Definative GUIDE for converting .MKV files to .MP4 files for PS3 usage!

[Vader815]

I've been trying to find a solution to this and I went through all the motions and it was fine- until I tried playing the file on my Ps3. It just plays as a completely black video (but on my MacBook, it plays fine).


Anybody know how to fix this? I know I just dug this thread out of nowhere but I'd love to hear a solution!

-Vader

 

[DoFoT9]

I've been trying to find a solution to this and I went through all the motions and it was fine- until I tried playing the file on my Ps3. It just plays as a completely black video (but on my MacBook, it plays fine).


Anybody know how to fix this? I know I just dug this thread out of nowhere but I'd love to hear a solution!

-Vader

Had you considered PS3 Media Server? Converts any video codec on the fly to an appropriate codec compatible with the PS3.

Given that it works on the MacBook that doesn't mean it's going to work on the PS3 of course, might be best to post a screenshot of the codec info for us to see.

 

[Zombieslayer240]

read through this thread and spent (wasted?) a couple of hours messing around with different free ways of doing this

i found this program through videohelp

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/AviDemux

now it's not strictly the best way since you're re-encoding the audio, but the video is passed through and to my eyes there wasn't any quality loss on the video and i'm not going to hear the audio difference through my tv speakers anyway i expect

playing the mp4 file in quicktime resulted in oddly poor audio, which i initially put down to avidemux, but playing in vlc and more importantly on the ps3 it plays fine

takes about 3 minutes to do a 40 minute mkv file on my imac

I was scrolling through/reading the thread whilst testing out many conversions and then stumbled upon your post; I feel like crap now that you reminded me I just wasted over 2.5 hours of my life. Thank you

 

[Jdub815]

So I have just stumbled upon this guide to convert my mkv files and save them on PS3. The problem is I definitely notice a loss in quality. I thought it may be the settings on my tv but I downloaded a PS3 video and the quality was great. I do not know what the problem is. If anyone can help it would be great.

 

[Naasief]

File format

I've been trying to find a solution to this and I went through all the motions and it was fine- until I tried playing the file on my Ps3. It just plays as a completely black video (but on my MacBook, it plays fine).


Anybody know how to fix this? I know I just dug this thread out of nowhere but I'd love to hear a solution!

-Vader

Hi Vader ...

I think ur file may be in mka format instead of mkv ... u can check this by looking at the last three letters of the file, eg avatar.mka ... the 'a' stands for audio and im sure if u tried ud be able to listen to the audio on ur ps3 as is ... under the music xmb ...

if ur file is mka you will need to use MkvMerge again just as u did when u split up the movie into smaller parts ... This time all u'l do is add the input file as below and then click start muxing. U'l have to do these for each of the smaller files now ...

To check that the merge will give an mkv look at the bottom of MkvMerge for the output filename ... it should end in mkv ... will take a few minutes but thereafter u should have no trouble streaming to PS3 media server without needing to do anything more ...

Lastly next time before muxing a big file just check the output file ... seems it defaultin on mka ... hope i rememba myself .. lol

Good luck

 

[gteller]

I have also followed all the steps...split up the file...saved as an MP4...Looks great on my Mac. For example I have a movie I split, one of the parts is 3.2gb.

When I transfer it over to the PS3, (using Nulliver)it takes it down to 700mb, and looks awful?

What is happening?


Gabriel

 

[DoFoT9]

I have also followed all the steps...split up the file...saved as an MP4...Looks great on my Mac. For example I have a movie I split, one of the parts is 3.2gb.

When I transfer it over to the PS3, (using Nulliver)it takes it down to 700mb, and looks awful?

What is happening?


Gabriel

too much compression, by the sounds of it

 

[ahayter3]

Why is QT taking so long?

Hi,
I've followed all the steps and began saving the movie to MPEG4 in QuickTime, but instead of the magical 20 minutes, it's taking hours! Why?

Does it have anything to do with the QT Player? It says it's version 7.6.9 Quick Pro.

Please help.

 

[sithemusicguy]

Quicktime Conversion mkv - mpg4 : sound glitches!

I have found this guide very useful - thanks MacSeda!

I believe I have had a little more trouble with this than others however as I am still on PPC! I do have one of the last PowerBookG4 17" with all the updates that were available for them and I still LOVE my mac. However, my first problem was with mkvmerge. After opening a file it would just freeze. I have managed now though to split my files with mkv tools with no trouble at all.

My issue now is when I use quicktime to convert the mkv's to mpg4's the sound has 'digital' glitches in it. It is as if the sample rate is wrong. I have tried many exports with different settings and sample rates for the audio but always the same problem. Is it because my mac is PPC and doesn't support HD footage? Is there a way around it?

