I've tryed to convert an MKV file to AVI through River Past but was unsucessful.

So...is there any other MKV to AVI programs out there.

Thanks in advance.

Hi there I've just read that virtualdubmod (not virtualdub) can do that!
Get it from here:
http://virtualdubmod.sourceforge.net

This is where I've read it : http://www.moviecodec.com/topics/4727p1.html

And this seems intresting too (guess you can try):
http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/f...il/085637.html

Tell me if one of 'em works since I didn't yet try them and I'll need a software like that too (I can't try yet my .mkv didn't come down yet).
Good luck!

Ok so I've tried both and VirtualDubmod DOES work it gave back totaly the same picture that I had in my mkv (this meens the quality did not change not even a bit, like didn't get worse)! Only you have to set the right tool it has to use 'cause it's on uncompressed mode when you put it on, and the result will be 10GB per 10min that way!

I've tried MKVToolmix(or something like that I'm not sure in the last 3 letters) and that works too though I've got a couple of pixelated sceenes in the movie with it! So I guess Virtualdubmod is the best choose!

Generally speaking, trying to convert a MKV into AVI is not at all a good idea IMO. Don't forget, MKV was 'invented' to overcome most of AVIs limitations, and a MKV using at least some of these advantages will not, or at least not easily, be convertable into AVI files. IF it can be easily converted, than it has to be questioned why a MKV file has been created in first instance, as maybe making an AVI would have been more sensible.

Its like trying to pack a modern PORSCHE engine into an old VW beetle. Yes, you can do it and there are some freaks who are excellent in doing exactly that. But the result is costly, and can't compare to even a standard GOLF/RABBIT, so what's the point in doing that ?

Instead of trying to turn back the wheel, you, the 'customers', should use your power on the software companies to make them support MKV in their tools.

Christian
matroska project administrator
http://www.matroska.org

There's no difference is quality because MKV and AVI are both just containers therefore the streams are copied directly and no transcoding/re-encoding is necessary. So the degradation in quality you claim to have noticed when using MKVToolnix is actually impossible as the video stream hasn't been altered in any way.

I agree with ChristianHJW 100%, Matroska is a great format and far superior to AVI, it saddens me to see people converting a MKV into an AVI when someone put in the extra effort to use the better container.

The container I am worried about is "Hard" one - that is a DVD burn of the files. If there are no tools to burn the mkv file to a usable DVD then the format is a dead-end, right? So it is convert or sit in front of my monitor watching my mkv files alone with my pud in my hand...

The reason behind standardization in any industry if proliferation. If you can't use it everywhere it doesn't matter if you can use it in your studio. Right? Unless your studio is so swank/posh that you'd rather be there than showing your burns at a club or party...
How do I use this wonderful new format to create DVDs?

I still haven't figured out a straight forward process.

Any help here... I'd love to push for a paradigm shift but only if it can be supported.

Try this one

http://www.matroska.org/technical/guides/dvd/index.html

and tell us if it worked for you

Christian
matroska project admin
http://www.matroska.org

Thanks ChristianHJW.
I'm going over the article now. I haven't worked with DVDSanta yet but I keep seeing it brought up in the posts. I'll check it out and let you know how it worked. Thanks a million!

[/quote]I agree with ChristianHJW 100%, Matroska is a great format and far superior to AVI, it saddens me to see people converting a MKV into an AVI when someone put in the extra effort to use the better container.[/quote]

Well if you agree with Christian, then how can you burn MKV files DVD so they will play on our home DVD players? I'm downloading Chobits for a friend and while the picture and sound are incredible, I could not play it on my computer without downloading, Combined-Community-Codec-Pack-2006-01-18, and I can not even attempt to burn it to a DVD with either, Nero, Ulead, or Adobe.

Playing back DivX AVIs will require installation of the DivX decoder filter, no ? Does Microsoft ship their recent Windows installations with built-in support for DivX ? Don't think so .....

