AtTheAsylum
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Hi all - I've been looking at the best way to encode DVD's for the PS3. My goal was to encode the video to H264 AVC (better quality than DivX/XviD) and keep the original Dolby Digital (AC3) or DTS soundtrack.
Unfortunately the PS3 will not recognise an AVI with the above specs nor can an MP4 contain this type of audio.
But now there is a solution
- thanks to the ideas detailed here (http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/PS3_H.264_Conversion_Guide_page1.html). This guide is quite long and complicated and requires a fair bit of expertise. Basically I've taken the procedure and modified it for CloneDVD Mobile (CD-M).
Note: this procedure uses CD-M and two other tools, both of which use a GUI interface and are VERY easy to use.
Tools required:
- CD-M (of course) - used to encode the DVD into an AVI container.
- mkvmerge GUI - used to convert an AVI into a Matroska container (http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/) - included in the mkvtoolnix package.
- mkv2vob - converts the Matroska file into a VOB (http://www.digital-digest.com/software/mkv2vob.html).
High Level Description:
- Encode DVD to an AVI choosing H264 video and original audio.
- Convert the AVI into a Matroska container.
- Convert the Matroska into a VOB.
Seem strange, doesn't it? But yes the PS3 will play a VOB that contains H264 AVC video and AC3 sound. I've tested this on two full DVD's with great results
Step 1 - encode DVD:
- Encode the DVD using the profile included at the end of this post. You can use another profile if you like but make sure it outputs H264 AVC video and AC3/DTS audio to an AVI container.
Step 2 - convert AVI to Matroska:
- Run mkvmerge GUI, click on the 'Add' button at the top right and choose the AVI created in step 1.
- Make sure both the audio and video streams have a tick mark next to them in the 'Tracks' window. This should happen by default.
- Click the 'Start Muxing' button at the bottom left to create the Matroska container. This should create a file with the 'mkv' extension in the same directory as the original AVI.
Step 3 - convert Matroska to VOB:
- Run mkv2vob and choose the Matroska file created in step 2.
- The output filename should be filled in for you (*.vob) so click on the 'Save' button.
- A small window will pop up where you can choose the video conversion mode. Leave it at the default 'Automatic'.
- A few more windows will open and close - let them do their stuff.
Step 4 (optional) - rename file to *.mpg:
- The VOB file created in step 3 will play on a PS3. You can either copy it to a DVD or USB drive. You can also stream it to the PS3 using the media server Tversity if you like. However, if you want to stream it using WMP11 you will need to rename the file. WMP11 wont stream a VOB but it will stream an MPG file.
- So, rename the file eg: test.VOB becomes test.mpg.
Profile:
BTW - this is not my work - all the credit goes to the author (DVDGuy) of the conversion guide linked to above.
BTW2 - this process uses up a bit of disk space (3 x the original AVI file size). You can delete the AVI once the Matroska file is created and the Matroska once the VOB is created if you like.
Unfortunately the PS3 will not recognise an AVI with the above specs nor can an MP4 contain this type of audio.
But now there is a solution
- thanks to the ideas detailed here (http://www.digital-digest.com/articles/PS3_H.264_Conversion_Guide_page1.html). This guide is quite long and complicated and requires a fair bit of expertise. Basically I've taken the procedure and modified it for CloneDVD Mobile (CD-M).Note: this procedure uses CD-M and two other tools, both of which use a GUI interface and are VERY easy to use.
Tools required:
- CD-M (of course) - used to encode the DVD into an AVI container.
- mkvmerge GUI - used to convert an AVI into a Matroska container (http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/) - included in the mkvtoolnix package.
- mkv2vob - converts the Matroska file into a VOB (http://www.digital-digest.com/software/mkv2vob.html).
High Level Description:
- Encode DVD to an AVI choosing H264 video and original audio.
- Convert the AVI into a Matroska container.
- Convert the Matroska into a VOB.
Seem strange, doesn't it? But yes the PS3 will play a VOB that contains H264 AVC video and AC3 sound. I've tested this on two full DVD's with great results
Step 1 - encode DVD:
- Encode the DVD using the profile included at the end of this post. You can use another profile if you like but make sure it outputs H264 AVC video and AC3/DTS audio to an AVI container.
Step 2 - convert AVI to Matroska:
- Run mkvmerge GUI, click on the 'Add' button at the top right and choose the AVI created in step 1.
- Make sure both the audio and video streams have a tick mark next to them in the 'Tracks' window. This should happen by default.
- Click the 'Start Muxing' button at the bottom left to create the Matroska container. This should create a file with the 'mkv' extension in the same directory as the original AVI.
Step 3 - convert Matroska to VOB:
- Run mkv2vob and choose the Matroska file created in step 2.
- The output filename should be filled in for you (*.vob) so click on the 'Save' button.
- A small window will pop up where you can choose the video conversion mode. Leave it at the default 'Automatic'.
- A few more windows will open and close - let them do their stuff.
Step 4 (optional) - rename file to *.mpg:
- The VOB file created in step 3 will play on a PS3. You can either copy it to a DVD or USB drive. You can also stream it to the PS3 using the media server Tversity if you like. However, if you want to stream it using WMP11 you will need to rename the file. WMP11 wont stream a VOB but it will stream an MPG file.
- So, rename the file
eg: test.VOB becomes test.mpg.Profile:
Code:
[* Generic (H264/DTS/DD+) AVI]
Res1=320x240
Res2=480x360
Res3=640x480
Res4=720x540
ResAna1=320x180
ResAna2=480x270
ResAna3=640x360
ResAna4=720x404
ResAna5=852x480
AllowNativeTVResolution=1
Format=avi
moac=copy
movc=x264
mopts=-x264encopts bitrate=%vbrate%:level_idc=41:bframes=3:frameref=2:nopsnr:nossim%PASS%
Format=avi -noodml
FileType=avi
Quality=15
useMencoder=1
SubTitle=1
MaxVBitrate=3000
AllowChapterFiles=0
QualityFactor=130BTW - this is not my work - all the credit goes to the author (DVDGuy) of the conversion guide linked to above.
BTW2 - this process uses up a bit of disk space (3 x the original AVI file size). You can delete the AVI once the Matroska file is created and the Matroska once the VOB is created if you like.
Last edited: