Is there an authoring app for MKVs?
 

basically, i have a mkv file. and what i would like to do is to create a menu and have chapters etc, ie just like authoring a dvd with a mpeg file, for this file.

so the question is, is there an authoring app for mkv files?

or must i convert the mkv to mpg2 and then proceed with a dvd authoring app?

however, i don't want to lose the extra resolution provided by the mkv format.

so please let me know if what i want to do is possible.
and please give the names of any freeware apps that do the job.

thanks.

There was talk in past years about the Matroska (MKV) video container format using menus, but I don't think it ever happened. In other words, it's a vaporware feature -- it never existed beyond some research and trials.

The only way to both have a menu AND keep HD resolution is to create a Blu-ray disc, or to create a BD-on-DVD disc. That's where you use put high definition H.264 on a DVD. But then again, I don't think you can easily make BD menus.

There are several sub-formats of Blu-ray, each with its own authoring specs, and at least one of them is menu-less. I've not had time to really get into it, mostly because customers don't ask for Blu-ray work -- and that includes corporate and small/medium studio work.

I think you'd be best off just encoding it as a 720x480 DVD, and make menus that way.

Or skip the menus and leave it as a MKV on the computer.

Or create a BD-on-DVD disc with no menu.

Or a combination of two (or all three) of the above suggestions.

Blu-ray is, at its core, a Sony proprietary format. And those are NEVER easy to work with. They've more or less created an expensive and complex format -- even more than DVD was in it's earliest stages.

Post back the solution you choose! :)

hmm, i'll probably end up with the raw mkv file and just use pc software to playback the video.

i've read somewhere that i can use AllToAvi to convert the mkv to avi.
the use dws2 to import the avi and create a 720 HD format dvd.
you have experience with dws2, so is the latter true?

-- update --

over the weekend i'm going to try doing this:

1) use xilisoft to convert the mkv to a 720 HD format mpg2 file.

2) then use ulead movie factory to author a HD movie.

i'll let you know how i get on in a couple of days.
wush me luck!

There's no such thing as an "720 DVD". What you can do is make a Blu-ray format on DVD. Anything else is non-standard data-only.

Xilisoft is low quality encoding. It's crapware. I doubt you'll be satisfied -- I know your quality standards. It will look as bad as a homemade DVD run through DVD Shrink.

AllToAvi is crapware, too. Low quality junky stuff.

Ulead DVD Workshop 2 can only work with standard 720x480 DVD-Video format files. Whatever you read at some other site was wrong, period.

Ulead Movie Factory for a BD-on-DVD (MPEG-2 based). Maybe, I don't remember if it's one of the apps that does it. The TMPGEnc authoring software is another one to consider. I know one of them does HD for Blu-ray, but it might also do the BD-on-DVD "format".

i tried tmpgenc authoring works 4 and it produced decent results.
pretty much 99% satisfied.

wasn't too happy with the creating menu part of this software, but didn't mind too much as i could re-do the menu in another software product.

also tried avi2dvd, and again that too produced decent results.

but both, i believe, set the maximum bitrate to 8000 kb/s and an average bitrate a bit lower, around 7500 kb/s.

i must admit that this was good enough for my needs.

but i carried on just to see how far i could push things.
could say i was experimenting.

so what i did next was to use tmpgenc xpress to convert the mkv to m2v format, which i could then import into dvd lab pro and create my own menu.

the mkv file had 6 channel audio.

in tmpgenc xpress, if i choose "linear pcm" audio format, then, due to dvd standards, the maximum video bitrate has to be 8000 kb/s.

but i wanted to push this to the allowed maximum of 9200 kb/s.

so i choose "dolby digital" as my audio format, which allowed me the higher video bitrate.

used a 2 pass encode setting and after about 3 hours, i got my m2k file.

now strictly speaking, i could only use a 2 channel stereo audio with this file at the authoring stage. otherwise the total bitrate would be higher than allowed by dvd standards.

well, i had nothing to lose and so extracted the 6 channel audio via tsMuxer.

i then popped both the video and audio files into dvd lab pro.

hey presto, dvd lab pro didn't moan about the total bitrates.
perhaps, despite the very high setting, the video was still a tad below 8000 kb/s?

anyway, the long and short of it is that i got my higher bitrate video and my 6 channel audio.

perhaps this is not a true dvd standard video?
maybe a user defined video?

all i know is that it works.

so overall i am happy.

finally, did pushing the video bitrate from 8000 to 9200 make a significant difference?

no, don't think so.

but like i wrote above, i was experimenting.

hope this has been of some help to others on this forum.