converting from MKV

poe1 · Post by **poe1** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 4:37 pm

I have a bunch of files in MKV format that I want to convert to basicly any other format. My editer does not support MKV but it supports a crap load of other formats. Oddly though my editer only supports a file type after I get the codec for it (AVIs didnt play until I got the divx codec) but even though I had to get a codec to play MKVs it still does not support that file type (even though I can play the file on my comp). I used the OOOC codec to get MKVs to work, so it could be that I simply need to get a diffirent codec that Adobe premier will recognize. Any tips would be great.

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 5:20 pm

No, you don't. Adobe Premiere doesn't support Matroska files no matter what codec they use.

You can use VirtualDubMod to convert the clips you need to lossless AVIs (you can also just Direct stream copy the video stream to a new AVI retaining the old codec and not recompressing at all, but <a href="http://www.amvwiki.org/index.php/DivX_Editing">here's why you shouldn't use those files to edit with</a> (and why you shouldn't be editing with those normal DivX/XviD AVIs in Premiere either).

poe1 · Post by **poe1** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 6:36 pm

But what other option do I have?

Kariudo · Post by **Kariudo** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 6:39 pm

your only other option is to buy (or import) the dvds, and use that footage (which still requires a few steps to be able to use it in editing programs)

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 6:47 pm

poe1 wrote:But what other option do I have?

Sorry, I admit the structure of my last post was a little confusing. I also didn't mention all the options you could use.

Good ideas:
1. Use, say, VirtualDubMod to cut clips from the MKV and save them as AVIs using a lossless codec such as HuffYUV or Lagarith
2. Direct stream copy the MKVs' video streams to AVI files, then serve them via AVISynth's AVISource and edit in Premiere with the AVISynth scripts
3. Serve the MKVs via AVISynth's DirectShowSource</a> and edit in Premiere with the AVISynth scripts (I don't know if this even works)

Bad ideas:
1. Direct stream copy the MKVs' video streams to AVI files, but then edit in Premiere directly with those AVI Files (bad because of the reasons in that article I linked to)
2. Recompress the MKVs' video streams to AVI files with a lossy codec and use those (bad because of the unnecessary quality loss)

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 6:47 pm

Verdammt. Naturally, that boldface tag should have been closed after "DirectShowSource".

poe1 · Post by **poe1** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 6:56 pm

Why do I have to cut clips from the anime, why cant I save the whole series in avi format with a lossless codec?

Kariudo · Post by **Kariudo** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 7:07 pm

because that would take up a lot of space.
think along the lines of 5-8GB per episode.

if you think about it, you will eventually take clips from the episodes (in premiere, vdub, whatever)...so why not do it in virtualdub(/mod)?
it will save space (and possibly some time too) and you have better control over your footage (you can clean it up using avisynth &or virtualdub(/mod))

poe1 · Post by **poe1** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 7:16 pm

hmm good food for thought, but Im planning on useing 1 scene per second in this amv. So taking out one chunk at a time is going to use alot of time, Ill have to figure something out.

poe1 · Post by **poe1** » Thu Oct 26, 2006 8:12 pm

*pulls hair out*

I cant use V dub with the files I have.....