Tutorial: How to Convert MKV (x264) to 360 Ready WMV-HD Options

[impimpin206]

I see some of you are looking for a way to convert 720p MKV files to WMV-HD. So here's a little tutorial that should help you out. You need to download the attached file and have the tools below.

You can download a sample video here. Just stick it in your shared video folder and play it over network on your console.

Tools needed

- My custom TMPGEnc Xpress profile (available here)
- TMPGEnc Xpress 4.0 (available here)
- MKVtoolnix (available here)
- MKVExtractGUI (available here )
- Avisynth (available here)


Once you have all of that software installed and functioning, here's what you need to do.

1. Extract the contents of the attached file. This tutorial assumes you have extracted the file to the root of your E: drive, so you'll be working from e:\wmv_working\ If this is not the case, you'll need to open the movie.avs file in Notepad and change the directory. Copy your source MKV file to your \wmv_working\ directory and rename it to movie.mkv

2. Run MKVExtractGUI and open your movie.mkv file. Check the box for the AC3 audio stream and click the 'Extract' button. Once complete, exit MKVExtractGUI.



3. Run TMPGEnc Xpress 4.0 and start a new project.

4a. Load your AVS script (movie.avs) into the source file.
4b. Load your AC3 audio file into the 'Audio' section. (click browse, locate file)
4c. Change the 'Clip Name' to the title of your movie. This is what shows in the Xbox 360 browser.



5. Look at the clip details before proceeding to Format. Remember your source file's resolution.



6. Proceed to 'Format' and click 'Browse' to load the attached template Xbox 360 720 VBR.txp4e



7. Correct the resolution to what was displayed on the source file information. If you are using a 1080p source, you should be able to convert to 1080p WMV-HD without any other changes. For 720p sources, you should only need to correct the vertical resolution. Failing to do so will result in a clipped frame or black bars at the top & bottom to keep the aspect ratio. Setting the same resolution will have your Xbox 360 scale the file correctly.



8. Push the 'Calculator' button. Set your output size to 100% of media and push OK.



9. Save your project in case adjustments are necessary.

Optional Step: Create test sample (see below for steps)

10. Everything else is set for you. Encode!


Optional Step: Create a test sample

Note: this assumes you are between steps 8 and 10.

1. Select the bitrate from the box and copy it into your clipboard. (In this example, it's 5053)
2. Click 'Source' to go back a step in the wizard.
3. Click 'Cut-edit' on the right.
4. Select a new start frame and end frame and click OK. Since this is VBR, I usually make a 5 minute clip of both low and high motion scenes to give an accurate output quality sample.



5. Click Encode and start it.
6. Put the output file into your shared videos and play it over network in your Xbox 360. If the video looks good, then re-open your saved project file and encode it. If you didn't save it, you will need to repeat these steps to set your original start/end frames to the movie's start/end, then encode.

Hopefully this helps you some.

Cheers,
impimpin

This post has been edited by impimpin206: Jul 4 2007, 10:32 PM

[St4vr0s]

Great guide!

Been looking for something to edit mkv's so I can stream from the MCE to my Xbox360.

Managed to get the guide working apart form a couple of things.

As mentioned earlier I am also unable to load the .AVS file into TMPGENC even after editing the location where it looks for the movie. ( I was under the impression that its not possible to frameserve to the TMPGENC Express 4?? )

I had to load the .MKV as source file and AC3 as audio. However doing this game me jittery video as if its missing frames and very odd....when I fast forward the output file in MCE or Windows Media Player It looses the Audio but its fine in Nero Show Time

Any ideas?