Mkv to Avi?

[Mister Hatt]

I w'd, avidemux is essentially a gui, it'll support hi10p if you want it to, but is a terrible program in general and breaks on a lot of mkv and general AVC files. I never had any issues with linux or any other mailing list (aside from one or two ffmpeg devs being a bit too elitist for their own good) like you've said, and I'm not a particularly strong programmer either.

Additionally, if you REALLY care about this content and don't just want to be famous on youtube or something, you would find the money to actually support what you're doing instead of leeching off the good will of companies. I know several cons where local companies have just said fuck it and banned amvs altogether so the least you can do is support the industry in Japan so they continue producing and licensing this shit out. I'm not sure if you've noticed but the market for anime in Japan has shifted towards the hardcore fans more, less regular people care about it now, imo anyway. The opposite is true in the west but given the content originates here, it makes sense that they'd protect local industry first. Buy the damn DVDs and stop whining.

[Geirr]

... I never had any issues with linux or any other mailing list (aside from one or two ffmpeg devs being a bit too elitist for their own good)

Just a note; I was talking about the way things were 5 or 6 years ago; now things have indeed gotten better on Linux lists.

Also - on topic about handling or converting mkvs for use in common editing programs <- THAT is the topic, because that is the original question....

I've recently had good luck in linux with kdenlive. It also opens up the new Hi10p stuff. It's a lot less powerful than Sony Vegas in that it offers a suite of canned effects, but it should be useful for laying down a basic uncompressed avi which can then be brought into a more sophisticated, pay-for-it program like AfterEffects or Premiere, where you can do finer surgery for timing, or special effects treatments.

To touch on the side issues others have brought up, of course we do have to be careful with hobby-based, non-criminal use of copyrighted material, and to keep things on that side of the line. I do feel that the original poster has enough plausible deniability so that we shouldn't shut down a reasonable discussion of convenient tools which might help. He or she may be working with content which has not yet been restricted by license - you cannot tell.

[BasharOfTheAges]

The US signed the Berne convention, thereby extending copyright protection to all other signitaries. Licensing doesn't even enter into it. cdjapan and other sites like it sell R2s.