.mkv to .avi conversion

[ainsoph9]

Because my computer video card is old and retarded, it will not keep up with the new video standards like .mkv, .h264, and .mp4. I found a program called Magic Video Converter that converts these to .avi files, which is a beautiful thing. However, when I convert these files over, I lose the subtitles on them. Is there any way I can recover them? If not, is there another program that will work better? Thanks!

[Smidge204]

If you can convert the MKV to AVI directly then more power to ya. I normally take the following steps to guarantee quality though (Step and 3 and 4 are relevant to your issue):


1) Demux MKV into video (*.h264) , audio (*.acc but often varies) and subtitle (*.txt, *.srt, *.ssa, or *.ass files...) along with any fonts

2) Convert video and audio streams separately into *.avi and *.mp3 files using either SUPER or, more recently, MediaCoder

3a) Use VirtualDubMod with the TextSub filter plugin to make hard-subs to guarantee viewing consistency (What I do)

OR

3b) Use VirtualDubMod to add the subtitle as a text stream (may not be compatible with all players, may have render/font issues, etc)

4) Recode the AVI, merging in the MP3 audio, to do a final render of the subtitles (2-pass XviD 780-820kbps will generate a ~175MB file for 20min episode)


I personally don't trust media converters to deal with MKV files properly. Never had good luck with them.
=Smidge=

[Beware the talking cat]

Demux the subtitles, then save them as a separate file(which should load with the avi automatically) or re-add them to the avi.



Really though, the problem is not the container format but the encoding format: h.264 is a very processor-intensive format. (almost all mkv is h.264)

If you were to simply re-encode into xvid mkv, it would probably work the best.

[ainsoph9]

Umm...how do I demux the subs? When I think of demuxing something, I think of a digital part used for electronics and engineering. So, could someone please enlighten me a little? Thanks!

[Rectifier]

Google search engine: demux subtitles

First result: http://forum.doom9.org/archive/index.php/t-54184.html

[ainsoph9]

Well, the problem is that by the time I have the file in an .avi format, I have lost the subs. According to what they are talking about, I would have already lost the subs. So, I would think that I would want to demux them before I change it over to .avi. Am I wrong in this assumption?

[Beware the talking cat]

Well, unless you have some strange program, you should still have the original mkv when you convert. You can demux from the mkv(you can't demux from avi because the audio, video, and subtitles are interlaced.), and you should still be able to do that now.

[Smidge204]

(you can't demux from avi because the audio, video, and subtitles are interlaced.)

I'm curious to know what you think "mux" does...

You can't extract the subtitles from the converted AVI because the converting software ignores the text stream. So to answer your question directly: Yes, you will need to extract the subtitle file from the MKV and re-add it to the AVI either through muxing (softsubs) or rendering (hardsubs)
=Smidge=

[ainsoph9]

So, this is what I am getting so far, if I understand correctly. I need to de-mux the subs from the mkv file first. Then, I should somehow get a file out of that. It will be a sort of text file for the subs. I need to reintegrate that into the avi file somehow. Does anyone have any program recommendations for these steps? Also, which is easier: softsub or hardsub? Thanks again!

[Smidge204]

So, this is what I am getting so far, if I understand correctly. I need to de-mux the subs from the mkv file first. Then, I should somehow get a file out of that. It will be a sort of text file for the subs.

Correct! The file can be one of several formats: Most popular are SRT, SSA and ASS. All of them are actually plain text files that contain a list of times and dialog text (and sometimes formatting/animation info for the text)/

I need to reintegrate that into the avi file somehow. Does anyone have any program recommendations for these steps? Also, which is easier: softsub or hardsub? Thanks again!

Softsub is definitely "easier" since it requires fewer steps.
'
For demuxing, get MKVTools and MKVExtractGUI:

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/MKVExtractGUI
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/mkvtoolnix

For adding the file to the AVI, you can use VirtualDubMod:

http://virtualdubmod.sourceforge.net/

(Note: Set video to "Direct Stream Copy")
=Smidge=

[ainsoph9]

I downloaded the mkv tools. However, I cannot get MKVExtractGUI to work. I am using version 1.6.4.1. It keeps telling me that it is missing two files. What am I doing wrong here?

[Rectifier]

Those kind of questions need more details for us to fully understand what problem you're having.

Also, it might be more advantageous to you to check out the mkv programs' online forums and/or FAQ sections to discover the answers to your questions faster.

[Smidge204]

I downloaded the mkv tools. However, I cannot get MKVExtractGUI to work. I am using version 1.6.4.1. It keeps telling me that it is missing two files. What am I doing wrong here?

MKVExtractGUI is only a frontend, not the tool itself. Check the second link for the actual program that does the job: mkvtools

=Smidge=