Once and for all: MKV to MP4

[pmcdunnough]

I don't quite understand the claimed slowness of the iVI (Pro) remux. It takes less than 3 minutes for a one hour 720p video with Dolby audio (but no subtitles). Subler does not take under a minute to do the same thing unless it doesn't convert the Dolby audio. iFlicks takes around 2 minutes or less and is faster but it does much less. Subler is ok but it doesn't automate the process, have watched folders, etc ... In any case the remuxing capabilities of all three are really good. I can't imagine iVI taking an hour to remux anything. Something is odd.

Philip

[chiefpavvy]

Originally Posted by pmcdunnough

I don't quite understand the claimed slowness of the iVI (Pro) remux. It takes less than 3 minutes for a one hour 720p video with Dolby audio (but no subtitles). Subler does not take under a minute to do the same thing unless it doesn't convert the Dolby audio. iFlicks takes around 2 minutes or less and is faster but it does much less. Subler is ok but it doesn't automate the process, have watched folders, etc ... In any case the remuxing capabilities of all three are really good. I can't imagine iVI taking an hour to remux anything. Something is odd.

Philip

This. I've used them all and IMHO, iVI is the best of the bunch. I do not do subtitles at all don't need or want them. I understand some do and perhaps one of the other options is better for that. I bought Pro because I wanted the DVD import functionality. It's not perfect but very good. I have never used Subler for these tasks, only to optimize and tag if needed.

I sure wish the iVI author would make a Windows equivalent because all the options I've tried on Win suck bad. Not even close to iVI.

[ViperDesign]

I tried them all and to be honest, the fastest one for me (rMBP) would be AnyVideo Converter HD.

It is extremely quick even on the retina MacBook pro.

[mikeheenan]

I have several videos with low audio that I want to boost the audio to normalize it, and also several foreign movies with foreign tracks that I want to replace with an english audio track without re encoding the video. Which would be the best app for this purpose?

[mic j]

Originally Posted by mikeheenan

I have several videos with low audio that I want to boost the audio to normalize it, and also several foreign movies with foreign tracks that I want to replace with an english audio track without re encoding the video. Which would be the best app for this purpose?

Subler can do that. If you're on a Mac.

[ViperDesign]

Originally Posted by ViperDesign

I tried them all and to be honest, the fastest one for me (rMBP) would be AnyVideo Converter HD.

It is extremely quick even on the retina MacBook pro.

So after more testing this solution is without a doubt the quickest converter

[mikeheenan]

Originally Posted by mic j

Subler can do that. If you're on a Mac.

I am... thanks, I'll try it out!

[mikeheenan]

Is there a way on Subler to "batch" change multiple files, like for instance a season of a tv show with the same settings? Or do you have to do each file separately?

[mic j]

Originally Posted by mikeheenan

Is there a way on Subler to "batch" change multiple files, like for instance a season of a tv show with the same settings? Or do you have to do each file separately?

Adjustment would be done separately but you can adjust the setting and add it to the queue, then let Subler do its adjustment on multiple files.

[Blaquespell]

Originally Posted by pmcdunnough

I don't quite understand the claimed slowness of the iVI (Pro) remux. It takes less than 3 minutes for a one hour 720p video with Dolby audio (but no subtitles). Subler does not take under a minute to do the same thing unless it doesn't convert the Dolby audio. iFlicks takes around 2 minutes or less and is faster but it does much less. Subler is ok but it doesn't automate the process, have watched folders, etc ... In any case the remuxing capabilities of all three are really good. I can't imagine iVI taking an hour to remux anything. Something is odd.

Philip

On a couple occasions, I did have iVI take a good while to remux. It was something about the video encoding of the file. I emailed Southpole Software about why sometimes it did a full re-encode even when the UI said Pass-thru was okay, but they just said that iVI makes a determination when attempting to remux and that if it is deemed incompatible with the target device, it will go ahead and re-encode.

