Mkv and dvd

[Homeless Joe]

you guys know of any dvd burning programs that are able to use .mkv files? i've been using nero lately but they dont' support that file type.

[Psygnius]

I usually use MKVToolnix with the MKVExtractGUI add-on to extract the AVI, audio, and subtitles out of the container before I convert it to DVD.

TMPGEnc is a good tool to convert the AVI into MPG2 DVD format.

Then I use DVD-Lab Pro 2 to put it together onto DVD. It lets you have multiple audio, subs, and all that stuff. But it's an expensive program though.

[gubi-gubi]

Yeh I think its better to demux the mkv first then just go about it the same way you would an avi.

[Schultz]

I usually use MKVToolnix with the MKVExtractGUI add-on to extract the AVI, audio, and subtitles out of the container before I convert it to DVD.

TMPGEnc is a good tool to convert the AVI into MPG2 DVD format.

Then I use DVD-Lab Pro 2 to put it together onto DVD. It lets you have multiple audio, subs, and all that stuff. But it's an expensive program though.

Not to be picky about things but you meant to say extract the video, audio, and subtitles.
As AVI is just a container format like Mkv's are. And can't Nero support any video format as long as you have a DirectShow filter for it to be able to demux the file? (Haven't used it in a long time but i thought it could)

Do you have a standalone mkv filter or you using a player that directly has support for it?

[Homeless Joe]

i use vlc to play .mkv files. honestly i'm pretty new to this stuff and have just recently been getting into it. i like to put fansubs i get onto dvds to watch on my tv, give to friends, or for storage if i'm running out of space. most of the time the fansubs i get are already in avi format, but just recently i got two i really want to put on dvd to watch on my tv that are in .mkv format. i've tried to use nero to burn them but it seems it doesn't support that file type, are you saying that a direct show filter might be able to fix that problem? if not i guess i'll have to look into mkvtoolnix.

[Psygnius]

Not to be picky about things but you meant to say extract the video, audio, and subtitles.
As AVI is just a container format like Mkv's are. And can't Nero support any video format as long as you have a DirectShow filter for it to be able to demux the file? (Haven't used it in a long time but i thought it could)

Do you have a standalone mkv filter or you using a player that directly has support for it?

Yeah, you're right. "Video" is more of an appropriate term. Most of the time, the video that I extract is in an AVI container, but there are times when I get h264.

However, whenever I extracted an h264 from an MKV, I've always had problems converting it to MPG2. But just tossing the whole MKV into TMPGEnc, and telling it to convert just the video works fine. I think the problem is the extraction part of the h264 format.

[Schultz]

i use vlc to play .mkv files. honestly i'm pretty new to this stuff and have just recently been getting into it. i like to put fansubs i get onto dvds to watch on my tv, give to friends, or for storage if i'm running out of space. most of the time the fansubs i get are already in avi format, but just recently i got two i really want to put on dvd to watch on my tv that are in .mkv format. i've tried to use nero to burn them but it seems it doesn't support that file type, are you saying that a direct show filter might be able to fix that problem? if not i guess i'll have to look into mkvtoolnix.

Yea vlc has its own internal mkv splitter. try this splitter http://haali.cs.msu.ru/mkv/MatroskaSplitter.exe is directly link here is the page its off of http://haali.cs.msu.ru/mkv/ you might have luck in Nero with using that splitter if nero supports DirectShow for it you might also have to get a video codec if you don't have a directshow one since you using VLC also. A good filter for video formats in DirectShow is FFDShow which you can get a recent build at http://esby.free.fr/CelticDruid/mirror/ffdshow/ direct link to the one you would want http://esby.free.fr/CelticDruid/mirror/f...6-SSE2.exe

Yeah, you're right. "Video" is more of an appropriate term. Most of the time, the video that I extract is in an AVI container, but there are times when I get h264.

However, whenever I extracted an h264 from an MKV, I've always had problems converting it to MPG2. But just tossing the whole MKV into TMPGEnc, and telling it to convert just the video works fine. I think the problem is the extraction part of the h264 format.

Well i think the problem is you can't put h264 video into a AVI properly. And that is why you are having problems trying to convert it to MPG2 that way. Mkv and mp4 container formats support all the extra options that h264 supports which avi doesn't. AVI only works with h263.

[Andromeda18_]

i use vlc to play .mkv files.

You can also play mkv files using media player classic but for that you need the appropriate codecs. The latest version of vlc is a convenient option but since I'm not that big a fan of vlc, and since I couldn't get the previous version to play mkv files well because of the h264 encoding, I don't really use it. I find it that the simplest way to fix all these codec related problems is downloading the CCCP (combined community codec pack).

