[zeldras]

This's the fastest way to enjoy MKV video on playbook, much much much faster than convert video to a supported format

Free tools :

Format factory

download


MKVToolNix

download for: windows, other OS

1. You need a MKV file (with unsupported AC-3 audio codec)



2. Convert MKV to MP3 using Format factory (super fast)



3. Open mkvmerge GUI, add MKV and MP3 files and follow the steps bellow



4. At the end you have a MKV with mp3 audio codec, simply change file extention from MKV to AVI, sync to playbook and enjoy it

[loneweasel]

Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You

Will try at home.

How long does the process usually take?

[conix67]

I'm sorry, but this is hardly "fast and easy" method..

[nimrodity]

a one click batch file that does all this work would be a great thing

[zeldras]

Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You

Will try at home.

How long does the process usually take?

It depend on your PC but the only thing you have to encode is audio track so it's much faster than convert the video

[rexrim]

thanks for the tips! will try later

[ignites]

for some reason i thought os 2.0 could play mkv?

[jon7chow]

I believe someone said that MKV was now supported in 2.0... Cant wait

[Wolfgan]

Avidemux does the container conversion in a single click.
Just select to convert format to mp4. copy the video (no conversion involved) and convert the audio in case unsupported (ie AC3) to mp3 or AAC (if audio is supported, just copy it). It only takes a couple of minutes at most.
Wolf.

[Wolfgan]

for some reason i thought os 2.0 could play mkv?

Yes, but it will be silent if file audio is AC3. You need to convert the audio track in that case (see my previous post on Avidemux).
Wolf

[mithrazor]

Whooo! I'd be ready to join this guild!!

Wait what's that? It's GUIDE? Hehe. My mistake. :P

But this is great workaround until OS 2.0 is here!

[Knightcrawler]

woot! now i can watch game of thrones on my pb

[FF22]

Avidemux does the container conversion in a single click.
Just select to convert format to mp4. copy the video (no conversion involved) and convert the audio in case unsupported (ie AC3) to mp3 or AAC (if audio is supported, just copy it). It only takes a couple of minutes at most.
Wolf.

I THINK I tried this a few weeks ago. The converted video had no sound a certain length into the video. The beginning was fine - then silence.

As I recall, I tried twice on one video and then tried another - same results of lost audio after a while.

[Fmar]

Seems like there is some call for a fuller guide on what a container is and how to convert it. I think I can expand on what the OP has posted and give a little background on what is happening in order to understand this better.

F2 your problem sounds like a time stamp issue. Films will have a time stamp to sync the video and audio and keep them tight. Thus video and sound can start off fine and get worse and worse if not kept true.


Basic container converters don't really have scope or power to keep time stamps neat and tight. FFmpeg works well with small errors.

I'll try whip up a guide soon and post it here to supplement this post.

[sharpehenry]

I just use software called "badaboom" It's great if you have nvidia card since it converts any video format into desirable machine supported format with Cuda cores. it takes me 1080p MKV into MP4 (Galaxy Tab support which works for PB) about 20 - 25 minutes with my gtx 580 card. as long as you have 128 Cudas in your nvidia card, it takes fractions of movie play length.

And yes, you can still use your pc while converting since it uses GPU to convert and CPU is next to non active.

trial program lets you convert 30 videos but reinstalling the program gives you another 30 conversions.

Just another way of converting MKVs with no hassle. make sure you have nvidia GPU in your system

[Ninjatogo]

Freemake, it too uses CUDA cards, but this is free, has a better UI and is slightly faster for some formats.

[clieman]

The guide doesn't work.

I used MKVmerge to mux a MP3 into the MKV, and rename it to .avi.

It doesn't see the avi file.

[jbl0ggs]

RIM should add support of these popular formats. One should not need to jump through hoops for this simple support of video/audio codecs for tablet of this caliber.

[LuayS]

Great tutorial this can also be done with the lame audio codec installed and virtual dub. Just select direct processing for video and for the audio stream set it to convert to lame mp3. It will output an avi file with working audio in about 10 mins (2hour movie). That is if u want to avoid the merge of audio/video, this is a onestop shop. I'll make a detailed tutorial if people are interested just pm me.

[pauldriver]

I use xvid4psp to do this, but instead, keeping the video format the same, I re-encode the audio to multi-track aac and save the aac audio and un-converted video to an mp4 container.

I could leave everything in a mkv, or even just add the aac and leave the ac3 as another audio track, but it seems to me, the mp4 container with h.264 and AAC has better cross platform suppport then mkv

[demez]

I personally use XenonMKV, very quick and easy process. For shows that are 150-200mb it takes less than a minute to convert to avi.

[aaronu]

I know easier install if its availbe but android has mkv ghas default codecs. so if you have os2 and have a movie program for android. ull be able to pajkyt right of straight of the file.

[Dorian_At_ATT]

I just use software called "badaboom" It's great if you have nvidia card since it converts any video format into desirable machine supported format with Cuda cores. it takes me 1080p MKV into MP4 (Galaxy Tab support which works for PB) about 20 - 25 minutes with my gtx 580 card. as long as you have 128 Cudas in your nvidia card, it takes fractions of movie play length.

And yes, you can still use your pc while converting since it uses GPU to convert and CPU is next to non active.

trial program lets you convert 30 videos but reinstalling the program gives you another 30 conversions.

Just another way of converting MKVs with no hassle. make sure you have nvidia GPU in your system

Nvidia's GPU based encoding is pretty bad. CUDA doesn't provide quality video encoding by any means, based on what I've seen.

The absolute best conversion method I've seen so far is Intel's QuickSync Video conversion. I can get a 1080p 20Mbps MKV converted down to a Playbook format in about 15 minutes, with software encoding quality. This feature is included on every Sandy Bridge based notebook, as it uses the Intel HD3000 GPU and other fixed function hardware to aid in conversion.

This is NVIDIA's CUDA conversion quality:



This is QuickSync from Intel:



You can see what I'm talking about VERY clearly here. Even ATI's Stream OpenCL implementation is better than CUDA in this application... CUDA is fast, but QuickSync is faster, and MUCH better quality.

[zeldras]

The guide doesn't work.

I used MKVmerge to mux a MP3 into the MKV, and rename it to .avi.

It doesn't see the avi file.

Did you remove the original AC3 audio track ?

[swiedom]

worked flawless. thanks! oh, and no need to change the extension to avi with OS2.