How to convert a MKV file to PS3 & Xbox 360 compatible format without quality loss

Everyone who wants to use their Next-Gen console as a media center in addition to playing games received an early Christmas gift last month when DivX support was added to both the PlayStation 3 and the XBOX360.

Unfortunately for those who use the Matroska file format (.MKV) support for this format was not included.

Until support for this popular format is added there is however a quick and relatively easy solution to this problem that does not require any transcoding of the video stream which is time-consuming and results in degradation in the quality of the picture.

This process just extracts the audio and video into two different files onto the HDD. The audio is then transcoded and repackaged together with the untouched video stream into a file that is playable on the console (MP4). This process only takes minutes on a regular computer (compared to hours when transcoding of the video stream as well).

This file can now be streamed to the console, burned onto a disc or placed on an external USB device.

[Charlie2688]

@Tecra_X: Thanks and a thousand bubbles for you!

I needed a good and reliable MKV to MP4 (or AVI) programs for my job! :D

[visage]

I just need a way to transfer the subs from one file to the other.
Code Geass needs to be rewatched on my HDTV.

[Kwertie]

This should work in theory, however there are a few problems. The first is that H.264 support in PS3 (and possibly Xbox360) is hit and miss, so if the encoder was lazy and didn't set a level, the system may refuse to play it even though it's able.

The other as visage finds, is that a lot of MKVs are fansubs, and have "softsubs" which are just textfiles that display at the right time, and are not part of the video image. Using this tool will mean you get a video without subtitles, because the subtitles in MKV are non standard (as is anything to do with MKV). In this case, transcoding is required.

Don't you just love it? It would be a lot simpler if people just used MP4 in the first place. I don't see why you would want the option to turn subs off if you was downloading a fanSUB anyway. If you don't want text, get the raw, they are usually better quality and less raped to death with crappy filters anyway. Ahem, so anyway, if people stuck to MP4, it would be a lot simpler because the format is supported a lot more than MKV.

I feel sorry for Mac users because they are tied to approximately 1 player if they want their subs to display in their MKV. Even Windows has patchy support. There are no commercial programs supporting it (meaning this is why converting it is such a chore and relies on kind people who write such conversion tools). MP4 is really coming in to it's own now. Supported on PS3, Xbox360, AppleTV (to a very basic extent) and H.264 DVD players (google Kiss 1600). You can also play them on the PSP and mobile phones. I had the Cowboy Bebop movie on my Nokia N95, it was awesome, and the quality was really flawless, and I'm not just saying that.

Anyway, that's enough of my rant. Unfortunately I can't change the fact that fansubbers would rather use such an obscure format, but luckily this only seems to happen in English fansubbing. I see a lot of Spanish groups using MP4, and also a lot of AMVs are MP4 too, some people even making a point to make sure it works on the PS3, so you can just pop it on and go.
http://www.animemusicvideos...

[Silvia007]

restricted. So do what I did. Buy a 2nd cheap video card ($40 - Ebay) and a 50 ft. DVI to HDMI cable ($30 - Ebay) and voila, instant media center that can play anything you can throw at it in full 1080p resolution. I have since used my PS3 and 360 as a media center.

[jordan8445]

Old/

[sak500]

Thanks, I was searching for something like that. Have few HD movies in mkv so wanted to convert them.

[Meus Renaissance]

I get an error message a few minutes after I "convert"

[testerg35]

That's why I still love using my Xbox for playback. Xbox Media Center is awesome and the interface is so much nicer than the 360 and PS3s. Too bad the Xbox doesn't have enough horses to play HD stuff :(

[Eamon]

THANK YOU SO MUCH

Now, I can watch HD-Ripped movies (which are usually in mkv format) on my 360.

[Tecra_X]

I'm just hoping that support for Matroska will be included in the next update!

[Kwertie]

Unfortunately, there is more chance of me landing on the moon.

Companies don't support stuff that isn't ISO standard, since the specs aren't stable and liable to change at any time.

