mkv files

[playitpaul]

How can I burn mkv files? what program can i use?

[Skiz]

Since matroska (mkv) is a rather exotic format, you will have to do the conversion in two steps. First you’ll have to convert the file to avi, then from there you can do your dvd authoring.
For mkv, the conversion tool of choice is virtualdubmod (not to be confused with plain old virtualdub).

Get it here - http://virtualdubmod.sourceforge.net

Once you open your file in virtualdubmod, pick direct stream copy for both audio and video (if it allows it) and save as an avi (that way you don’t have to do any recompression).

[stripy]

Of course you don't need to bother with any of that, if you intend to watch mkvs on your PC or if you have a standalone player that can handle mkvs.
There is however a catch if you want to burn files larger than 2gb which is an ISO limit. Those you have to burn in UDF format (or if standalone can't handle those in ISO/UDF bridge format).

[Skiz]

There is however a catch if you want to burn files larger than 2gb which is an ISO limit.

Care to explain that statement?

[stripy]

ISO 9660 is a file system used for writing on CD/DVDs has a file size limitation of 2GB. Thus larger files should be burned in UDF file system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_9660
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Disk_Format

[Appzalien]

Virtual Dub Mod will only handle MKV files that have a-typical avi's and audio inside, that is divx xvid with mp3 ac3 audio. H264 video or aac audio is a no go. MKV is the winrar of video, inside its package are the avi, 1 or more audios and/or 1 or more subtitles. Typically if you want to view them on your PC you would use VLC player, but if you want to get the avi out of there use a tool called MKVToolNix. Along with the two GUI programs MKVExtractGUI and MKVMergeGUI (which you put into the toolnix folder and make your own shortcuts) to make working with them commandline free, you can examine (merge makes mkv but will also identify japanese audio from english) and extract (extract removes video and audio separately and you have to mux them back together).

MKV's can be a real pain to work with so if I were you I would download AlltoAvi (opensource free). It will convert even the worst kind of MKV to avi for you although it (h264) requires 2 conversions, one to convert to a useable h264, and the second to convert to avi. I have been using it for a lot of things and in a worst case scenario when I cannot get the audio to come out right, I do the h264 to avi (video only, no audio) in two steps, extract the audio with MKVExtractGUI, convert it from aac to mp3 if its an aac audio, and mux the two togther with "virtual dub mod aud-x enabled". The aud-x enabled one adds builtin ac3 support and along with the aud-x codec also supports 5.1 surround sound.

[digmen1]

So why do people make mkv files ?

Does it have any advantages ?

Regards

Digby

[stripy]

MKV is a container (like AVI) which supports H.264 codec which is the best for compressing HD content, while AVI can't handle H.264. So MKV is getting more and more popular. There are also many standalones that can handle these and the picture is perfect if you have a nice LCD/plasma to watch it on.

Also MKV supports menus (like DVD), chapters, (several) (soft)subs can also be inside the container...

So MKVs have many advantages over AVIs, the only disadvantage is that standalones are more expensive for now. It also needs more CPU power, but that is mainly due to HD content.

[Appzalien]

MKV's have been around for years, long before HD content was available, they were used mainly by the anime scene so they could include all kinds of extras inside the container.Originally there was no MKV player, anime enthusiasts traded MKV files and then extracted what they wanted and created avi's from them. Eventually VLC player came along and could play the file without extracting. If set top Players with MKV support are out there, like the guy above says, I have never seen one or heard of one. Perhaps playstation 3 can play them, I wouldn't know. H264 has been around for some time and is not necssarily HD content, the anime scene considered H264 as the next generation avi file and has been using it for a long time but it took extreme methods to convert to something that would play on a set top player so was meant mainly for viewing anime on the PC and being able to choose japanese audio with subtitles (scene users swear thats best VS English dubbed audio with no subs (scene users spit on that as crude, but include it for idiots like me that want to watch an anime not read it).

[digmen1]

Thanks for the info on MKV files