OK, I very much appreciate all the tutorials out there but I kept running into "problems" so I sort of came up with my own method to convert MKV to WMV-HD 5.1 360 Ready files. Here's the process I now use and that has worked "flawlessly" every time thus far...

VISTA/XP USERS W/ MICROSOFT EXPRESSION ENCODER:
(Note: For XP users, you can follow this tutorial, but install a different and comparable codec pack)

Setup:

1) Uninstall all codecs and then use the Codec Removal Tool 2.12 (I believe) to fix and remove broken codecs

2) Install the Vista Codec Package and leave all options/configuration at defaults (including ffdshow audio and ac3 filter settings)

3) Install Avisynth 2.5.7

4) Extract the standalone WMENicEnc

5) Install the MKVtoolnix and the MKVmerge GUI (if not included with MKVtoolnix)

6) Install Windows Media Encoder (includes the Windows Media Stream Editor and Profile Editor which we will use)

7) Install Microsoft Expression Encoder


After that is done, here's the process I use:

1) Open the MKV in MKVmerge and uncheck the audio track and all subtitle tracks. Set the height and width for video track to the actual height and width of the MKV movie. Then save MKV to a new file which now only contains a video track.

2) Create an AVS file for the original MKV (with audio) and open that file in WMENicEnc. Uncheck the video option and select Windows Audio Pro 10 with a setting like this: 384 (640)kbps 48kHz 5.1 24 bit CBR. This will depend on the sources audio quality. You should at this point reload the AVS file to make sure it saves out the audio as WMA (bug in WMENicEnc?) NOTE: if your audio track is a DTS file you will have to convert it to AC3 first using something like Tranzcode and BeLight (Besweet).

3) Open the Window Media Profile Editor and create a new profile, for example:
NO audio (uncheck), Video=CBR, aspect ratio=1280x720 (1280x544, etc.), frames/sec=23.976 (29.97), key frame interval=2, bitrate=10M (10000K), buffer time=5, video smoothness=100 (sharpest).
(Note: I would recommend creating a new profile for each aspect ratio and/or frames per second)

4) Open up the new MKV (which now has just a video track) in Expression Encoder using the Import button. (You should now be able to delete the original MKV file as you have converted the audio track to WMA)

5) Load the profile you created. Uncheck the 2 pass encoding if it's checked and then select the down arrow below the checkbox--set the video complexity to Fastest=0. Since the profile has no audio settings in it, just disregard the audio settings in Expression Encoder. For good measure, you can change the Resize Mode to Stretch, but this shouldn't matter as the Profile should match your video's aspect ratio. You can now check the output settings to select where you want the WMV output to save to. Then hit the Encode button in Expression Encoder.

6) Now use Windows Media Stream Editor to create a new file. Since Expression Encoder does not publish 5.1 audio, you will open the newly encoded WMV in the Stream Editor and then select the video track (you shouldn't have an audio track in the output file). Then open the 5.1 WMA you made with WMENicEnc. Select the audio track from the WMA file. Create the new file with the selected video and audio tracks.

You should now have a 720p (544p) Xbox 360 WMV-HD movie with 5.1 audio I have tested many conversions using this process via network streaming, USB 2.0 hard drive, and DVD+R DL. All of them look fantastic and have synced audio.This method has produced nothing but compatible, smooth playback, 720p WMV-HD, 360-friendly files for me.

Note: For a 2.5 hour movie, it only took 3.5 hours to encode on my AMD 3800+ with only 1gb of ram! The key is selecting Fastest=0 for the complexity setting in Expression Encoder. The video smoothness=100 and 10M bitrate make up for whatever video quality is lost due to using the Fastest=0 settings. The goal was to encode an mkv to wmv-hd file as quickly as possible while still retaining great video quality and a file size that is still reasonable to work with.

If anyone is interested in trying this out and has further questions, plz don't hesitate to ask. I know this has been somewhat truncated and someone out there might not be able to track down all the needed software, etc. I can post file links if necessary. Hope this helps someone!

Why aren't you using 2 pass encoding?

my last attempt to convert MKV gave me audio sync issues.
cant hurt to try this method.

Just for the sake of time But 2 pass encoding is just fine. The first encode I did with Expression Encoder was 2 pass VBR, 6000-10000K, with complexity at Best=5. Took around 12 hours on my 3800+, 1 gig ram.

I have found that CBR at higher bitrates produces a video that looks great, but I know file size will be larger. Not an issue to me though. Also, the encode time was only 3.5 hours for the same movie! The output looked better as well.

Are you happy with VBR from 6000-10000K? I'm just not happy with the results. The VBR encodes at those bitrates seem to show more compression artifacts, whereas the CBR 10000K encodes I'm doing look more true to the source.

Maybe I'll try 2 pass VBR at 8000-12000K, wih complexity at Fastest=0.



yeah, i had that problem with other methods. so far i've had no sync issues using this method.

Hey

thanks for the guide, will try it out tomorrow , been using your moviemaker method which worked great with 720p videos , but 1080p i was having problems


Many thanks

Just a side note...