For example there is a new version of MKV files just called MKV v2. It still carries the MKV file extension but original versions of the splitter do not support it. The other problem is that it's beta and people are using it. If Microsoft /did/ implement the current "official" MKV spec, they wouldn't be able to play most of the files because they use the new beta format, and there is no way to differentiate them, because in their eternal wisdom, they use the same extension. would have been better if it was .mkv2 or something.

That's the other problem, there are so many damn formats it can support, most of which aren't standard, that supporting all those would be costly as far as licensing goes. There is also the problem of if someone tried to play an MKV with Vorbis audio, but Vorbis was not supported, everyone would be whining that the support is broken, so better just to not support it at all rather than partially.

[Tecra_X]

VLC media player takes approx. 6 MB and handles almost every format except for Real.

Therefore I'm just wondering why Sony and Microsoft with their billions are unable to accomplish this. It would be great to not have to worry about what format the file is in.

[MikeE21286]

You guys don't honestly think that Sony or MS (both of which have competing HD movie formats for their systems) even want you to play .mkv files on your PS3 or 360. I mean c'mon.....we all know that .mkv files are for the most part hacked blu ray/hd-dvd files anyways. I don't think they would want us to be able to easily play them.

[Tecra_X]

What other popular formats besides MKV are left unsupported by the PS3 & 360?

[Kwertie]

The issue with VLC is that it's opensource. Now that isn't a problem in itself, the problem lies again, within licensing. Because it's a free project, they haven't gone to the individual vendors and asked if they can implement their decoders. Basically VLC infringes a lot of IP/copyright/patents, but nobody does anything about it because there isn't a single person who you could sue, and even if you could, it would be worthless moneywise. The other reason they get away with it, and this works the same way for the XviD encoder, is that usually licensing costs are free when the amount of encoders/decoders supplied is less than a certain amount. In the case of MPEG, that's 100,000. Since MPEG cannot prove whether XviD has more or less than 100,000 downloads per year, it cannot do anything about it.

To MS or Sony, that's a minefield. As soon as a company worth billions takes on something that's likely to involve patents, copyrights, IP etc. everyone crawls out of the woodwork to see if they can cash in on any oversights and sue.

One of the main things holding Microsoft back for having better video support is their love of their own formats. They would rather push, promote and force you to use WMV than include support for say DivX or whatever (which incidentally they have, but that may have been through pressure rather than choice). Sony is much the same, but apart from ATRAC3 which is a joke, they do not have a competing multimedia format (excluding disc formats like Bluray, which is actually quite similar to HD-DVD barring physical differences).

Lastly it comes down to costs. I'm not sure how much licensing costs, but I think it's pro rata the amount of decoders you sell, so for instance if it was $0.20 per Xbox for H.264, then 100,000 Xboxes sold would cost them $20,000 in licensing costs. To companies like Sony and MS this is small change, but then you have to factor in costs for MP2/3 decoding, MPEG-2 decoding, DivX decoding, AC3 decoding, DTS decoding, AAC decoding and possibly the handling of the MP4 file format. I expect the licensing costs to vary, such as old codecs being cheaper and some codecs costing more, so if we assume they all cost $0.20, then per Xbox that would amount to $1.60, so now we are looking at a cost of $160,000 for 100,000 Xboxes and those costs aren't even material; you are just paying for someones permission.

When you consider the media player side of the consoles is effectively free (or most likely built into the cost of the console), you can see why they wouldn't want to expand the range of formats they support because it would send costs rocketing, not only that but if they had to backdate the licensing to cover 16 million Xboxes, that would be pretty pricey. Perhaps if the media player was a paid service, like an Xbox live game you have to download, there would be better support, but it basically boils down to costs and whether the fact that a few people would appreciate the more obscure formats vs the hassle of tracking them down, paying for, developing and then implementing them.

Rather than discussing formats these consoles don't support, it would probably be easier to say which they do support, and assume everything else is not supported, as it's a very barebones media player. I don't think you will find much beyond H.264/MP4, DivX/AVI, WMV and DVD support.

[Tecra_X]

I would not have any problem with paying say $20 extra for my console and have a complete media center solution.

This would mean that I wouldn't have to care about HDMI, Vista Home Premium and audio outputs when I'm looking for a cheap new laptop.

Today, a computer with these feature cost almost twice as much!