Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Absolute-Zero

macrumors newbie
Dec 16, 2010
23
0
I use HandBrake for converting my subtitled anime for the iPad. I do this:

- Use the iPad preset in HandBrake

- Go to the subtitles tab and choose the subtitle track and check burned in (or you can just mux it)

- Lastly start the conversion


But sometimes there is a problem (the person who made the video forgot to attach the subtitle font) and the subtitles do not render. For this I do this:

- Lauch Mkvtoolnix from Bunkus (download the universal package provided by JonThn)

- Add the anime video under "input files"

- Go to the attachments tab

- Than add a font (you can use any font, I recommend calibri downloaded from google)

- Make sure it is recognized as the MIME type: application/x-truetype-font (.ttf fonts are recommended)

- Lastly mux it and use HandBrake to convert it to iPad as mentioned above.


FOR SOME FUN:

Sometimes when I download an anime I do not like the font the subtitles use so I change them to a font I like. To do this:

- Lauch Mkvtoolnix

- Add the anime video under "input files"

- Go to the attachments tab

- Disable the "attached" files

- Than add the font you want to use for the subtitles

- Make sure it is recognized as the MIME type: application/x-truetype-font (.ttf fonts are recommended)

- Lastly mux it and use HandBrake to convert it to iPad as mentioned above.
 

Aurora91

macrumors newbie
Mar 29, 2012
7
0
How To: Convert MKV to MP4 for IPad (with Subtitles)

It's a good guide to convert mkv to mp4 for your iPad, but the free tool usually reduce the mkv quality when converting.
 

aoaaron

macrumors 6502
Sep 4, 2010
454
41
I'm surprised no one has mentioned this already, there is an app for this:

Sub Video Player
http://www.subvideoplayer.com/

Anime conversions usually take less than 30s with their desktop software since all it is doing is remuxing the file. No conversion means no re-compression means perfect video and audio quality. Subtitles, fonts and chapters are all copied over. The actual iPhone/iPad player app supports the ASS sub format (found in almost all anime mkv) so you get all that fancy fonts, styling and even karakoke. Subs are not burned into the video so you can turn them off directly in the player if you want to go raw.

If you just want basic text, then Air Video and VLC works. But expect it to be a bit messed up when it comes to karaoke and don't expect any fancy subtitle positioning. Air video also recompresses the video so there will be a little quality loss (though you probably won't notice it).

Based on my experiences, VLC isn't quite up to the task of playing 720p mkv's yet. This isn't the fault of VLC, basically the iPhone/iPad just isn't powerful enough at the moment. I imagine in a few generations, VLC will work great with 720p videos.

The only reason Sub Video Player can play videos in 720p is because it is using the iPhone/iPad video hardware acceleration.

does this actually work with all files? I've read reviews saying it doesn't work with some files...
 

hwojtek

macrumors 68020
Jan 26, 2008
2,274
1,276
Poznan, Poland
Congratulations on resurrecting this thread, which - BTW - is about muxing subtitles into a file in order to play it on a mobile device, not looking for an app to play it back on a computer.
BTW2 - this task can be accomplished with exactly 4 clicks in Subler.
 

poikkeus

macrumors newbie
Nov 27, 2007
7
0
Back to basics

This is a really old thread - but it's still very useful for someone who wants to view mkv files on an iPad. I haven't tried the Handbrake method, but the OP's suggestion of using MP4Tools works easily and reliably.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.