming files over on Medialink, I can't seem to get past a certain part of the movie without jumping back to the beginning!! Any clues?? It's like, I get 20 minutes or so into the movie and it just jumps to beginning. I can't manage to cheat and ff past the part either. Any ideas??

[tr5755]

GREAT app!! Even runs well in Parallels on a mac...

There is a question that was posed earlier that hasn't been answered and I am having the same problem!! When streaming files over on Medialink, I can't seem to get past a certain part of the movie without jumping back to the beginning!! Any clues?? It's like, I get 20 minutes or so into the movie and it just jumps to beginning. I can't manage to cheat and ff past the part either. Any ideas??


I had the same problem. I tried the demo version of Twonkymedia and all of my files play through to the end. I emailed Medialink, but they have still not replied. Maybe give that a go.

[3r1c]

I've noticed 3 bugs you should know:

1. In DivX mode, virtualdubmod asks for a ogg.dll file, so it didn't work; once I added the file from the official package to the tools folder, it worked (I had to re-encode everything again).

2. In h264 mode, there must be some bug in finding out the original bitrate of the movie, since a 102MB sample went to 3.7MB, at ~400kbps. This obviously is a "i can't watch" movie encode ;)

3. Subtitle size is now too small, less than half it used to be. Although I always thought it used to be a little bigger than it should, I think that now it's very very small... Maybe an option to set the size on the gui would be helpful.

Once again, many thanks for everything you've done, it's always been up-to-date and very refreshing to see the development of this great tool. Keep it up, please :)

1. strange it works for me without ogg.dll maybe its not needed on vista. and the avi wont contain any ogg audio so shouldnt be needed.

2. sample files do not contain the original x264 header thats probably why, i did test it on a full 2 hour file and it worked fine.

3. subtitle size in the old version was very big, i reduced it by one point and now looks more like the same size used in blu-ray movies, is it really too small?

[Shayx]

yes the subtitles are wayyyyy to small...the older configuration was great, no need to change it, please bring it back...
and a question, when i try to insert HEBREW subtitles they are shown backwards, for example: HELLO!=OLLEH!
in the older version it was fixed by choosing the charset ISO-8859-8 when embedding the subtitles with MKVMERGE, but now it does'nt work.

hope for a helpfull comment soon, and thank you for your blessed work!
By the way, i created a MP4 in the size of 5.20 GB, moved it to the PS3 hard disk and it played beautifully.
Is there no limit on MP4 files?

[haydoot]

3. subtitle size in the old version was very big, i reduced it by one point and now looks more like the same size used in blu-ray movies, is it really too small?

Really very very small...

Old version was normal...not big, not small

[Shayx]

i agree, it wasn't that big, it was perfect!!!
please please fix it!!!

[_leech_]

Is there any place to download previous versions?

[jfcarbel]

3r1c - Looks like your program can convert ACC 5.1 to AC3 5.1 and then rewrapper the streams into a DVD like container (VOB).

One challenge that seems to be within your grasp would be to take a .MP4 container with H.264 video/ACC 5.1 audio, convert audio to AC3 5.1 and rewrapper it back into .MP4 stream or into a MPEG-2 transport stream.

Why do I bring this up?

Many of the Apple HD movie trailers in quicktime contain ACC 5.1, but Quicktime Pro does allow conversion of the .MOV container to a .MP4 container. But it cannot convert the ACC to AC3 and retain multichannel audio.

This would allow us to take a Quicktime HD movie trailer and be able to play it on both a PS3 or a Blu-Ray standalone.

Blu-Ray standalones support H.264 and AC3 5.1 if it is in the MPEG-2 transport stream, basically that is an AVCHD file.

How hard might it be to adopt this tool to create something like this?

Currently nothing exists for this and several folks are looking for something like this in the Blu-Ray.com forums.

Obviously this is more work since you need to demux an MP4 and remux into a MPEG-2 transport stream or back to MP4 container. But it seems like it could be within reach of someone with your talent.

[naj]

1. strange it works for me without ogg.dll maybe its not needed on vista. and the avi wont contain any ogg audio so shouldnt be needed.

2. sample files do not contain the original x264 header thats probably why, i did test it on a full 2 hour file and it worked fine.

3. subtitle size in the old version was very big, i reduced it by one point and now looks more like the same size used in blu-ray movies, is it really too small?

1. yes, and now it even asked for vorbis.dll on another file, so it didn't mux it (again), in the end of those 6 hours encoding time, I got nothing. ehhehe

2. well, you must be right, I even tried later with another 4 or 5 samples and had no problem, just in that specific one (maybe you'd like to have a look at that sample? )

3. I'm with the same impression other people is having, the previous size was nice, nevertheless maybe we could select among these two sizes in the options? :)

Once again, I'm very thankful for your work and dedication :)

[lillprinsen]

old subtitles was to big... make option?

[lazarusbf]

Hello
at long last i've waited 5 days to be able to post my huge thanks to Eric for this amazing thing
You're a star !!

just one little thing, i am too experiencing troubles with the small subs characters, if you could just make them slightly bigger...and a bit upper in the screen. (i'm on a 46" fullHD sony bravia and subs just appear at the very very bottom end of the screen and i cannot even see the p, q, etc letters in full (bottom part is cut)
i know it's a detail but you look eager on creating the perfect program ever ! :thanks:

[InfraRedPS]

Thanks for this awesome little app!

Some transcodes can take up to 4 hours, can you please add an automatic shutdown feature that shuts down the computer once all the items on the process list are completed? This way I can leave it to do it's work over night, GrabIt has this feature and it works great.

Many thanks.