High Definition Playback Guide

[Warper]

Indeed I did. Here's the GSpot output for what I was watching:

https://pic.armedcats.net/n/na/narf/2009/11/17/wettendass.png

Stereo. Silly DVB-T stream doesn't contain more

Trust me, it sounded almost like sitting in a concert hall. I liked it a lot.

PS: I just checked the TG release. All the Segments are stereo, only front channels used. Technically the entire broadcast is 5.1 though because the lady talking at the end is also using both the center and LFE channel.

What a pity. Thanks for looking into it. Now i am officially sad... i hoped Topgear will use audio more...

 

[fendel]

If you want an all-in-one solution to what was described by Viper, I recommend the Combined Community Codec Pack. It's basically the exact same thing, all put into one installer and one package.

Yes, it was made for Anime, but includes every codec I've ever needed, and works with WMP12. It includes MPC if you need it, but WMP12 works fine for me.

http://www.cccp-project.net/

Just one installer. I've never needed anything else.

I second this, and IMHO it should be in the first post

 

[Dygear]

For the PS3, my favorite solution is PS3 Media Server. While I haven't tried it with this specific file, It is usually able to transcode most things on the fly.

Yeah, the reason I choose not to mention that was due to the transcoding on the fly. I just don't have the horsepower on the CPU to do that for HD content, so I prefer a already transcribed output and have the PS3 CPU do the decoding.

mkv2vob does a perfect job and then you can stream the AVI file via windows media to your PS3
Just tell mkv2vob to save as .avi or just rename the file. You do .avi just so windows would stream it. The PS3 will understand it's mp4.

You know, I've never played with any of the settings of mkv2vob, I read a guide that stated the settings that I posted and pretty much never looked back. The settings I used seem to be a catch all, they are not necessarily the best, but they work in all situations.

And for those of you who are not geeks and run Linux anyway: VLC is available for Linux, too. Look for a package named "vlc" in your package management or, if there isn't one, have a look at the VLC homepage.

+1, VLC for the win!

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/dq/pdf/tv/hd_summary_delivery_formats_v1_09.pdf Page 5

Thank you very much for this link!

The 720p mkv i have here says it has a AC3 audio stream. But it sounds like simple two channel audio nowhere near a proper digital audio stream with 5.1 channels. Can anybody confirm that the audio of BBC HD isn't any better?

I was hoping sooo much for nice roaring sound when the guys take their rides through the tunnels... or palaces

I would appreciate if anybody could give some input...

I don't think the original MKV had 5.1 sound, (and I was proven correct later on in this thread by narf, it's the first post on this page.)

The PS3 in its current form supports up to level 4.1, and tsMuxer will change that for you if you select it. Its much faster them MKV2VOB, it took 1min 8secs to remux the most recent episode. MKV in.. M2TS out.

Dr.

I've really got to try this tsMuxer program, I will admit, I've not heard of it.

Nope! All I had to do is press Triangle and do a manual search. Worked like a charm!

Learn something new everyday, I was going to ask if the External Hard Drive was in the FAT32 file format (because the PS3 can only read FAT32 on external hard drives, I long for the days of NTFS (Greater then 4GB file sizes) but at the same time I would take any linux format with real support any day.)

Couldn't have said it better. I happened across this thread and am truly appalled at Narf's smart ass comments to those truly asking for help. Seems that there is a very thin line between smartasses and dumbasses. Narf, you can choose which group you want to lump yourself into.

He is somewhat harsh, but harmless. Take him with a grain of salt.

So I'm looking for a way to convert ON MY MAC so I can watch on a DVD/USBkey on my Oppo/Xbox360.

Thanks.

I'm pretty sure people had posted mac converters outside of handbrake, look over this thread again looking for the string "mac" and re-read each post containing the phrase.

 

[narf]

I don't think the original MKV had 5.1 sound, (and I was proven correct later on in this thread by narf, it's the first post on this page.)

It does have 5.1... the only use for it is the BBC lady at the end though

He is somewhat harsh, but harmless. Take him with a grain of salt.

 

[renzo]

OK I hav e tried all of this ALL I want is somthing that I can use that will transfer the files so I can stream it through my PS3 or Xbox 360. I have tried to download all of these things but no DICE. CAn somone give me a step by step and walk me through it. Please somthing that works because the files wont play PLEASE HELP ME Thanks

 

[narf]

Tried getting the xvid version? Or the transport stream?

