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iPad 3 - MKV to MP4 remux (not re-coding)

R

rumpelstilzchen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 5, 2012
1
0
Hi,

I recently discovered that iPad 3 is pretty bad with mkv especially 1080p. though EC Player plays everything quite nice, its not always perfect, so i tried to convert mkv to mp4 with handbrake and iVI - but it takes Aaaaages...
then i heard that there is a possibility of simple container change, or remuxing mkv to mp4 in other words.

the problem! i tried that - and...it still plays crapppy.
so i figured that there is some kind of profile incompatibility.
i know that maximum h264 profile iPad can natively play is High@4.1
i do have files with profile high@4.1 and lower - but as i mentioned early the result was not positive - did not play natively , and play back was as horrible as playing the original mkv. so i guess profile is not the only thing that effects compatibility...
i thought that audio might be a problem (most of my stuff is 5.1 dts) so i tried to recode the audio to 2 channel AAC 160kbps. it did not help.
so what am i missing?

basically my question is - what am i doing wrong, and how to know if an mkv will remux good in advance (if such a thing is possible at all).

info about my computer:
mac mini 2.7ghz i7, 8gb ram, osx lion 10.7.4
program i used for remuxing is MP4tools.

Thanks in advance!
 
K

KimLA

macrumors newbie
Apr 6, 2012
18
0
Just use MkvToMp4, I remux files in 5 minutes (i7 2600K) and it plays flawlessly on the iPad default player. You have to reencode the audio to AAC though, this little piece of software does that. It also manages subtitles without hardcoding them.

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/MkvToMp4
 
Chundles

Chundles

macrumors G5
Jul 4, 2005
12,037
493
I use Subler.

Took my 4-nearly-5 year old Core 2 Duo MacBook about 20 mins to remux a 2.5 hour 1080p MKV to a High Profile 4.1 m4v file.

Results are great.
 
J

jomirrivera

macrumors 6502
Mar 15, 2011
348
23
rumpelstilzchen said:
Hi,

I recently discovered that iPad 3 is pretty bad with mkv especially 1080p. though EC Player plays everything quite nice, its not always perfect, so i tried to convert mkv to mp4 with handbrake and iVI - but it takes Aaaaages...
then i heard that there is a possibility of simple container change, or remuxing mkv to mp4 in other words.

the problem! i tried that - and...it still plays crapppy.
so i figured that there is some kind of profile incompatibility.
i know that maximum h264 profile iPad can natively play is High@4.1
i do have files with profile high@4.1 and lower - but as i mentioned early the result was not positive - did not play natively , and play back was as horrible as playing the original mkv. so i guess profile is not the only thing that effects compatibility...
i thought that audio might be a problem (most of my stuff is 5.1 dts) so i tried to recode the audio to 2 channel AAC 160kbps. it did not help.
so what am i missing?

basically my question is - what am i doing wrong, and how to know if an mkv will remux good in advance (if such a thing is possible at all).

info about my computer:
mac mini 2.7ghz i7, 8gb ram, osx lion 10.7.4
program i used for remuxing is MP4tools.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I have an app called AVplayer HD, it plays 1080p video perfectly on my ipad 3, I downloaded a movie that was 20 gigs in pure full HD and it played without any hiccups!

you might want to try it
 
N

Neskeens

macrumors newbie
Jun 12, 2008
12
0
Is this with all mkv files or just one. I use mp4tools to convert mkv to mp4/m4v and I have no issues playing any video on my iPad 3. I, however, ensure that I encode my audio to aac and not dts etc.

Mp4tools. Runs only on a Mac though. Its freeware but you can encode only one file at a time and it does the audio encoding as well. It also has presets for different devices. To unlock, it costs USD $5! Try that out!
 
M

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
Neskeens said:
Is this with all mkv files or just one. I use mp4tools to convert mkv to mp4/m4v and I have no issues playing any video on my iPad 3. I, however, ensure that I encode my audio to aac and not dts etc.

Mp4tools. Runs only on a Mac though. Its freeware but you can encode only one file at a time and it does the audio encoding as well. It also has presets for different devices. To unlock, it costs USD $5! Try that out!
Click to expand...

Yup, Mp4tools is pretty nice. However, in my tests, I've found it messing up subtitle tracks (if any). Therefore, if you do have subs, make sure you check them after remuxing. If they are messed up, go for iFlicks, it consistently worked in my tests.
 
boomhower

boomhower

macrumors 68000
Oct 21, 2011
1,570
56
I use iFlicker to remux. Takes around 3 minutes for one hour 1080P TV shows and 5 minutes for movies.
 
D

dchao

macrumors 6502a
May 20, 2008
527
3
+1 on subler.

Subler also can pull in movie metadata from TheMovieDB. Add AC-3 passthrough for Apple TV. Add chapter thumbnails.
 
N

Neskeens

macrumors newbie
Jun 12, 2008
12
0
Menneisyys2 said:
Yup, Mp4tools is pretty nice. However, in my tests, I've found it messing up subtitle tracks (if any). Therefore, if you do have subs, make sure you check them after remuxing. If they are messed up, go for iFlicks, it consistently worked in my tests.
Click to expand...

I have never experienced a problem with subtitles. Maybe that's because I always do a soft mux rather than burned!
 
S

sampath

macrumors newbie
Apr 21, 2011
21
0
Another option would be to jailbreak and install XBMC. The UI might not be the most slick you'll ever see but it plays HD MKVs - either stored locally or streamed from a NAS - without breaking a sweat, no conversion/remuxing necessary.
 