The CCCP (Combined Community Codec Pack) is a filter pack specifically built for playing anime. It has been assembled by some of the most knowledgeable people in the anime world, and one of the primary design goals is to play as much as possible with as little as possible. The CCCP attempts to be as unintrusive on your system as possible

Truth be told, this fixed the problems I was having playing mkv files encoded with h264, and I had already tried everything I could think of. Plus it comes with media player classic and zoomplayer included.
When I downloaded and installed this, they suggested I used CoreAVC to decode h264 because it's at least 30% faster than the decoder the CCCP uses (FFDShow) but nowadays CoreCodec (the company that created CoreAVC) only sells CoreAVC and there are no free versions available. Of course, I still have CoreAVC so if you want I can send it to you and teach you how to use it. Right now the CCCP is the only codec pack I have on my computer and so far I haven't had any problems.

Can't help you as far as using Nero to create a dvd video with mkv files goes, because it's something I'm not really familiar with but I guess that's what Schultz is here for. :p

[Schultz]

I perfer to stay away from any "Combined Codecs" pack or anything like that. I don't care how good they are they still install junk that you normally don't need.

Really to play back anything all you need is
Media Player Classic
FFDShow
Heeli's Matroska Splitter
and CoreAVC as andromedia mentioned as it's a very effeciant h264 decoder. They wrote it so PDA's can decode h264 using TCPMP.
I have purchased a license to it anyways since i also know the coder's behind the CoreAVC project along with The Core Media Player.

[Amethyst]

Well, I just found out how to deal with mkv files so I could write them out to dvdr's... you can use TMPGEnc to encode the mkv files... you don't have to do anything else with them... but you do have to use the VCD option instead of DVD option on TMPGEnc since that doesn't recognize the file format... Ok... so that means you can get a ton of them on a dvdr by doing them in VCD format... and the video quality isn't bad either.

Which is what I'm doing with the Witchblades that you can only get in mkv format... and like you I've tried several things to convert it to avi... like AlltoAvi... which works, but the audio is always off so I've never done anymore with them.

[gubi-gubi]

Well, I just found out how to deal with mkv files so I could write them out to dvdr's... you can use TMPGEnc to encode the mkv files... you don't have to do anything else with them... but you do have to use the VCD option instead of DVD option on TMPGEnc since that doesn't recognize the file format... Ok... so that means you can get a ton of them on a dvdr by doing them in VCD format... and the video quality isn't bad either.

Which is what I'm doing with the Witchblades that you can only get in mkv format... and like you I've tried several things to convert it to avi... like AlltoAvi... which works, but the audio is always off so I've never done anymore with them.

Are you sure? I'm pretty sure if it can read them and write them to MPEG1 it could do the same for MPEG2. I think I have done it once or twice. The only problem is the subs would be hardcoded. I prefer to leave them selectable.

[Schultz]

Are you sure? I'm pretty sure if it can read them and write them to MPEG1 it could do the same for MPEG2. I think I have done it once or twice. The only problem is the subs would be hardcoded. I prefer to leave them selectable.

i kinda agree with gubi if it can pull the video outta the mkv then it should be able to do them to DVD too. Since all dvd's are is mpeg2 video format while VCD's are a mpeg1 video format with a constant bitrate. And either way you are reading from the mkv file so shouldn't matter what you choose as the end option as long as it can read.

I think i am gonna play around with some mkv files since i converted a bunch of my Initial D avi episodes into mkv cause they had better seek times and played on my Xbox better in mkv format since avi isn't that great for streaming.

[Amethyst]

Well I'll be darned!! I guess it can read the mkv's and encode to the dvd quality files... hmmmm looks like I'll be doing some more encoding and writing out some more disks... laugh..

Now I know I tried those before... but I guess I didn't bother to click the *all files* option and I guess I just assumed it couldn't read the format... although I could of sworn it actually came up with a box saying it couldn't... guess not... lol..

Hugs all around! Woo Hoo... but I am seriously wondering if they are even going to continue the fansubs of Witchblade since it's already been licensed by an R1 company... they are up to Epi. 9, and I know the raws are up to the end at Epi. 24.

I did stumble across while looking for the Witchblades in avi format, the entire Witchblade TV series on bit torrent... woo hoo... that was a real find since those haven't been released onto dvd.... granted, they are tv source... but hey, I'll take what I can get... lol.. esp. when it's free!!

[zrdb]

I use ConvertXtoDVD-it can handle most mkv's-you might have to use MKVextract to demux softsubs, though. It can handle h.264-best damn conversion program out there-it gets updated very frequently-output quality is as good or better then CCE (if you set it the highest quality output)-try it-you'll love it!! And ain't nobody slipping me money under the table, either.

[gundam02]

i also use convertxtodvd and the qualty is very good. but sometime the subs don't want to show when there from a .mkv file