I have been trying other custom profiles and have decided to use Quality Based VBR with a setting of 95. I am still using the Fastest=0 setting in Expression Encoder. I'm also still not using 2 pass for the sake of time. The file sizes are much more reasonable with QB VBR at 95. This works great for converting hi def tv shows to wmv-hd.

Hey Bit

Tried the CBR approach, using 2 1/2 hour video clip, and got slighty out of sync issues near the end of the movie. Video quality was great tho and did not take very long at all

Will try the VBR soon

I know this is obvious, but did you check that the source was not out of sync? So Far I've not had any sync issues with dozens of encodes.

I did a 2 pass VBR at full quality last night. The file size was identical to the CBR 1 pass encode I did and believe it or not, the video quality was actually slightly worse with the 2 pass VBR.

I'm convinced that using CBR at high bitrates (10+M) is going to produce virtually the same quality as VBR. The downside is file size, which tends to be larger with CBR, but not always.

For TV shows I'm finding that VBR at 95 quality using 1 pass and Fastest=0 complexity works very well. The file sizes are usually double that of the MKV source, but the quality is great.

Jamrop: I have finally decided on some settings that yield great results at decent file sizes. Here's what I'm using...

2-pass CBR, bitrate=8000K (8M), buffer=5, key frame=2, video smoothness=100 (sharpest), fastest=0 (complexity)

This equates to a 21 minute video being approximately 1.35gb, which includes 384kbps 5.1 48hz 24 bit CBR audio.

This puts a 2 hour movie right around 8gb, which is great for backing up to a dual layer dvd+r. Doing a 2nd pass with CBR is acutually quite beneficial and gives significant improvement to the overall video quality. I decided to try the 2nd pass for CBR after reading some Microsoft documentation for WME.

Hope you have good luck with your encodes!

impimpin: no surprise, the 2nd pass is crucial. thx for keeping me in check

Thanks Bitwise, will try it out

Hey Bit

Started to encode now, but i am still not sure about the key frame interval, is having it lower better, or higher, done some searching, but no one really answers the question well

The key frame interval does not seem to affect file size and from what I can gather, it should be lower (default=2) for streaming. The more key frames, the easier it is to seek through the file when streaming.

Did you make a 2 pass CBR encode at 8M? My files are turning out great thus far.

how come it takes forever for me to encode it with expression encoder?? i have a p4 3.2ghz with 2gb...and it takes forever...any way to make it faster??..

Expression encoder uses Windows Media Encoder technology, so your speeds are still going to be limited by quality settings and your computer. For the fastest encodes, don't use 2-pass encoding and set complexity to Fastest=0.

Any idea what a different and comparable codec pack for xp would be? TIA

Alrighty, here's my current custom profile for mkv -> wmv-hd encodes:

VC-1 2 pass bit rate VBR (where the average is calculated with a wmv/vc-1 calculator). keyframe interval=2, size is set to "same as input."

I am able to perfectly fit movies onto a dual layer dvd+r. And even though I only set the bitrate average in the profile, the encoder goes up or down depending on the content. So it's nothing like a CBR encode. Yeah, yeah, I know most people know this.

Bottomline, use VC-1 2 pass bit rate VBR and use a simple calculator to get the average bitrate. Make sure to set the complexity to fastest=0 in Expression Encoder.

The results are absolutely fantastic and will look and sound as good as any other method out there, if not better. a 2 hour movie encodes in around 4.5 to 5 hours on my 3800+ amd with 1gb of ram.

Bitwise:

Downloaded Expression Encoder-used your tutorial as a guide-but I have a evodemux video file of approx.
22 gb from King Kong HD DVD. Have converted the audio DTS (renamed to ddp) & converted to AC3, wav & wmv using eac3to, tranzcode & wavimux. Video is in avs script which works in Expression Encoder. (I used the same files & script on my XP machine using Windows Media Encoder-which took about 50 hours to encode-wasn't satisfied with the quality or with the time to encode. Free Trial is 180 days if you register.

Not sure about all the settings-but will see-projected file size is about 10gb which is slightly too large for Dual Layer discs but at this stage I am more concerned about the quality & speed etc.. I have converted my video to mkv using Graphedit to dump filter-but for some reason Expression wouldn't let me imput settings from the mkv file I created or more likely I didn't know how to input the settings. I ended up with the bitrate set at 8M (8000K)-the other settings are as suggested in your posts-will see how it turns out.
If the encode times on the dual-core Dell are like your encode times-I don't care about trying this 3-4 times to get it right-even set at 2-pass VBR as strongly recommended by impimpin 206.

Any suggestions?
It would be great if you expanded your tutorial to include conversion from evo files (audio & video) for use with Expression Encoder. Thanks for your guide.

Bitwize:
Received error 1/2 way through the video encode using Expression Encoder-I really should not start encoding projects in the wee hours of the morning-error likely relates to ffdshow filters which I didn't remove as suggested. As well, I was in such a hurry to try Expression Encoder that I didn't realize that the encoder won't publish 5.1 audio which is a shame. Also, note that final encode of audio/video is completed using Window Media Streamer. Debating whether I will remove all codecs-filters or merely set up another Vista machine to encode & start over, as I use my media server for too many other things. Anyway, any suggestions would be appreciated.