PS. I'm sure the original mkv file I'm trying to convert is ok as I was able to test it on another machine.

 

[Khryz]

I don't want to stream any files to my PS3 .. I want to be able to throw the files on there via USB Thumb Drive.

Is this possible?

I have .MKV video files and just wondering if it's as easy as me throwing them on a USB Drive and playing them on my PS3? Or do I need to convert them to another format and then put them on a USB drive, etc?

Thanks.

 

[Rizvi1]

^I don't think a ps3 will play a .mkv file. You would have to convert it to something the Ps3 could do.

I just used mkvtools version 2.4.4 (not sure if latest) and am trying to convert a series of videos (video = h264, audio = ac3 6ch) to PS3-compatible MP4. The only thing that threw me off was that the final file was a .m4v and I was expecting a .mp4. But I Think a PS3 can still play .m4v.

I think my TV could take a .mkv file that's connected to it via a usb stick but my TV's doesn't output sound through the Receiver into the home theater/surround sound system. My PS3 is.

My Next step is to figure out what to do about dts mkv files. Again, if I Connected my TV to output to my receiver, maybe I could just watch the .mkv files right off of there and I'm hoping the DTS would be interpreted just fine.

But if I'm still going the PS3 route.

PS3 can't playback DTS files from a file (But can from a blu-ray... figure that one out!)

Anyway for those who are saying they aren't getting any audio from .m2ts files from tsMuxer, its because the source has DTS audio.

To get around this, I demux the audio and video using tsMuxer, so you get a .264 and a .dts file.

I then take the .dts, open parallels, use eac3to to convert the .dts to .ac3 and then mux them back together in to a m2ts file for the PS3.

It's a bit annoying have to boot to windows to convert the audio, so if anyone knows of a mac program to convert .dts to .ac3, please let us know.

And also with tsMuxer not working on snow leopard, I do the whole lot in windows now. One day we will find a completely mac friendly solution.

I'll check out that MKV4XBox that post above me linked... hope it can convert dts to ac3...

Just found this site with a little bit of googling...I haven't actually tested the result on my PS3 yet but it's sure to work.

http://iamthekiller.net/2009/03/convert-mkv-video-for-the-appletv/
It's a moderately lengthy procedure but it's very simple afterwards.

My test DTS track is converting now (from a 2.4 hour 1080p source) and it's gonna take a while.

EDIT: worked like a charm! AC3 playing in 5.1 at 448 kbps.

Do you lose a lot converting from DTS to AC3? If so, all things the same I'll just try to avoid a DTS file which I'm assuming sounds better. Or, I'll finally get around to getting the hdmi adapter-thing for my mid-2010 MacBook Pro i5 that'll let me output from my laptop straight into my home theater system's receiver. I Think then the DTS should be outputted just fine, no?

 

[Lesser Evets]

I've been laboring with this MKV->MP4 problem for over a month. After discovering the power of the PS3, I went through this thread and tons of other data on the web. Nothing worked. I've download 20+ programs and tried them all.

MP4 Tools was the closest to something useable, but it was cutting off or rearranging audio on many of my .mkv files as it transferred. Video was always good, but I denied a purchase because the success rate was under 50%. Not sure why, but I suspect some error in the original audio caused MP4 Tools to jump or just stop audio. Awesome program, aside from that. I'd have paid $20 for that program if it worked for me. Almost all other programs slid sound from video.

What finally worked like a charm was (the sadly expensive) WonderShare Video Converter for Mac. $39, but it does the job all the time sans audio cut out or mixup. It seems to convert all files to whatever device you want, whatever size, etc. I haven't put it through all the paces at this time.

I was able to convert audio with QT7 and join it to picture with MP4Tools, but it takes a lot of time and effort, where WSVideo Converter is a single click and everything is done. For someone with hundreds of mkv videos, it's a pennies-per-program solution.

Viewing on PS3: mkv transfers to mp4 and looks crisp and sounds wonderful. No slide.

^I don't think a ps3 will play a .mkv file.

PS3 will NOT play Matroska files. A simple search on the web brings up a PS3 window by Sony which defines all the file types which the PS3 can play. .mkv is definitely not there, and my PS3 definitely doesn't recognize the container.

I just used mkvtools version 2.4.4 (not sure if latest) and am trying to convert a series of videos (video = h264, audio = ac3 6ch) to PS3-compatible MP4. The only thing that threw me off was that the final file was a .m4v and I was expecting a .mp4. But I Think a PS3 can still play .m4v.

.m4v and .mp4 are the same. You can change the ending and it will stick. At least it always has with my files.