[MEncoder-users] Converting mkv from MakeMKV to avi with mencoder

[securehell at hushmail.com]

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Hi Forum,

I know this question has been asked 41,200,000 times because when I
Google "mencoder convert mkv to avi" I get 41,2000,000 hits.
However none of the answers I've seen are working for me.

I have ripped a movie (Underworld Evolution) with MakeMKV because
mplayer was giving me errors probably due to the encryption Sony
used on the disc.

I now have a beautiful quality 720x480 which is just over 4GB in
size. I now want to convert that video and English audio stream to
AVI so I can watch on my Android tablet. However I've been
completely unsuccessful finding the right mencoder commandline
combinations. I either get audio that is off from the video (when I
rip the audio to a separate wav file) or the conversion stops with
messages like "too many audio packets in buffer (4096 in 7340032
bytes)". I've tried this now on two different Linux machines - a 32-
bit and a 64-bit system.

Here is some info on the MKV from mplayer that may help to solve
this:

[lavf] stream 0: video (mpeg2video), -vid 0
[lavf] stream 1: audio (ac3), -aid 0, -alang eng, 3/2+1
[lavf] stream 2: audio (ac3), -aid 1, -alang fre, 3/2+1
[lavf] stream 3: subtitle (dvdsub), -sid 0, -slang eng
[lavf] stream 4: subtitle (dvdsub), -sid 1, -slang fre
VIDEO:  [MPG2]  720x480  0bpp  29.970 fps  9800.0 kbps (1196.3
kbyte/s)

[root at localhost /root]# mplayer -identify Underworld_Evolution.mkv
MPlayer 1.1-4.3.0 (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team