Trying this method thanks for posting it I have 4 hours left encoding video in Expression then will have to merge video and audio, the settings I used............


2 Pass 5.1 audio same as guide.

CBR 10000 kbps video 1 pass, video complexity (0 fastest).

The file was originally 4.7GB using these settings for video only the predicted size will be 10GB, I have plenty of storage and plan to stream it so no external hd limits. If successful I may be looking at getting the movie on a dl dvd and tweak some settings.


Will keep you posted.

btw. the same people make "xp codec package" google it.

Cheers

results were excellent, just need to get the file size down now.

As I am not very much into Windows it would be nice if someone could rewrite these instructions so they fit for Windows XP.

I am using Encode360 at the moment but it takes way too long to convert movies.

Please help! Thank you!

I must be blind, but where do you set the smoothness in Expression? I see the compexity slider.

FWIW, my encode of a 7GB animated source mkv took about 12 hours on a Xeon 3GHz (non dual core), and ended up at 4.9GB with the following parameters:

1900x800 res
8000-10000 VBR
2 pass
WMA 9 audio (don't care about 5.1 currently)
Fastest complexity
keyframe 2

Surprisingly it looks fine at the lower file size, although I had another animated one that went from 4GB to 5GB instead of shrinking, go figure.

The time stinks, but the ability to just queue up a bunch and let it rip w/o messing with any scripts is fine by me. That said, for 720p's GOTsent is working 99% for me now anyway, so this is a 1080p deal only.

FYI vista codec package works on xp fine it is supported see google.

CCCP would not allow me to convert audio with wmenc neither would xp codec pack.

I did a little research and installed vista codec package on xp (codecs are multi platform) now works fine.

Hi
first post since OLD Xbox days so am a noob at the video encoding (£60 for Xmas)
giot to point 2 and an stuck



How do u create the AVS file??? i tried using the orginal mkv file and then I tried changing the file format to AVS and then I tried converting a seprerate AC3 to WMA.

Each time I got the same error with WMENicEnc ( it's too long and gibbery to copy out)

When i don't deselect the video options it tells me it "could not open input file"(mkv).

I have an Athlon XP 2600+ (2.1 ghz) with 1gb ram and tried the stickied method to convert a 7.6 Gb 1080p movie, got 50+ hrs into a 60+ hrs conversion to have windows updater reboot my PC through the night.

how do i create the .AVS file


i am stuck here to

Isnt it easier just to create a .avs script and use the hd movie encoding pack (use google) and that rips the whole movie staright into wmv vc-1 with 5.1 etc.

This seems to much effort for something that is fairly simple...

i am sorry but i dont understand could you provide more details?

maybe some links sorry i am a bit new

Hi boxer82003
Glad to see it's not just me. If you have any luck let me know and I'll do the same

I too can't work out how to create the avs file, I've done the same as above (tried to just change the extension) and get the same error. Any help would be great, thanks

Me too! I cannot for the life of me work out how to create an .avs file? Or what the process involves. Im thinking you use notepad?

Anyone willing a step by step guide for this bit for us newbies? Any help is going to be much appreciated.

Regards,

Chris

OK for anyone who dosent know, I think I just dicoverd how.

Go to notepad, type in:

DirectShowSource("c:\Path_And_Filename.avi") but obviously change the bit in the middle to where every your video clip is and save the file as say "toughguy.avs"

and I think thats it! Probably completely wrong, but the software is encoding something!

Bitwize: A question for you -

On step 2 of your guide, you recommend to use WMNicEnc to extract audio from the mkv file and encode it to WMA. Whenever I choose an encode type of 5.1, e.g. 640 kbps 48kHz 5.1 24 bit CBR, WMNicEnc throws an error straight after clicking the Encode button. Choosing the Multi-pass Encoding option makes no difference. The only Audio options that work are the 2-channel selections, resulting in stereo-only WMA Audio. I am certain the my source files all have 5.1 channel audio. Below is the .avs script that I am using:

DirectShowSource("H:\My Movies\English\BeautyOfJapan.mkv")

The error reported in WMNicEnc is:
FAILED(hr=oxc00d0bc6) in converter.Initial( EncParams.szIn, FALSE, EncParams.szOut, EncParams.pProfile, FALSE, TRUE, FALSE, -1).

With regards to DTS...

As long as you select the correct channels in the AC3filter (I leave 'AS IS' and 24bit) you can use AviSynth to pass the audio through to WMNicEnc with no problems! Saves messing around with other programs!

Where i can finde the download from Codec Removal Tool 2.12?
I cant find it

Same Skip, I was wondering the same thing.

OK i use K-Lite Codec Tweak Tool 2.28 now to remove the broken codecs.
The result from the howto is very fine and fast.

I am going absolutely nuts, I have tried to remove all the codecs possible and Nic's WMEnc is giving me the same error



I used CodecTweakTool228 around 50 times, I manually uninstalled every program I can find that has a codec and I still have this damn error message.

Someone please help lol

I wrote this conversionmethod in another thread. Very easy solution, drag and drop the files you want to convert.

Works with DTS.

http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?s=&...t&p=4367557