What is the best method of making MKV?

[boristhemoggy]

I've been ripping hundreds of my DVD's to Matroska format, principally to retain the subtitle files.
However I download some MP4's which are less than a gig long and the quality is way better than my ripped MKV's.
Considering that MKV's aren't transcoded when ripping I em bemused as to why an MP4 would be better. Has anyone got any suggestions?

[sneaker_ger]

Because others use BluRay as sources? Because they IVTC or sharpen?

[boristhemoggy]

What's IVTC?

[SeeMoreDigital]

When the size of HDD's became larger and more affordable I decided not to bother encoding my DVD's. Nowadays I re-mux their original, video, audio and subtitle streams along with chapters into the .mkv container. I do the same with Blu-ray disc back-ups too ;)

[boristhemoggy]

When the size of HDD's became larger and more affordable I decided not to bother encoding my DVD's. Nowadays I re-mux their original, video, audio and subtitle streams along with chapters into the .mkv container. I do the same with Blu-ray disc back-ups too ;)

Can I ask what you remux with?

[SeeMoreDigital]

Can I ask what you remux with?Over the years I've used all kinds of applications. More recently I've been using MakeMKV.

[boristhemoggy]

Over the years I've used all kinds of applications. More recently I've been using MakeMKV.

MakeMKV does not remux, it simply strips DVD's to a n MKV container?

[sneaker_ger]

That's what "remuxing" means. You're thinking of "re-encoding".
MakeMKV does not alter the quality in any way. Of course if the source DVD looks bad the MakeMKV output will look equally bad. That's when you need to start looking for a better source (often BluRay).

[SeeMoreDigital]

MakeMKV does not remux, it simply strips DVD's to a n MKV container?Indeed, it strips/decrypts the copyright protection from DVD and Blu-ray disc's and gives you the option to select audio and subtitle tracks, ie: re-mux them from the .vob container to the .mkv container. Isn't this what you want?

If you require just an MKV muxer, I suggest you look at MKVmuxer GUI...

[boristhemoggy]

Indeed, it strips/decrypts the copyright protection from DVD and Blu-ray disc's and gives you the option to select audio and subtitle tracks, ie: re-mux them from the .vob container to the .mkv container. Isn't this what you want?

If you require just an MKV muxer, I suggest you look at MKVmuxer GUI...

Well that's what i thought I wanted. I was unsure as to what remuxing was.
I always assumed DVD's to be of great quality, so what I actually want is better quality than DVD with the existing files I have, but kept in an MKV container.
I'm guessing simply converting them to mp4 or whatever and then back again sin't going to be enough?

[captaiŋadamo]

I always assumed DVD's to be of great quality, so what I actually want is better quality than DVD with the existing files I have, but kept in an MKV container.

DVDs are only as good looking as the source master and encoding. Some can look great others will look like crap. If you want better quality than your DVDs you either need to get a Blu-Ray, or better, source or do some filtering to your DVD sources, reencode them and mux into mkv.

I'm guessing simply converting them to mp4 or whatever and then back again sin't going to be enough?

MP4 is not a video format it is a container. So, no, putting the same video into an MP4 container will not change the quality.

[Sparktank]

What's IVTC?

The road is very long. And dark. That out of hell leads up to light.

IVTC is just part of it.
Figuring out if it's pure interlace or not, or hybrid framerates is another mess.

For content available on bluray, it's easier to use that and downscale to SD resolutions. And encode that.

For stuff only on DVD, if you don't want to play with InVerseTeleCine or DeInterlacing, just use MakeMKV and it will remux a 1:1 copy of the video. No extra compression.

[boristhemoggy]

The road is very long. And dark. That out of hell leads up to light.

IVTC is just part of it.
Figuring out if it's pure interlace or not, or hybrid framerates is another mess.

For content available on bluray, it's easier to use that and downscale to SD resolutions. And encode that.

For stuff only on DVD, if you don't want to play with InVerseTeleCine or DeInterlacing, just use MakeMKV and it will remux a 1:1 copy of the video. No extra compression.

Methinks I need to delve into the witchcraft then because DVD remuxed into MKV is crap quality and I ain't buying 2100 BluRay's.
Thanks all.

[SeeMoreDigital]

What devices are you using to play and display your (MPEG-2) .MKV contained files?

Depending on how the MPEG-2 stream has been encoded and flagged there maybe things you can do with some of your DVD back-up files...

[hello_hello]

Methinks I need to delve into the witchcraft then because DVD remuxed into MKV is crap quality and I ain't buying 2100 BluRay's.

There's no reason why it shouldn't be identical quality if it's decoded the same way (correctly). It's the same video if the DVD contents are simply remuxed as MKV.

[boristhemoggy]

I'm using LightAlloy on a 21 inch lcd panel. TBH DVD originals are also poor quality, but an MP4 that a friend gave me which was a full DVD compressed into 800 meg was ace quality, so it's not the screen, it's DVD's. I expected more from them tbh

[SeeMoreDigital]

I'm using LightAlloy on a 21 inch lcd panel. TBH DVD originals are also poor quality, but an MP4 that a friend gave me which was a full DVD compressed into 800 meg was ace quality, so it's not the screen, it's DVD's. I expected more from them tbhI suggest you try some different software media players, as some are better than others at detecting 'progressive' encoded content, even when it's flagged as interlaced. Which is how the bulk of MPEG-2 stored on DVD is flagged :eek: