Converting mkv to mpeg or avi with subtitles

bum · Post by **bum** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 9:43 am

I've got an mkv file with 1 video (xvid), 1 audio (ogg) and 2 subtitle files. I want to play it on my dvd player which has divx suport. I'm thinking the easiest thing to (in vdm) do would be to remove one of the sub files, extract a wav of the ogg, convert to mp3 and add that to the stream list, then just export an xvid avi. However I'm not sure if the subs will stay in the exported video? Any idea? Also I've heard that mpeg sufers less from recompression. If thats so, how do I get the thing to mp3 with the audio and subtitles? Any chance theres a plugin for vdm to allow mpeg export?

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 10:55 am

There's a way to mux the subtitles in using DirectVobSub, but it's been a while since I did it (for almost the same purpose); I think I used GraphEdit. But you have to mux them in with something.

FurryCurry · Post by **FurryCurry** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 1:15 am

I'm not too informed about soft subtitle support on set-top players, but I'd think it would either be spotty or nonexistent.

Based on the contents you've listed, here's what I'd do:

Go search the doom9 alternative container forum for MKVtoolnix and MKVextractGUI. (VDM is rather outdated for mkv support, and doesn't seem to extract things like subtitle streams properly)

Get the latest VSFilter (google or doom9) it contains/installs DirectVobSub, and has a plugin(s?) that work in vdub and avisynth.

Follow the instructions for getting all this stuff installed, then use MKVextractGUI to demux the entire contents of the file. (there may be custom fonts for the more advanced script, probably it's one .ssa/.ass and a second .srt unless it's multiple languages. Take a peek under the attachments tab and if there's custom fonts there, you'll probably want to demux and install those too, to keep the subs looking right.

Recode the audio to CBR mp3.

Open the video in vdub/mod or avisynth. (after installing the TextSub plugin for either/both) Add the TextSub filter as the last one in your chain, whichever method you use.
Avisynth example: TextSub("D:\filezz\wankorama.ssa")

Re-encode to xvid or divx. For least quality loss, I'd use xvid @ constant quantizer 2 with no b-frames. (basically a full-quality CQ2 first pass)

Mux in your mp3 audio, burn, (maybe to an RW disc to test that it plays ok) and enjoy your newly hardsubbed video.

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 10:52 pm

Scintilla wrote:There's a way to mux the subtitles in using DirectVobSub, but it's been a while since I did it (for almost the same purpose); I think I used GraphEdit. But you have to mux them in with something.

... Did I say "mux"? Sorry. I meant that there's a way to get DirectVobSub to hardcode the subtitles into the resultant video stream so that you don't have to worry about softsub support.

ChristianHJW · Post by **ChristianHJW** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 5:30 pm

My advice : Put this piece of crap called 'DivX Player' on ebay and build yourself a nice HTPC.

If you absolutely insist to rape all movies you get, so that they will finally play on your limited unit, use this http://alltoavi.sourceforge.net/ but don't mone about the time you have to invest and the bad output quality of the resulting file.

Christian
matroska project admin
http://www.matroska.org

P.S. Corecodec is talking to several Asian companies about licensing TCPMP, The Core Pocket Mediaplayer, for the next generation of freely programmable, ARM based standalone units ..... do i need to add, with full OGM, MKV and MP4 support

..... you better sell your unit before these beasts will come to market

....

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 6:22 pm

ChristianHJW wrote:ARM based

Analog Rights Management?

Willen · Post by **Willen** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:05 am

Scintilla wrote:
ChristianHJW wrote:ARM based
Analog Rights Management?

I know you are kidding about ARM...

Anyways, another option is to convert it into a standard DVD format. Xvid > MPEG-2, Ogg > AC3, both subs > DVD subs (although most authoring programs only support one).