WeegieMac

WeegieMac

Guest
Jan 29, 2008
3,274
1
Glasgow, UK
I bought AVPlayerHD, which plays back MKV and HD AVI files perfectly.

Cost me £1.99 on the App Store and has saved me time converting my MKV and HD AVI movies to M4V. Sure, you don't get to tag the files with the likes of MetaX and see them in the stock Videos app, but it sure as hell saves time.
 
M

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
Neskeens said:
I have never experienced a problem with subtitles. Maybe that's because I always do a soft mux rather than burned!
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure it (MP4Tools) does have problems. (I've tested the latest, officially purchased version.) It indeed won't have problems with "simple" MKV's with one subtrack at http://www.auby.no/files/video_tests/h264_1080p_hp_4.1_10mbps_dts_unstyled_subs_monsters.mkv .

More complicated MKV's, however, may pose problems. Give a try to, say, https://dl.dropbox.com/u/13100693/html/042012RetinaHDVideoPlayers/Av-subtest2.mkv . Both Subler and iFlicks retains all subs of the same file properly.

I've tested it with several MKV's having several subtracks and MP4Tools has always had the same problem - effectively, it includes exactly the same (!!) subtrack for every input language.

----------
WeegieMac said:
I bought AVPlayerHD, which plays back MKV and HD AVI files perfectly.

Cost me £1.99 on the App Store and has saved me time converting my MKV and HD AVI movies to M4V. Sure, you don't get to tag the files with the likes of MetaX and see them in the stock Videos app, but it sure as hell saves time.
Click to expand...

Just remember to enable HW acceleration.

----------
Waynerd said:
I have been trying to convert a BD mkv to m4v using Subler but I keep getting an error (Audio Converter could not initialize). The audio tracks are TrueHD and 3+2/1.
Click to expand...

Install Perian. On pre-10.8 OS'es, all you need to do is this for both DTS and AC3 conversion.

On ML, it'll enable DTS conversion only. For AC3, you'll need to overwrite the A52Codec.component file it puts under ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components with the one at https://dl.dropbox.com/u/34821905/A52Codec.component.zip

----------
acorntoy said:
Was about so suggest this as well. This is a really easy way to do it if your not trying to resize the file and just want it to turn into a mp4
Click to expand...

While it's much faster than, say, iFlicks and, in addition to being both much faster and reliable than MP4Tools, it doesn't support subtitles at all. In addition, Subler is definitely faster. That is, you'll want to prefer Subler if you need absolutely the best speed and retain soft subs.

----------
sampath said:
Another option would be to jailbreak and install XBMC. The UI might not be the most slick you'll ever see but it plays HD MKVs - either stored locally or streamed from a NAS - without breaking a sweat, no conversion/remuxing necessary.
Click to expand...

Just keep in mind that it doesn't support the iPad 3 Retina screen.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
M

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
Waynerd said:
I just tried it out to convert some mkv's. Was very fast and is very easy to use.But you need to pay $10 for that.
Click to expand...

Get Subler if you want something free but truly excellent. It is about 2 times faster than Smart Converter and also keeps the subs, unlike Smart Converter.

Also see my posts above.
 
RedRaven571

RedRaven571

macrumors 65816
Mar 13, 2009
1,128
114
Pennsylvania
Waynerd said:
I just tried it out to convert some mkv's. Was very fast and is very easy to use.But you need to pay $10 for that.
Click to expand...

The full program that allows you to add multiple files to the queue is $10; the lite one (the one I've been using) is free. Full functionality, no watermarks, etc. but only does 1 file at a time. I'm cheap so I use the free one.:D
 
M

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
RedRaven571 said:
The full program that allows you to add multiple files to the queue is $10; the lite one (the one I've been using) is free. Full functionality, no watermarks, etc. but only does 1 file at a time. I'm cheap so I use the free one.:D
Click to expand...

BTW, Subler allows for queuing files even using a drag-and-drop, absolutely automatic and fast way - for free. And it's two times faster AND also keeps your subs (if any). IMHO there's no point in preferring Smart Converter to it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
RedRaven571

RedRaven571

macrumors 65816
Mar 13, 2009
1,128
114
Pennsylvania
Menneisyys2 said:
BTW, Subler allows for queuing files even using a drag-and-drop, absolutely automatic and fast way - for free. And it's two times faster AND also keeps your subs (if any). IMHO there's no point in preferring Smart Converter to it.
Click to expand...

I'll give it a try, thanks!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
M

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
Indita said:
I have the exact same problem with Mp4tools with the new iPhone software (I have the iPhone 5) and also when I try to play in Windows Media Player there is video but no sound! So I know there is both sound and picture attached to the file but something wrong with the actual file.
Click to expand...

In the meantime, it has turned out that the new beta of MP4Tools fixes the subtitle problem - and is way faster & more reliable. Make sure you use it and not the regular version. Download from http://www.emmgunn.com/betadownload.html
 
M

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
Redjericho said:
PowerPlayer can play 1080p mkv's flawlessly.

It is less than good for any other format, but it was built from the ground up for mkv. (From the makers of GoodPlayer)

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/powerplayer/id520818788?mt=8

( 1080p only supported on iPhone 4S, iPad 2/3)
Click to expand...

Well, while I love GoodPlayer (in my recent ASF test, it was the test winner, just to bring up an example), currently (as of version 1.7) I do NOT recommend PowerPlayer for MKV playback. Unfortunately, it's still one of the least effective players out there - all the alternative hardware players deliver much better results.

I've posted several comparisons and articles (and prolly even comparative videos to YouTube? Dunno) on this matter - it's worth checking out my prev. posts here.
 
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