[mic j]

Originally Posted by Blaquespell

On a couple occasions, I did have iVI take a good while to remux. It was something about the video encoding of the file. I emailed Southpole Software about why sometimes it did a full re-encode even when the UI said Pass-thru was okay, but they just said that iVI makes a determination when attempting to remux and that if it is deemed incompatible with the target device, it will go ahead and re-encode.

WOW!!!! Thats a nice feature....not.

[SeanDetente]

Why would you pay so much money to encode/remux AVC files? FFMPEG or MP4BOX can do practically all your remuxing...I suppose when a guy pays several thousand dollars to not to have think when using his computer, using these tools is beyond reproach.

[Menneisyys2]

Originally Posted by ViperDesign

I tried them all and to be honest, the fastest one for me (rMBP) would be AnyVideo Converter HD.

It is extremely quick even on the retina MacBook pro.

It's indeed (about 13%) a bit faster than Subler when outputting to m4v , preferably in iPad 3 mode. (Interestingly, MOV exporting has turned out to be about two times slower.)

Too bad it's certainly lacking in several IMHO key areas:

- subtitles support is far more inferior: not even embedded textual subs are properly handled (at least with the Monsters test video: http://www.auby.no/files/video_tests...s_monsters.mkv ), let alone bitmap ones (Subler can both OCR VobSub subs or just pass-thru them)

- no support for exporting more than one audio track (unlike Subler)

- no chapter pass-thru support (unlike Subler, which even passes thru the chapter thumbnail images).

Of course, if you don't want subs and/or multiple (input) audio track support, then, it's an excellent app with certainly better batch support than that of Subler.

[Menneisyys2]

Originally Posted by pmcdunnough

I don't quite understand the claimed slowness of the iVI (Pro) remux. It takes less than 3 minutes for a one hour 720p video with Dolby audio (but no subtitles). Subler does not take under a minute to do the same thing unless it doesn't convert the Dolby audio. iFlicks takes around 2 minutes or less and is faster but it does much less. Subler is ok but it doesn't automate the process, have watched folders, etc ... In any case the remuxing capabilities of all three are really good. I can't imagine iVI taking an hour to remux anything. Something is odd.

Philip

Today, I've made some serious tests. (Late 2009 MBP 17" with 2.8 GHz c2d; source HDD is a 1TB one in the DVD bay; target drive is a Vertex 4 256 GB with 55 GB free) The source was a 16 GB MKV I've directly ripped from the Finland-only version of Iron Sky. It has four audio tracks (5.1 + 2-ch AC3 for the main audio + 2-ch AC3 Finnish + English commentary tracks) and a chapter track.

iVI Pro took 51m:24s to remux the video with all four audio tracks enabled in the output (most of the time was spent on audio reencoding and particularly adding). The other converters did fare far better:

Subler: 7m:0s (measured twice) (With fewer audio tracks, it's a bit faster: 5m:58s (to 2-ch AAC); 6:07 (to multichannel AAC) for one track and 6m:10s for two)

MKV2M4V: I couldn't test this with four audio tracks as it's only able to process up to two input tracks. The results with the latter are as follows: 12m:55s (measured twice) for two tracks and 13m:48s for one.

MP4Tools beta: 18m:50s. (With fewer audio tracks, it's considerably faster: 7m:40s for one track and 12m:50s for two)

AnyVideo Converter HD: could only test the one-track output as it doesn't support multi-track export: 4m:20s (2ch AC3 -> 2-channel AAC; iPad 3 preset, everything auto); 5m:18s (5.1 -> 2ch AAC, iPad 3 preset, manually selected 5.1 AC3 input); 8m:32s (to AAC 5.1 – the 1080p Mac MOV preset)

That is, iVI is particularly slow at converting videos with more than one audio track (if you want to keep them in the output). In this case, it was almost ten(!) times slower than Subler.