 

[renzo]

where I was looking fo rit but don't know where to look I just download with limewire and watch can you point me to it

 

[ediesbra]

Just to let you all know ConvertXtoDVD handles .mkv files superbly, I have a mate who loves TG but doesn't have a great connection or a good computer, so I do up some DVD's for him to watch on his standalone player and they work great.

 

[pepitko]

It seems that a lot of us here use an x360 or PS3 to play Top Gear on our HDTVs, could maybe a good soul (with fast PC, the right software and fast upload connection) torrent up an "xbox ready" and "PS3 ready" HD version of Top Gear, pretty please?

 

[Viper007Bond]

It seems that a lot of us here use an x360 or PS3 to play Top Gear on our HDTVs, could maybe a good soul (with fast PC, the right software and fast upload connection) torrent up an "xbox ready" and "PS3 ready" HD version of Top Gear, pretty please?

Is it really that hard to convert it yourself?

 

[narf]

As far as I could gather the main issue with the silly consoles is that their software isn't able to understand ????????.
Changing the container format takes less than 20 seconds of conversion, limited by your HDD speed.
Distributing two (one if PS3 and XBOX like the same weird conversion) additional torrents to save 20 seconds on your end sounds like a bit of a hassle.

 

[Dygear]

[...] like a bit of a hassle.

and entirely unreasonable for us to do that with the little time it takes to do on the users end, and the waste of resources on this end (hard drive space and bandwidth), it's not that hard to convert the file yourself, pepitko, try it out.

 

[Viper007Bond]

The idea is we give you the raw broadcast and you do what you want with it, not we encode it into 100 different resolutions and formats.

 

[fireball2000]

Okay, this tip is for people who wants to play the .ts 1080i rip on their PS3. There is NO NEED to convert the .ts file. You simply change the ".ts" file extension to ".mpg" and PS3 will play it in all its 1080 HD glory!!!!! This applies to any .ts file of course. Enjoy!!!

 

[Clegko]

Almost all of them didn't not work. Either a problem with video but most often Audio. However, I found a good one on my own, Thanks!

FFMpegX works quite well, really.

 

[gotspeed]

It seems that a lot of us here use an x360 or PS3 to play Top Gear on our HDTVs, could maybe a good soul (with fast PC, the right software and fast upload connection) torrent up an "xbox ready" and "PS3 ready" HD version of Top Gear, pretty please?

I got a i7 @3.5 ghz, 6 gigs of ddr3 and a gtx 295. If there is a real want for it i suppose i could do it. The only question would be would the 295 o/c'ed or the i7 o/c'ed be faster lol.
The only thing im lacking is a 360 or ps3. If some one wanted to find out if you could make a simple converted file that would work on both i could do it and normally at home waiting on release.
Im on a 6 meg comcast with 1.5-2 meg upload.
Sorry for any text speak posting from n95 phone can't sleep
If a converter like hand brake that can use a quad or better cpu reincoding is faster then real time for me and limited by hard drive read/write speed on a 1.5 tb drive.

 

[pepitko]

and entirely unreasonable for us to do that with the little time it takes to do on the users end, and the waste of resources on this end (hard drive space and bandwidth), it's not that hard to convert the file yourself, pepitko, try it out.

Sure, fair point. I was just asking whether it would make sense for the broader audience. I'm on mac and I'm trying the different conversion apps as we speak (mkv4xbox, visualhub, mkvtoolnix) to see what works the best. I'll post my results once done.

 

[narf]

blah blah 360 or ps3 blah blah

As far as I can tell all you need for the gaming consoles is a different container, no full reencode. No quality loss, couple of seconds to do it - limited by HDD speed.

As fireball wrote, maybe even a change in file name extension may do the trick to defeat the proprietary shackles of doom.

 

[jaydez]

Convert to iPhone

Convert to iPhone

New Guy here

I read the entire thread and did a search and can't come up with an answer.

I downloaded the mkv file and it plays fine in VCL on my 24" iMac. I want to convert the file to play on my iPhone so I can watch it while out or at work.

I tried using Handbrake like I did with the older avi files. The video is fine, but the audio cuts in and out rapidly.

What can I use to convert these files? I'm kinda new at this so a step my step would be best for me. Using free apps is also ideal.

Thanks for any help!

 

[coloradoSTi]

Sweet Mary! The original Transport Stream?!?!?!?

Of course i'm going to download it - but damn people - mpeg4/AVC seems like it would make everyone's life (except for weirdos on Vista or older... seriously, Microsoft? It took until 2009 to ship a version of windows that could play the open-format MPEG4??! You assholes?!?) much easier.

Jiminy.... a transport stream seems like insane overkill. (so much for my 2.2 gig file)