The sooner you, the customers of this software, bug them about finally adding MKV support, the sooner this unacceptable situation will change.

Christian
matroska project admin
http://www.matroska.org

Thanks for the advise. I have tried this DVD Santa and it does seam to work in most instances, with OGM, DVR-MS, MKV. I have not yet attempted it on DMG files. Occasionally it does not sync the Video with the Audio and in 4:3 aspect ratio it records at 720x480 instead of 640x480 which tends to cut part of the top and bottom of the screen off, esp where the sub-title is. But in 90% of the projects it seams to work very easy and very well. I do like the Animation advanced setting which produces much better MPEG-2's from MKV files. But your right Microsoft programs, including Media Center and esp Sony computers like mine with Media software should be able to accept, MKV,OGM andDMG files and I bet the European versions already do.

= 15-09-2005

Unfortunately, some of us need to convert to AVI, because we cannot play MKV. I have a Cowon A2, which will not play MKV, so what other choice do I have?
My biggest concern is finding a converter that exceeds 1-2x speed, because waiting 30 minutes to convert a 30-min video is ridiculous.

VirtualdubMod with direct stream copy? It done it for me in..what like 10seconds /it was a 30 minutes long video file/.

There is no AVI format. AVI is a file extension and it usually means it's a video file using PCM, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, Mp4, Divx or the Xvid codec for its sound and images.

The Matroska container format is an excellent system. Unfortunately there isn't a single standalone dvd player that supports it, yet they support Divx and Xvid usually.

If you have a personal computer connected to your television or am happy to watch the movie on your computer then all you need is a good video player with the apppropriate codecs. For instance: VLC player

If you still want to play it on your standalone player (xbox 360, dvd player, etc) you need to convert it to a codec system that your standalone dvd player understands.

Mind you that MKV is a container format, so the best way to convert the file is to first actually check what kind of files are inside the container. You can do this by using tools like mkvtoolnix or MkvExtractGUI.

Checklist:

- Where do i want to play this movie? Standalone or pc?
- What codecs does the standalone device understand?
- What is actually inside the container file?
- Do i really need to convert it or is extraction more than sufficient?

If you want to use the standard dvd format (dvd video) you can use ConvertXToDVD to transcode (convert) your files to a nice dvd video. This will result in quality loss

If you want to use another format like divx or xvid then you need to convert the files extracted from the container to the appropriate format. This will usually result in quality loss because of the coding algorithm and your personal preferences.

Because the matroska container can be filled with a lot of different files (like multiple video, multiple subtitling, multiple audio in different formats) most one-on-one converters/transcoders cannot deal with the matroska format correctly. If this is the case with your converter as well it would be wise to edit the matroska container to a single video, a single audio and a single subtitle file. You can do this by using tools like mkvtoolnix or MkvExtractGUI. Even then it's possible your converter can't deal with the subtitling.

Note: There is no way to magically enhance quality if one of your devices forces you to alter the format. For instance: If the file is a 16:9 video file and you display it at a 4:3 television, guess what happens? If the audio is stereo it doesn't suddenly enhance itself to dolby 5.1 surround. If it's 27.9 frames per second, displaying it at 25 frames per second can give weird results.

Give alltoavi a try for converting mkv's to avi http://alltoavi.sourceforge.net/index.php

I've tried alltoavi. I guess because of the h.264 stream, it takes an hour to convert a 30-minute video. By other means, I've successfully extracted the video and audio streams, but I'm not able to convert the AAC audio to an mp3 (or any other format). Most programs just run the process and output a 1kb mp3 (trash), while others like foobar give errors ("Decoder produced garbage at 0:00.000"). The AAC file plays fine(except for sounding like crap like all compressed audio), so it isn't corrupted.

Took me about 30mins to convert a 24 minute mkv with .264 video and he-aac audio while browsing the net. As with all video encoding it will depend on your system how long it takes.