H.264 in MKV container DVD player?

[php111]

Hey everyone,

I haven't been on here in a very long time. I don't know why. I guess I wasn't interested anymore in learning AVISynth encoding? I'm still not interested anymore. A lot of work. I prefer to let the tools do the work.

Anyway, on topic: I still have the old Philips DVD player, and the Philips 19" TV with the big back which they don't make anymore. I'm only assuming this type of equipment can't play the H.264 in MKV container with something like AAC for audio? Please correct me if I'm right, or wrong? Would anyone suggest upgrading my system? Or would anyone suggest encoding from H.264 to DivX/XviD playback? If encoding would be the best option, 1.) would I lose quality/would I noticed the quality lost? 2.) Would AutoMKV be a good recommendation? 3.) Using AutoMKV, I get a message from VirtualDubMod saying cannot open movie.avi. I don't even have any movies with the name of "movie.avi". So, where is that message coming from, and why can't it load?

[admin]

Welcome back!

I don't think your old DVD player will play H.264 files - only Blu-ray players, and maybe some of the newer DVD players, will play them.

Converting from one format to another will always mean a quality loss, especially from a more efficient codec like H.264 to DivX/Xvid (H.264 is about 10% to 25% more efficient on average, so you'll need convert to a bigger file in order to not lose too much quality).

Lots of tools can convert MKV to AVI. I still mainly use MeGUI, but something like AviDemux or Quick AVI Converter is a lot easier to use and should work better than AutoMKV.

The error about "movie.avi" probably comes from one of the intermediate steps in AVS script (probably the one before the file is renamed to what you actually chose). I would say permission problems may be a possible cause, so running AutoMKV in Administrator or compatibility mode (assuming you're in Vista/7) might solve the problem (but it's probably better to just use another tool).

[php111]

Thank you very much for that info! I'm assuming you mean bigger as for the size of the file? Thank you for the welcome back as well!

[admin]

Yep, bigger as in file size.

[php111]

Hey admin,

Besides converting, would it even be worth it to upgrade too see if I like the technology nowadays? I'm 30yrs old, and I still have my 19" for maybe like 10yrs now without replacing it. I don't even know what they offer these days to be honest. As for my DVD player goes which is a Philips, it's still the DivX certified. If it is worth it, what would be a good choice as for brands, but not too pricey, and that I could get these products in stores like Walmart, or BestBuy without ordering online?

[MilesAhead]

I don't know about flat screen monitors. I'm still nursing my VX900 19" CRT. It still works so I don't fix it.

For playing many video formats you may want to consider a set top box. They tend to be more versatile than DVD/BluRay players. I have a generation 1 Western Digital HDTV for USB box. It can be a bit finicky. But it plays both SD and HD divx/xvid/wmv/mp4/mkv/m2ts/ts file types. The "live" versions of this box also have home network support for feeding the video. But I use a USB 2.0 docking station and put a HD in for content. Works fairly well. The output is over HDMI cable and the HD upconversion is very good.

The newer models have built in downmix of DTS to stereo. Mine doesn't. If the source has DTS audio I have to convert to AC3 or AAC depending on the format. Having the WD box has drastically reduced my DVD burning and video conversion. I haven't checked prices recently but they tend to come in around $100.

[php111]

Thank you very much!

[admin]

Yeah, a dedicated media player is probably the way to go if you play a lot of videos that are in different formats. Most of the media player functions on Blu-ray players or even some smart TVs are just afterthoughts, and will fail if the video file is just slightly out of spec.

[php111]

Yeah, a dedicated media player is probably the way to go if you play a lot of videos that are in different formats. Most of the media player functions on Blu-ray players or even some smart TVs are just afterthoughts, and will fail if the video file is just slightly out of spec.

Hey admin,

I'm interested in PS3 for playing everything even though I don't play games.

Also, may I please ask you some questions in regards to high quality XviD settings when using MeGui?

Could you do a favor by posting your high quality settings? Or provide a link if you have in the past already provider all your settings?

Thank you if you could do that! I very much appreciate it!

[admin]

The PS3's main problem is that it doesn't natively play MKV files (nor some more obscure formats, like RMVB). You can get MKV files to play via the PS3 Media Server software (if streaming media from a PC), or running MKV files through mkv2vob. Other than that, it works well.

As for Xvid encoding, I haven't really done it in a long time, but I would probably just use the "Xvid: Const. Quantizer 2 HQ (no Qpel)" profile.

[php111]

Yeah, a dedicated media player is probably the way to go if you play a lot of videos that are in different formats. Most of the media player functions on Blu-ray players or even some smart TVs are just afterthoughts, and will fail if the video file is just slightly out of spec.

dedicated media player - Google Search

I did a search in Google for Dedicated Media Play to hook up to my TV because I would like to get some info by reading about it, and get in store prices like at WalMart stores, but I'm not sure what I'm looking for in my search. I did do a search instead of letting others do it for me, but I have not a clue what to read, or search for. The Google results are on the link above.

[admin]

MilesAhead gave a pretty good tip regarding the Western Digital series, I'd start there:

Media Players Overview

[php111]

MilesAhead gave a pretty good tip regarding the Western Digital series, I'd start there:

Media Players Overview

Hey admin,

Would this be what you guys are referring too based on the link I am going to provide? (Western Digital - WD TV Live Hub Media Center with 1TB Hard Drive - WDBABZ0010BBK-NESN)

[admin]

That's the one with the built-in hard-drive, which is a bit more expensive. If you have a home network, or an external drives with all your media files, then you can just get the cheaper storage-less version.

[skmediag]

That's the one with the built-in hard-drive, which is a bit more expensive. If you have a home network, or an external drives with all your media files, then you can just get the cheaper storage-less version.

Please mention some name of cheaper storage less version.