HD-DVD sourced MKV files. To DVD or iPad? How?

MP4 tools should do the job.

http://www.emmgunn.com/mp4tools/mp4toolshome.html

drjaymez said:

I have my HD-DVD library, ripped using makemkv. The files are on my NAS and play well on my WDTV Live. They play in mplayerx. In VLC they look like crap. The challenge is, I am trying to convert them into something portable for my wife to take with her to the hospital for her labor (sunrise earth, which she finds relaxing), either DVD or h.264 for iPad. Handbrake won't read the files. Toast 10 creates audio only files. iVI doesn't seem to export the video portion of the file either. Neither does iFlicks. I'm kind of at a loss here. Something must be able to read these and convert them into something useful? Ideas?

Click to expand...

This is because these HD DVD discs have VC-1 video tracks, inherently incompatible with anything iOS-based out there.

Don't you have access to the same flicks on BR discs (a friend maybe?)? Then, all you would need is just using MakeMKV to (quickly) rip those discs w/o having to reencode the video, assuming the big size isn't a problem. If you absolutely must reencode, let me know and I elaborate on VC-1 conversion.

drjaymez said:

I had a feeling it might be a vc-1 issue. I guess I was just wishing SOMETHING could convert them into something I could use. I don't know anybody with blurays of that content...

Will mp4tools handle the vc-1 content?

Would it be easier to build a windows virtual machine to work with the content?

Click to expand...

Try MP4tools first, it's free and worth a shot!

Anyway, I just found this guide from this very site on google.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/558554/

Handbrake hasn't had issues with my HD-DVD sourced MKVs. You could try remuxing the MKV (maybe with just the video and audio track) with MakeMKV then try handbrake again.

Risco said:

MP4 tools should do the job.

http://www.emmgunn.com/mp4tools/mp4toolshome.html

Click to expand...

Are you sure it handles VC-1? I've tested it (registered, officially purchased, latest version) with the standard VC-1 MKV at http://www.auby.no/files/video_tests/vc1_1080p_ap_l3_18mbps_ac3_hddvd.mkv - no dice, it displayed the following error (copy from the log file):

Cannot find file /Users/werner/Downloads/vc1_1080p_ap_l3_18mbps_ac3_hddvd.mkv.temp.Video.h264
Error importing /Users/werner/Downloads/vc1_1080p_ap_l3_18mbps_ac3_hddvd.mkv.temp.Video.h264:name=1080p VC-1: Requested URL is not valid or cannot be found

BTW, interestingly, MKVTools of the same dev, couldn't convert it either. It, according to http://www.videohelp.com/tools/MoKgVm2DVD/version-history ("MKVtools now recognizes and can re-encode videos with VC-1 video track often found in makeMKV videos."), should be able to do this.

What app can you use to correctly convert / remux this file?

(Tested under 10.8.1 w/o Perian.)

Risco said:

Anyway, I just found this guide from this very site on google.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/558554/

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, that's for the (more or less) OS X-based ATV1 only, which was far more non-H.264-friendly than the iOS-based ATV2/3. The HD DVD tutorial there is completely useless today.

Reencode them with Handbrake.

Try the app AirVideo. Typically it plays pretty much everything and you can use it to convert mkv files to m4v files,

drjaymez said:

tried it while troubleshooting this afternoon. Which involved pulling the HDDVD drive and the disks out of storage in the garage. No dice. Handbrake doesn't recognize the source.

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Strange - it should, even on 10.8.1 without Perian. It does recognize the VC1 MKV file I've linked above. Are you sure you have the latest HB? Can you post a screenshot of MediaInfo's report? It should look like similar to the following, video track-wise:

scottw324 said:

Try the app AirVideo. Typically it plays pretty much everything and you can use it to convert mkv files to m4v files,

Click to expand...

Yup, it works with VC-1 MKV files (for example, the above-linked one on my 10.8.1 + no Perian system); however, it delivers a definitely lower quality during both dynamic streaming and offline conversion. The horizontal resolution, by default, is 800 (as opposed to Full HD's 1920) and the maximal size you are allowed to use is HD (1280). Unfortunately, the latest beta's H.264 passthru can't be used in this case either (as we have a VC-1 source).

All in all, the OP will want to prefer troubleshooting HandBrake to make it work, should he want the best possible quality.