Playing Underworld_Evolution.mkv.
libavformat version 54.6.101 (internal)
libavformat file format detected.
ID_CHAPTER_ID=0
ID_CHAPTER_0_START=0
ID_CHAPTER_0_END=585552
ID_CHAPTER_0_NAME=Chapter 00
ID_CHAPTER_ID=1
ID_CHAPTER_1_START=585552
ID_CHAPTER_1_END=740406
ID_CHAPTER_1_NAME=Chapter 01
ID_CHAPTER_ID=2
ID_CHAPTER_2_START=740406
ID_CHAPTER_2_END=937937
ID_CHAPTER_2_NAME=Chapter 02
ID_CHAPTER_ID=3
ID_CHAPTER_3_START=937937
ID_CHAPTER_3_END=1037403
ID_CHAPTER_3_NAME=Chapter 03
ID_CHAPTER_ID=4
ID_CHAPTER_4_START=1037403
ID_CHAPTER_4_END=1391357
ID_CHAPTER_4_NAME=Chapter 04
ID_CHAPTER_ID=5
ID_CHAPTER_5_START=1391357
ID_CHAPTER_5_END=1770602
ID_CHAPTER_5_NAME=Chapter 05
ID_CHAPTER_ID=6
ID_CHAPTER_6_START=1770602
ID_CHAPTER_6_END=2027526
ID_CHAPTER_6_NAME=Chapter 06
ID_CHAPTER_ID=7
ID_CHAPTER_7_START=2027526
ID_CHAPTER_7_END=2337502
ID_CHAPTER_7_NAME=Chapter 07
ID_CHAPTER_ID=8
ID_CHAPTER_8_START=2337502
ID_CHAPTER_8_END=2477809
ID_CHAPTER_8_NAME=Chapter 08
ID_CHAPTER_ID=9
ID_CHAPTER_9_START=2477809
ID_CHAPTER_9_END=2611275
ID_CHAPTER_9_NAME=Chapter 09
ID_CHAPTER_ID=10
ID_CHAPTER_10_START=2611275
ID_CHAPTER_10_END=2840538
ID_CHAPTER_10_NAME=Chapter 10
ID_CHAPTER_ID=11
ID_CHAPTER_11_START=2840538
ID_CHAPTER_11_END=2951315
ID_CHAPTER_11_NAME=Chapter 11
ID_CHAPTER_ID=12
ID_CHAPTER_12_START=2951315
ID_CHAPTER_12_END=3403433
ID_CHAPTER_12_NAME=Chapter 12
ID_CHAPTER_ID=13
ID_CHAPTER_13_START=3403433
ID_CHAPTER_13_END=3599796
ID_CHAPTER_13_NAME=Chapter 13
ID_CHAPTER_ID=14
ID_CHAPTER_14_START=3599796
ID_CHAPTER_14_END=3788318
ID_CHAPTER_14_NAME=Chapter 14
ID_CHAPTER_ID=15
ID_CHAPTER_15_START=3788318
ID_CHAPTER_15_END=3948445
ID_CHAPTER_15_NAME=Chapter 15
ID_CHAPTER_ID=16
ID_CHAPTER_16_START=3948445
ID_CHAPTER_16_END=4034197
ID_CHAPTER_16_NAME=Chapter 16
ID_CHAPTER_ID=17
ID_CHAPTER_17_START=4034197
ID_CHAPTER_17_END=4231594
ID_CHAPTER_17_NAME=Chapter 17
ID_CHAPTER_ID=18
ID_CHAPTER_18_START=4231594
ID_CHAPTER_18_END=4422618
ID_CHAPTER_18_NAME=Chapter 18
ID_CHAPTER_ID=19
ID_CHAPTER_19_START=4422618
ID_CHAPTER_19_END=4557520
ID_CHAPTER_19_NAME=Chapter 19
ID_CHAPTER_ID=20
ID_CHAPTER_20_START=4557520
ID_CHAPTER_20_END=4636632
ID_CHAPTER_20_NAME=Chapter 20
ID_CHAPTER_ID=21
ID_CHAPTER_21_START=4636632
ID_CHAPTER_21_END=4817479
ID_CHAPTER_21_NAME=Chapter 21
ID_CHAPTER_ID=22
ID_CHAPTER_22_START=4817479
ID_CHAPTER_22_END=4885881
ID_CHAPTER_22_NAME=Chapter 22
ID_CHAPTER_ID=23
ID_CHAPTER_23_START=4885881
ID_CHAPTER_23_END=5129491
ID_CHAPTER_23_NAME=Chapter 23
ID_CHAPTER_ID=24
ID_CHAPTER_24_START=5129491
ID_CHAPTER_24_END=5322818
ID_CHAPTER_24_NAME=Chapter 24
ID_CHAPTER_ID=25
ID_CHAPTER_25_START=5322818
ID_CHAPTER_25_END=5530692
ID_CHAPTER_25_NAME=Chapter 25
ID_CHAPTER_ID=26
ID_CHAPTER_26_START=5530692
ID_CHAPTER_26_END=5753514
ID_CHAPTER_26_NAME=Chapter 26
ID_CHAPTER_ID=27
ID_CHAPTER_27_START=5753514
ID_CHAPTER_27_END=6382960
ID_CHAPTER_27_NAME=Chapter 27
ID_VIDEO_ID=0
[lavf] stream 0: video (mpeg2video), -vid 0
ID_AUDIO_ID=0
ID_AID_0_LANG=eng
ID_AID_0_NAME=3/2+1
[lavf] stream 1: audio (ac3), -aid 0, -alang eng, 3/2+1
ID_AUDIO_ID=1
ID_AID_1_LANG=fre
ID_AID_1_NAME=3/2+1
[lavf] stream 2: audio (ac3), -aid 1, -alang fre, 3/2+1
ID_SUBTITLE_ID=0
ID_SID_0_LANG=eng
[lavf] stream 3: subtitle (dvdsub), -sid 0, -slang eng
ID_SUBTITLE_ID=1
ID_SID_1_LANG=fre
[lavf] stream 4: subtitle (dvdsub), -sid 1, -slang fre
VIDEO:  [MPG2]  720x480  0bpp  29.970 fps  9800.0 kbps (1196.3
kbyte/s)
Clip info:
 creation_time: 2013-03-13 16:11:22
ID_CLIP_INFO_NAME0=creation_time
ID_CLIP_INFO_VALUE0=2013-03-13 16:11:22
ID_CLIP_INFO_N=1
Load subtitles in ./
ID_FILENAME=Underworld_Evolution.mkv
ID_DEMUXER=lavfpref
ID_VIDEO_FORMAT=MPG2
ID_VIDEO_BITRATE=9800000
ID_VIDEO_WIDTH=720
ID_VIDEO_HEIGHT=480
ID_VIDEO_FPS=29.970
ID_VIDEO_ASPECT=1.7771
ID_AUDIO_FORMAT=8192
ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=448000
ID_AUDIO_RATE=48000
ID_AUDIO_NCH=6
ID_START_TIME=0.01
ID_LENGTH=6382.96
ID_SEEKABLE=1
ID_CHAPTERS=28
====================================================================
======
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
libavcodec version 54.23.100 (internal)
Selected video codec: [ffmpeg2] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-2)
====================================================================
======
ID_VIDEO_CODEC=ffmpeg2
====================================================================
======
Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 448.0 kbit/29.17% (ratio: 56000-
>192000)
ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=448000
ID_AUDIO_RATE=48000
ID_AUDIO_NCH=2
Selected audio codec: [ffac3] afm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg AC-3)
====================================================================
======
AO: [oss] 48000Hz 2ch s16le (2 bytes per sample)
ID_AUDIO_CODEC=ffac3
Starting playback...
Movie-Aspect is 1.78:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
ID_VIDEO_ASPECT=1.7771
VO: [xv] 720x480 => 852x480 Planar YV12

And here are some of my unsuccessful attempts to convert it:

# mencoder Underworld_Evolution.mkv -oac mp3lame -ovc copy -o
Underworld_Evolution.avi

# mencoder -ffourcc divx -ovc lavc -lavcopts
vcodec=mpeg4:vhq:vbitrate=6000 -audiofile audio.wav -oac mp3lame -
vf crop=720:352:0:62,yadif -nosub -lameopts vbr=3 -o
Underworld_Evolution.avi Underworld_Evolution.mkv

# mencoder -ovc copy -oac mp3lame -lameopts br=192:cbr:mode=0 -aid
0 -alang eng -vf crop=720:352:0:62,yadif -lameopts vol=3 -nosub -o
Underworld_Evolution.avi Underworld_Evolution.mkv
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