Matroska .....media cotainer

[woodsmoke]

Turns out that Handbrake produces, as default, an "mkv" file which is for "Matroska"..

the file type plays readily in Dragon Player.

Any comments?

http://www.matroska.org/index.html

woodmoke

[Rog132]

Any comments?

??


Something from the Kubuntu forums - Using embedded Matroska cover art with the KDE thumbnailer: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post345474

[woodsmoke]

Rog....I guess I mis-typed in my search.............THANK YOU!!!!

woodkindadumbsmoke

[verndog]

The "default" is for the stable version. I use one of the snapshots , and then create my own presets.

[perspectoff]

MKV been around since 2002

The opens source MKV (Mastroska) video container has been around since 2002 (for Woodsmoke, that's... 12 years).

Most new DVD players and MP3/media players will play it nowadays, but it was slow to be integrated into consumer devices.

Even if you settle on the MKV container (as Handbrake did), you still have to choose the video and audio codecs.

Remember, there are 3 parts to any video file: the video codec, the audio codec, and, optionally, the subtitle format.

Will you use the superior H.264 video codec (which is not handled by a number of my consumer devices), the dinosaur MPG format, or the widely-used XVID/DivX video codec?

Will you use the (marginally and unnoticeably) superior AAC audio codec or open source OGG audio codec (also not handled by a number of consumer devices), the dinosaur AC3 format originally used with commercial DVDs, or stick with the universal MP3 audio codec?

If you have a subtitle track, will it be in the text-based .SRT format or in image-based .SUB/.IDX files?

The Mastroska container allows any combination of these and is quite capable, but that is also the problem.

One of the downsides with so many options in the container is that a consumer device has a difficult time choosing the default ones (e.g. audio track, video track, subtitile track). If the file doesn't have the audio track with my language as the first one, for example, the playback is unintelligible to me.

I haven't yet found an easy way (or, rather, haven't spent the time to find an easy way) to rearrange the order of the tracks within the MKV container so that my own language becomes the default. I don't happen to like it for this reason, since I play many of my videos on consumer devices (Android players, MP3/media players, DVD players). (God forbid I want to play anything on a despised Apple product, unless VLC happens to be installed on it.)

Besides, I have accumulated a huge collection of .AVI videos (which, though a "proprietary" Windows video container, is ubiquitious).

BTW, I also still happen to have all my audio files in MP3, also a "proprietary" codec, instead of the open source OGG format, too.

I have worked a bit with Mastroska (MKV) -- cf. (K)Ubuntuguide at http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Video_Conversion#MKV_files -- and have had the best results with manipulation using the mkvtoolnix utilities ( https://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/docs.html ).

As more and more video files are showing up in .MKV, this toolbox has become more important to me with time, but for now I still prefer my (simpler) .AVI video files.

[woodsmoke]

Ya know...Perpectoff......your avatar is a double edged sword....

you really are very smart! really!

But methinks that you DO NOT take yourself very S...E...R...I...O..U...S...L...Y..!!! lol

hey........when I start with a nubbin you give them the whole magilla! lol

thanks!
woodmuchappreciativesmoke

[verndog]

...

Will you use the superior H.264 video codec (which is not handled by a number of my consumer devices), the dinosaur MPG format, or the widely-used XVID/DivX video codec?
...

Now comes H.265 (HEVC), and in the future Handbrake will have it.

H.265 encoder (Experimental - available when compiled from source with --enable-x265)
Early build of the new x265 encoder. Enabled on Windows only currently. (Mac / Linux builds will have it enabled shortly)
Currently still some way off being ready for prime time. Useful for testing only at this stage.

[woodsmoke]

thanks verndog!

woodsmoke