Problem Involving MKV, Subtitles (SRT), MKVmerge, ConvertXtoDVD, TMPGenc DVD Author & Playstation 2

Hi,

My goal in this project is to convert a movie (Paprika), which is in MKV format (along with three different audio channels and three different subtitle channels) into a DVD capable of being played on a North American Playstation 2.

I have managed to extract the video and the Japanese audio channel and then merge them into a single MKV file without all the other junk, except for the subtitles. I then extracted from the .sub file an .srt file through SubResync. So now I have an MKV file with video (h264, yuv420p, 704x384, 11:6 Aspect, Automatic Resize - 16:9) and audio (mp4-aac, 48000 Hz, 5:1) and a separate English subtitle file (.srt). I think the video also is originally in PAL format @ 25fps.

So I followed that ConvertXtoDVD guide to turn those files into DVD files with a menu and then burn them on to a 4.7GB DVD-R (Maxwell, gold top, purple bottom, up to 16x) @ 2x (the lowest it'll go) on a Sony DRU-820A External using the supplied DVD writer software.

I tried to play it on the Playstation 2 (which I believe I bought around 03-04) and it was recognized, but it pauses and resumes every ~2 sec. Other than that the DVD was fine and the subtitles could be selected. So then I tried burning the same VOBs using Nero but that didn't work either.

On the third try I used TMPGenc DVD Author Pro to use the folder that the pre-authored DVD files from ConvertXtoDVD were in as the source and re-encoded? them into new VOBs. At this point I was experimenting, thinking that maybe re-encoding them on a different program would work, since DVD Author doesn't accept MKVs but can re-author existing DVDs. I also added a better menu. Anywho, I burned the DVD using the supplied burning software from DVD Author and played it on the Playstation without any problems. However, there were no subtitles by default, nor were you able to select them. (Does DVD Author Pro even support subtitles?)

So I have a DVD that has subtitles and pauses and another DVD that doesn't have subtitles but is pause-free.

Now, I apologize if I'm doing this in an unnecessarily complex way or I'm being too detailed, but I try to minimize omitting things. Anyway, I think that the cause isn't the DVDs because I was able to play them just fine (except without subtitles) on the PS2, or the burning software (since I tried burning the VOBs from DVD Author using Nero and the result was also bad), so perhaps, through process of elimination, it's the conversion from MKV to DVD using ConvertXtoDVD and/or the PS2 (although it did play that certain DVD fine). I should also note that when I play the pausing DVD using VLC on the computer, that there are no pauses.

I'm not really sure where to go from here. I was thinking maybe I could find a way to force the subtitles file to default somehow (using ConvertXtoDVD or something else) so that I don't even have to choose it on the PS2. ConvertXtoDVD also says that there are no internal subtitles, even when I merge the video, audio and srt together.

Or perhaps I could embed the subtitles within the video somehow, but I don't know how to do that. I also tried IFOedit, but I didn't really know what to do with it. I was thinking that perhaps I could add subtitles after processing the VOBs. But I didn't know how.

Lastly, I think if all that fails, I could just convert the mkv to mpeg (but I don't think I can use TMPGenc for that and I think I used VirtualDUBmod, but I don't think I did that right because there were errors concerning DirectShow , etc. I didn't understand) and then author the video, audio and subtitles. I'm afraid that there might be loss of quality?

Oh, and I also tried AVI2DVD but it would freeze after an error message saying something about Access Control and whatnot, after loading an MKV file.

Any little tidbit of info is welcome and I thank you in advance.

-conbrio4

 

since you already have the video file with japanese audio and the subtitle file use avirecomp to combine the two. It will hardsub the video and it doesn't take long to recompress a 22 min avi.