EDIT: when converting one audio track only, iVI needs 24m:18s to make the output file ready. That is, almost two times more than the second-slowest converter, MKV2M4V; more than three and four times slower than MP4Tools and Subler, respectively. Finally, it turned out to be about six times slower than AnyVideo Converter HD. (All with one track only.)

[mikeheenan]

There's a lot of discussion about Subler in this thread so I figured I'd post this question here. I have a mp4 and a sub/idx for it, but I'd rather convert the sub file to srt and then run the video and srt file through subler to bring it into the same container. I opened the sub file in Jubler, but all the resulting text became miscellaneous characters. Anyone know of a program to convert it?

[Menneisyys2]

Originally Posted by mikeheenan

There's a lot of discussion about Subler in this thread so I figured I'd post this question here. I have a mp4 and a sub/idx for it, but I'd rather convert the sub file to srt and then run the video and srt file through subler to bring it into the same container. I opened the sub file in Jubler, but all the resulting text became miscellaneous characters. Anyone know of a program to convert it?

1, you CAN put VobSub files in an Apple-native container. I've even written a tutorial on it (it's around somewhere at MacRumors). Basically, use MKVtoolnix and click the Add button. Add the IDX files (only – no need to manually add the .sub files). You can mass-add them if you use the Cmd key while clicking for multiple selection.

2, should you want to switch to SRT (so that for example the ATV also displays them, not only dekstop / iOS players), you either

- use Subler for OCR'ing (fastest, won't incur synch problems but VERY prone to OCR errors)

- get the sub from an online repository to avoid OCR errors BUT prone to synch problems

- use SubRip for strictly (see http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost...3&postcount=50 ) non-HD stuff.

(This is also explained in my tutorial - I can't find it here at MR now. Will re-post it as a guide, not as a forum post so that it can easily be found.)

[mikeheenan]

Had a Make MKV question... When I select a Blu Ray image, some of the audio options are not preselected. Why is this? Also the program seems to detect extra audio tracks. For instance I have a movie that has 3 audio tracks, a DTS MA 5.1, DTS MA 2.0, and a second DTS MA 2.0 track. In Make MKV, the program has these tracks deselected, and the non MA tracks selected. Anyone else run into a problem like this?

[mic j]

Originally Posted by mikeheenan

Had a Make MKV question... When I select a Blu Ray image, some of the audio options are not preselected. Why is this? Also the program seems to detect extra audio tracks. For instance I have a movie that has 3 audio tracks, a DTS MA 5.1, DTS MA 2.0, and a second DTS MA 2.0 track. In Make MKV, the program has these tracks deselected, and the non MA tracks selected. Anyone else run into a problem like this?

It's not a problem, it's supposed to work that way. It defaults to non-HD audio tracks and, since HD audio tracks can be large, it makes you select them intentionally. Usually, the stereo tracks are commentary or the such. IIRC, there is a way to override the default behavior using CLI or something. The MakeMKV forum would be a good place to find out how to do that.

[JMEANS]

I'm with you on the free tools Mic J -
MAKEMKV, SUBLER, HANDBREAK
with exception of MP4tools (find it confusing)
However Mic J you said some posts back MP4Tools is great converting DTS to AC3.
But SUBLER does that as well with PERIAN installed correct? Just double checking because i thought that is what i gave been doing lol

The support for these FREE platforms on this Forum has been as incredible as the files these tools produce! So I encourage everyone to take the time and dig in! You won't be disappointed!

[mic j]

Originally Posted by JMEANS

I'm with you on the free tools Mic J -
MAKEMKV, SUBLER, HANDBREAK
with exception of MP4tools (find it confusing)
However Mic J you said some posts back MP4Tools is great converting DTS to AC3.
But SUBLER does that as well with PERIAN installed correct? Just double checking because i thought that is what i gave been doing lol

The support for these FREE platforms on this Forum has been as incredible as the files these tools produce! So I encourage everyone to take the time and dig in! You won't be disappointed!

