CANNOT figure out MKV to DVD conversion -- yuck!

Discussion in 'Video to DVD' started by tankpower, Jan 11, 2006.

  1. tankpower

    tankpower Regular member

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    Hi,

    I have a movie file that ends in ".h264.mkv" and I'm trying to convert it to watchable DVD format. The vid quality is great and it has selectable audio (AAC) and subtitle tracks -- it actually looks better than my Region 1 purchased copy of the same movie. Btw, I only care about 1 audio track and 1 subtitle track, if that matters.

    I have Nero, DVD Shrink, VSO Divx to DVD, etc... but I cannot figure out how convert this baby. Don't I have to deal with the video and audio components separately, and then join them? I've researched quite a bit but I'm having no luck.

    Any basic guidelines are much appreciated -- thanks!
     
  2. rp_024

    rp_024 Guest

    Mainconcept H.264. It's a new video format. That program will work to convert it. It's an advance MPEG 4 I believe
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  3. rp_024

    rp_024 Guest

  4. tankpower

    tankpower Regular member

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    thanks! i used that program to encode the file, but i can't get the resulting video to play. i'll tinker around a bit and see if i need to change any settings or whatever.

    should this program do everything in one step (i.e. video, audio, subs) or will i still need to split up parts and put back together later? that part never really made sense to me.

    i appreciate your help.
     
  5. rp_024

    rp_024 Guest

    Should do everything in one step. Check your default settings. What did you convert the file to? Check to see if you had PAL set by default. Pretty handy utility. If you check out the white papers on this thing you can use it for more than just converting too.
     
  6. tankpower

    tankpower Regular member

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    Ah, gotcha. The video output setting was H.264 Main, and I could only get audio on the resulting file. I guess I should set it to "DVD" if I want a watchable DVD with the fewest conversion steps? There's a long list to choose from, but my only goal is optimum vid quality.

    My audio setting is now Layer 2, which I think was my desired track judging from the earlier output file. The original MKV has JP, English, and commentary tracks, but I only want the Japanese.

    My only other concern is making sure the English subtitles make it across (there are also German subs in the original). I don't really see any specific setting for this, so I guess I'll just see what happens. Any process I need to follow? I have all the different software, if I need another tool.

    Thanks again.

    EDIT: oh, also, it's set to NTSC and the stream type is default (Program: Video + Audio)
     
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2006
  7. tankpower

    tankpower Regular member

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    Ok, I checked some stuff using short, aborted conversion attempts.

    Video: Using the "DVD" output setting seems to work fine. Is this good, or do I need to set it to "MPEG-2" for any reason? I'm not sure what the significance of "DVD" is, but it seems to work.

    Audio: "Layer 2" and "LPCM" both yield my desired audio track, although the volume seems a little low. Is there a way to change this? Heck, it doesn't matter too much anyway. Again, I'm not sure of the significance of one over the other.

    Subtitles: I read that I'll need to extract the .srt file from my MKV original and then add it later. Does this sound right?

    Burning: Do you have any recommendation on which program to use for the final step? I've got Nero, Divx to DVD, etc... Whichever is best for quality/subs.

    Thanks, hope this all makes sense!
     
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2006

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