I was trying to convert some of my DVD’s to .mkv file format to put on the hard drive of the Hub that I got for Christmas. I am using DVDFab. Unfortunately, I have video (which looks fantastic), but no sound with these files. I converted these file with DD5.1 sound, so there should not be any problems. The only thing that I can think of is the .mkv profile I am converting my DVD’s to. Does anyone know what profile to use (mkv.h264.audiocopy or mkv.remux or etc) at the Hub will understand?
See Section 4, Subsection F…
http://community.wdc.com/t5/General-Discussions/WDTV-FAQ/td-p/32135#playback
You may want to try MakeMKV. I converted all my movies with this product and haven’t had any issues.
I have tried MakeMKV and did not like the video quality of it. I purchase DVDFab due to alot of people that I know use it and love it. Unfortunately, these people do not have the Western Digital TV Live Hub. Therefore, that is why I posted here. I registered at DVDFab forums for help, but I cannot post there yet until the administration okays me(?). Is there anyone who uses DVDFab and is able to convert their DVD’s to MKV format with no problems? I am a newbie to DVDFab and I probably missed someting in the setup.
I recommended using RipBot264 to convert to mkv. Very simple interface and easy to use. Can convert files based on bit rate or file size. Freeware as well
You can either use Handbrake or MKVtoolnix (MKVmerge), both are great at making MKV’s. Use Handbrake if you want to transcode your files to smaller files, you will get nearly the same quality out as you put in. However you will need to learn how to set it to get the best quality. Or use MKVtoolnix if you want bit for bit mkv, it will give you the same quality, size, everything that you put in. Basically with it all you are doing is changing the container.
These are the two best & most used. I have DVDfab also, but I don’t use it to make my mkv’s, I use one of the 2 above.
I don’t see how you didn’t like the quality of makemkv. It’s a 1 to 1 bit translation? Nothing is loss
Out of curiosity I use DVD Fab to make copies of my purhcased DVDs so thought of putting some of them on Hub as DVD ISOs (read posts that ISO is better than Video_TS folder w/VOBs)…but MP2 is quite large for movies…say 7GB per movie. I think MKV is container for MP4 ?..so, how much size is reduced to go MKV from a MP2 DVD ?
Also, for me I want this to be one step so since I’m going from DVD to MKV using DVDFab is preferred. Has anyone one tried and can answer the thread question on DVDFab MKV profile settings to work ?
Thanks !!
To answer your question better, first understand that video has at least three main components: 1) Video (i.e. “AVC” or “MPEG2”) 2) Audio (i.e. “AC3”, “MP3” or “AAC”) 3) Container (the “glue” that holds the above components together) When you speak of COMPRESSING the MKV file you generally mean the VIDEO and sometimes the AUDIO as well. You can COMPRESS an MPEG2 file to AVC which ends up roughly 3x smaller. Usually the audio is compressed. A common method is: MKV, AVC, AAC How to compress? It depends primarily on how it will be played back. Media players have smaller screens and less space as well as different decoding abilities. Handbrake is a great program. Keep in mind that too much compression is lousy quality whereas too little improves the size. Handbrake has recommendations. In general, I’d make sure to do 2-Pass and keep the quality at 75% (which doesn’t mean you lose 25% of the quality). Experiment. I’d probably do several in BATCH if possible. If using this box I’d use the above method. *Considering that you can purchase a 2TB WD Elements drive on sale for $135 which holds an additional 260 uncompressed DVD’s it’s hard to recommend compressing video in general. **You will lose menus by converting DVD’s. I contacted “DVDFAB” about the option of converting DVD to BluRay (solely to save space) and it sounds like they may work on creating a program to do this.
With MakeMKV, for some reason I had some major artifacting/blocking going on. I have no explanation to why I had this going on. I might have not had the correct settings in MakeMKV when I was converting the DVDs which would not be a surprise to me since I am not a technical guy when it comes to converting DVD’s to any digital format. I have an iPod and have used Cucusoft DVD to iPod Converter Suite due to it’s simplicity for converting my DVDs and never had any problems using it. But for me, I was hoping that I could get DVDFab to do all of my DVD conversions since I have an iPod, iPhone and now the WDTVLH. I rather have just one software package that can convert DVDs (as well as back-up DVDs) to many different formats rather than may different programs in which could possibly lead to conflicts. Is this possible? If not, why can’t I get DVDFab to make MKV files that can play on my WDTVLH?
Im currently testing some settings with Handbrake… so far I took a 8 gig rip of a movie I had and shrunk it down to 791mb with little quality loss…
I just ordered a blu ray writer so Ill be testing the settings on Memoirs of a Geisha when that shows up in a few days.
thekochs wrote:
Out of curiosity I use DVD Fab to make copies of my purhcased DVDs so thought of putting some of them on Hub as DVD ISOs (read posts that ISO is better than Video_TS folder w/VOBs)…but MP2 is quite large for movies…say 7GB per movie. I think MKV is container for MP4 ?..so, how much size is reduced to go MKV from a MP2 DVD ?
Also, for me I want this to be one step so since I’m going from DVD to MKV using DVDFab is preferred. Has anyone one tried and can answer the thread question on DVDFab MKV profile settings to work ?
Thanks !!
