Need help with MKV / MP4 files for Kiss1600 unit

[JonRead]

I saw for sale a Kiss1600 unit which advertised playing HiDef H.264 files via network or disc. I stupidly forgot to check the details and bought it. I now find it doesn't play MKV files, but it will play MP4, TS, etc.

I have a whole stack of H.264 files in MKV format with 5.1 surround sound (some DTS and some AC3 5.1). The main reason for me getting this player. So the crunch of my problem is that I need to convert or hotfix my MKV files so they play exactly the same as the original MKV file, but in another compatible H.264 format. I need to keep the file size to the same as original, around 4gb so it fits on a DVD, but without quality loss.

Some things I have tried.......

1. I tried to rename the extension from MKV to MP4 just as the first easy test, plays fine in VLC but when played on my Kiss player it will only play the sound with no video.

2. I have tried to convert to MP4 using software like MainConept, which takes quite a while to encode per movie, I get the same picture quality but the sound is always Stereo and very quiet. I want to keep the same .DTS audio if at all possible.

3. I tried to demux the video and audio, fiddle with the video file headers in h264info (changing video level from 5-1 to 4-1), and re-join to a MP4 but I can't find any software that will mux the .dts file back with the modified h264 file. I just keep getting errors. This may be due to the limitations of the MP4 container, I am not quite sure.

4. I tried AutoMKV but for some reason my Kiss player tells me I am trying to play a codec the unit doesn't recognise, even though I selected a MP4 H264 file as the output along with no filters or anything.

Here is the list of extensions the player can handle......

Video....

.avi
.mpg
.ts
.mp4
.mpeg
.vob
.wmv
.idx
.smi

Audio.....

.aac
.mp3
.ogg
.tta
.wav
.wma

So if you were me, and you had some H.264 720p files with 5.1 sound in MKV format, then what software would you use to convert to one of the above compatible formats without losing any quality, both sound and audio IF at all possible ? I have MainConcept Encoder and most of the free software items.

Codec wise I have CoreAVC, FFDShow, and Haali Media Splitter installed.

Many thanks for any advice !!

[Sagekilla]

You can demux your mkvs using mkvextract and remux using YAMB. Also, what you seem to be describing is transcoding, which is what you do NOT want to do. All you need to do is transfer your audio and video data from one cotainer format (mkv) to another (mp4) which should provide NO quality loss whatsoever. If there is, something is severely screwed up. Audio wise, I don't think mp4 supports DTS/AC3 so you'll need to transcode to something that it does support (AAC) If you're really paranoid about retaining transparency, encode at a high bitrate (even though AAC works just as well sounds just as good at lower bitrates) and mux that with your video into a mp4.


What you need:
YAMB - mux to mp4
Mkvextract - demux mkv
BeSweet - Transcoding from AC3/DTS to AAC
BeLight - Frontend for BeSweet to make it easier
Your brain - Do what you think works best from my suggestions!


Hope that helps :)