Another “Convert MKV x264 to WMV for the Xbox 360″
Posted by walsh_r on 07 Feb 2008 at 12:24 pm | Tagged as: Media Center, Multimedia, Xbox 360
Thanks to Chris Lynch for helping to refine the MKV to WMV conversion method. His original thread from xbox-scene.com can be found here.
Click here to download the guide by Chris Lynch in PDF format.
This guide demonstrates a very polished method of converting MKV files into WMV-HD video files with 5.1 audio surround sound, using Windows XP or Windows Vista. This guide accomodates multiple types of audio sources (AC3, DTS, etc), where older conversion methods failed in the past.
Background from previous article…
The Xbox 360 was officially released by Microsoft on May 12, 2005, as a 7th generation gaming console, and network ready media center extender. The hardware capabilities of the Xbox 360 make it the best high definition video player on the market for its price. However, the software limitations imposed upon that hardware by Microsoft leave much to be desired by users hoping to to consolidate their living room multimedia equipment into one box. Originally, the biggest fall back of those limitations is by far the lacking support for any digital video file support other than WMV. The majority of internet available digital video content is not in WMV format.
Recent updates via Xbox live have enabled support for .avi and .divx files. However, the current popular format for internet digital high definition video content is Matroska video (MKV). MKV container files include x264 HD video content (720p, 1080i, and 1080p), along with 5.1 AC3 or DTS audio. The Xbox 360’s software limitations prevent it from being able to display MKV HD video files. MKV playback is not natively supported on the Xbox 360.
**An update to this tutorial. I’ve been leaving the frame rate as detected by the source (instead of switching it to 24FPS) and haven’t had a single FPS or lag related issue.
Great tutorial but I cannot download your output formats in the pdf. Anyway you can get them to me?
Like Mike Said there are no links in the PDF document
Thanks for letting me know. I’ll get you the links ASAP.
Thanks for the great guide.
I’ve followed it step by step,but I have the same problem as described in page6 (http://www.ryanwalsh.ca/blog/?p=6) the new encoded video is choppy.
Instead if I encode whit “Encode360″ the result is good without problems (but with this method I have less controls).
I’ve seen that when I encode with “tmpgenc”, on the lower right of the screen appear two Haali media splitter icons, instead whit “Encode360″, only one icon appear. I have a PC with Windows XP SP2. Thanks a lot.
I can’t seem to get the link for downloading your templates to work. Is there anyway you could send them to me?
thx in advance
Also need the templates mentioned in the PDF. Can you email them to me?
also have everything except your templates
thanks
link to templates or email templates would be much appreciated.
http://www.ryanwalsh.ca/downloads/files/templates.zip
There you go guys!
hm.. thanks for the tut. this is a miracle lifesaver, i have king-kong in mkv with dts 5.1 at 1080p…. stright fmro my old HD-DVD disk…
ahwen i follow teh instructions i calculate the output to about 8GB from a 17 GB original file, Video bitrate is cut in half (6000 kbps) for video with an upper limit max bitrate of 12000 at 2-pass VBR. the audio is in 1 pass CBr at 440 instead of 768.
Again thanks, but this is a problem i am coming across… please help ->
The movie is about 3 hours long and which is why i cut the output size to half to save space and its with minimal to unnoticeable quality loss at such a high res, but heres my problem….
when encoding after about 24 hours straight it gets to the 50% mark and begins to slow down WAY too much and then the “time left to finish amount” begins to rise and rise and rise consistently, i so far had it running for 3 days straight its now at 69 percent, why is this happening?
Please help! Thanks again!
This is a great guide, But im stuck.
When i try and import the video into TMPGenc It won’t open the video. It says the video cannot be opened, only the audio. THen it doesn’t do anything.
this is the details of my video
ViDEO.CODEC…: x264
FRAMERATE…..: 23.976
BiTRATE…….: 5397kbps
RESOLUTiON….: 1280×544 OAR
AUDiO………: English AC3 5.1 448kbps
Is there anything I can do to make it work?
Tried downloading the templates, but they are not working for me. The zip file says that the folder is invalid.
I have been using ffdshow with this method and the results are good but want to try COREAVC.Is there a reg fix file for COREAVC just like there is for ffdshow since I have heard on the chrislynch forums there have been some stuttering issues with coreavc.
I also tried to get the templates and get the same error about the zip folder being invalid. Can you put a working link for the templates please or can someone who already has them please share?
Thanks!
USE ENCODE 360, EASY INSTALL, EASY TO USE, KEEPS VIDEO QUALITY (UPTO 1080p) AND KEEP 5.1 SURROUND SOUND
I found the template [Xbox 360 720 VBR.txp4e] in this file:
http://www.ryanwalsh.ca/downloads/files/wmv-hd.zip
Hello!,
Good day!,
How long will it take (on a rather fast computer) to convert an full-lenght movie 1080p ?
well i tried this guide and had no problems just them time it takes to encode about 15 hours, i also tried Xvid4PSP it already have a profile for PS3 or Xbox360 with x264 i had no problem too, im just giving another option.
i have one question:
what is the difference between encoding my mkv to watch it on xbox and connecting my pc with an ordinary serial cable to my bravia and play the movie?
Worked a treat! Thanks
Thanks for this, HD films without 5.1 surround is just crazy. I am having a bit of a problem though. After setting the resolution & bitrates, I click Encode & get an error saying:
The selected codec cannot process the specified video encode type.
This is using WMV 9 Advanced and 2 pass VBR (average/peak). In fact, none of the 2 pass types work with WMV 9 Advanced, but the 1 pass ones do. The 2 pass ones work with WMV 9.
I prefer Aiseesoft DVD Converter Suite which can help me convert my dvd and other video to my ipod.
the link in your word document to download the custom format template for adding subtitles doesn’t work can you please post a new link or email me the file thanks
First off, thank you to Chris for the tutorial.
Does anyone know how to get TMPGenc to see a Vorbis audio stream? I have all the codecs and such but it tells me there is no audio stream.
TIA
Hey, great guide… worked like a charm for me but i need to get my hands on the 1080p profile, is there any way you could get that to me. the link for the ones you uploaded are not working
any suggestions for a mac? this is kind of a pre-pubesent comment i havn’t researched to see if there is any wmv software for a mac there prob is but hard as hell to find
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