An ISO is just a container for the your VOB, basically it is like having a zip file for your video. With an ISO you still have the same folder structure, Video_TS / VOB, but it’s all contained inside the ISO, so it is easier to access and you don’t have to go through the file folders to play your video.
A MKV is also a container, but it can contain many different codecs, h.264/x.264, theora, mpeg4, mpeg2, etc. for video & AC3, AAC, PCM, DTS, Vorbis, etc. for audio.
MP4 or MPEG-4 part 14 is another type of container, with its own set of supported codecs.
As for having just a one step process of converting videos from one container to another, there really isn’t one. Different softwares are good for different things, but none really do it all well. If what you are looking for is something to lessen the time to make a good quality MKV, I would use something like DVDfab Passkey (the free version LITE will do most movies) which will decrypt on the fly & then use either Handbrake or MKVtoolnix to make your MKV’s. And if ISO’s are what you want then I would suggest using Imageburn.
So basically from what I understand, DVD Fab is not capable of converting DVDs to MKV that will be able to play on the Western Digital TV Live Hub. So I basically wasted my money on the most useless software package known to man?!?!?
No, that’s not what I am saying. But mkv on DVDfab is mostly for mobile devices, not for the big screen. You still need DVDfab for ripping, but it is not a “Do everything” software. To make good quality mkv’s you need something like Handbrake or MKVtoolnix. Making a good quality mkv takes some work and there is nothing that will be just click and go.
TheGregster76 wrote:
So basically from what I understand, DVD Fab is not capable of converting DVDs to MKV that will be able to play on the Western Digital TV Live Hub. So I basically wasted my money on the most useless software package known to man?!?!?
DVDFab is one of the better DVD ripping solutions available, so it’s not wasted money.
Using it together with Handbrake (High Profile), you can create MKVs that should well with the WDTVLH.
Well, I tried using Handbrake for my DVDs. I have to admit it is a steep learning curve on how to use this program. I wish there was a better documentation of what all of the options do, but I think I am getting a handle of the basics. I converted one DVD to mkv and tried it out on my WDTVLH. I have to admit that I am quite happy with the results.
Just remember that with certain movies, like Iron Man 2 which were badly compressed to begin with, you’ll want to set the Constent Quality under the Video tab to a lower setting (the lower the setting, the less it’s compressed, it’s representative of the percent of compression - 20 equals 20% compression). You shouldn’t have to change this for most movies, a setting of 20 or 19 is fine for most, but with those that don’t look that great to begin with you’ll get artifactiing if you don’t set the Constent Quality lower.
TheGregster76 wrote:
I was trying to convert some of my DVD’s to .mkv file format to put on the hard drive of the Hub that I got for Christmas. I am using DVDFab. Unfortunately, I have video (which looks fantastic), but no sound with these files. I converted these file with DD5.1 sound, so there should not be any problems. The only thing that I can think of is the .mkv profile I am converting my DVD’s to. Does anyone know what profile to use (mkv.h264.audiocopy or mkv.remux or etc) at the Hub will understand?
I use DVDFab and it works great for me. I choose the mkv.h264.audiocopy profile. The only issue that I’ve run into with audio is when the track is Dolby TrueHD because the Hub cannot play TrueHD. There is a selection between the listings for audio and subtitle tracks that will say Remove HD Audio. This converts the Dolby TrueHD to Dolby AC3. After I started checking this box, I haven’t had an issue with audio yet.
Have you tried different audio tracks to see if it’s a particular type of track (Dolby, DTS, etc.) that is failing? Do these files play fine on other equipment?
I’ve also read that sometimes audio issues are fixed by resetting the Hub.
TheGregster76 wrote:
So basically from what I understand, DVD Fab is not capable of converting DVDs to MKV that will be able to play on the Western Digital TV Live Hub. So I basically wasted my money on the most useless software package known to man?!?!?
DVD Fab works fine for the Live Hub (see my reply to your other post).
I use DVDFab for DVD to HDD (Video_TS/VOB) but have not tried to MKV yet…was going to based on your recommendation. Question…
DVD Movie Example I have 4GB @ 720x480 ~5Mbps bit rate (thru MediaInfo). In DVD Fab it says it is 854x480 but no biggie…anyway,
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DVD Fab MKV Settings says it will be 720x304 @ 771 Kbps bit rate. Isn’t the rez dropping hurting quality ?
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I think this is H.264 so bit rate is lower than my MPEG2 DVD but is default 771Kbps too low ?..again hurt quality.
Basically, I really only want the MKV to reduce my 4GB size to something lower…basically MP2 => H.264. However, I’d rather keep a little larger file with no loss…can you give me rough example of file size change…perhaps from one of your DVD movies ?..are we talking 4GB to 1GB ?..etc…also, what are bets settings to not loss any quality ?..I have 63" and 110" screens at home.
I use DVDFab and it works great for me. I choose the mkv.h264.audiocopy profile. The only issue that I’ve run into with audio is when the track is Dolby TrueHD because the Hub cannot play TrueHD. There is a selection between the listings for audio and subtitle tracks that will say Remove HD Audio. This converts the Dolby TrueHD to Dolby AC3. After I started checking this box, I haven’t had an issue with audio yet.