I could be wrong about this, as I don't use Subler for audio track conversion, but my current understanding is that Subler will convert DTS to AAC 5.1 but not AC3 5.1. And the AAC 5.1 format is supported by only a few AVR's.

Anyone else know whether this is correct or not?

[dynaflash]

Originally Posted by mic j

I could be wrong about this, as I don't use Subler for audio track conversion, but my current understanding is that Subler will convert DTS to AAC 5.1 but not AC3 5.1. And the AAC 5.1 format is supported by only a few AVR's.

Anyone else know whether this is correct or not?

Correct. Subler cannot encode DTS to AC3 even with Perian installed. It can go to AAC whichever you choose. For the AppleTV you would not want 6 discrete channels as it munges 6 channel discrete AAC down to a strange 3.0 mix. You would want Dolby Pro Logic II.

Btw, Perian therefore subler cannot decode a DTS or DTS-HD track with more than 6 channels. So if your source is say DTS 7.1 it won't work. 5.1 is fine.

[JMEANS]

Thanks Dynaflash for clearing that up, so basically for just switching the MKV container to Mp4 WITH a DTS track then I must use
MP4Tools because it will change the discrete DTS to AC3.

That being said is it then transcoding the quality and size etc of the file like HB or just switching the container like SUBLER does but with the new AC3 audio (from DTS)?

I only ask because this is why MP4TOOLS confuses... It can work like HB but also has a straight container switch option like SUBLER ?

Thanks for any further clarification guys

[dynaflash]

Originally Posted by JMEANS

Thanks Dynaflash for clearing that up, so basically for just switching the MKV container to Mp4 WITH a DTS track then I must use
MP4Tools because it will change the discrete DTS to AC3.

That being said is it then transcoding the quality and size etc of the file like HB or just switching the container like SUBLER does but with the new AC3 audio (from DTS)?

I only ask because this is why MP4TOOLS confuses... It can work like HB but also has a straight container switch option like SUBLER ?

Thanks for any further clarification guys

No clue, I never use mp4tools.

[JMEANS]

I don't like to either. Strictly HB when ripping my own Blu's. but when I have a MKV that has already been downsized with great Quality etc. I just want to switch container, some of those MKV's gave only the DTS so that is why I asked how to retain that discrete audio somehow.
Thanks again Jim

[mic j]

Originally Posted by JMEANS

I don't like to either. Strictly HB when ripping my own Blu's. but when I have a MKV that has already been downsized with great Quality etc. I just want to switch container, some of those MKV's gave only the DTS so that is why I asked how to retain that discrete audio somehow.
Thanks again Jim

mp4tools can accomplish the same as Subler (change containers) with the addition of converting DTS to AC3 and easily adding an AAC stereo track. Subler has the capability to add metadata and OCR subtitle tracks for conversion to srt files. Menneisyys2, who also post around here, also claims Subler to be faster than mp4tools.

To just change containers in mp4tools and create an AC3 5.1 audio track from a DTS track: select video pass-through, audio AC3 5.1 and add 2-Ch. track (if you need that compatibility).

If you would like to change containers using DTS with Subler: Open the original mkv in mp4tools, check the 2 DTS tracks (if HD audio), audio AC3 (5.1), add 2-channel AC3. Convert. Then use Subler to mux the video track (from the original mkv) with the 2 audio tracks from the mp4 (produced by mp4tools).

I just think it's more straightforward to change containers (for files with DTS audio) using mp4tools than to basically create the audio tracks and remux them. But to each his own.

IMO, for any video needing transcoding, use HB and add metadata using Subler. I just don't know what is being done in mp4tools for transcoding and I have long experience with HB transcodes and know that they are the best. Also, because mp4tools uses 1/2 pass transcodes instead of constant quality (as HB does), that makes me believe it uses older algorithms for the transcodes.

Edit: I was just looking at mp4tools with a dts mkv and noticed that if you do not select the video for pass-through, it will not give you the option to create an 2-channel AAC track. Never noticed that before and not sure why it requires the video to be selected to give that option.