How to burn MKV file onto DVD?

What burning software are you using? Most packages will allow you to create video DVDs and will re-encode the video to work on the DVD. This is the first thing to try. If that doesn't work, you can try converting the mkv file to MP4 using either of these two guides, then try running that through your burning software, as it'll be in a more common format. I use these guides to get MKV files playing on my X360.

I personally have always used WinAVI to create the DVD folders from any video type and then create an ISO in DVDShrink. WinAVI isn't free software. VirtualDubMod is free though and should allow you to convert the video into any format you want, but I've never tried it for converting to DVD folders.

Hope that helps. :)
 
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But then it won't be HD anymore....
 
But then it won't be HD anymore....

Why not?

Unless the software he uses down scales the resolution it will still be in HD. The only reason it would do that is because of size constraint but an hour of 720p video should have no problem fitting on a 4.7GB DVD.
 
If he wants to play it in a normal DVD player, it will be downscaled to 480p or 576p, whichever he uses, DVDs can't play HD.
 
I just did a test with WinAVI, it downscaled a 1080p video to 480p, no way around it either. The only way to get HD on a DVD is to have the file on there and play it in a HD player, such as the Xbox 360 or PS3. I think some players will play MP4 but of course it has to be a HD ready player.
 
Good hell! :?

It's been a while since I trancoded to a DVD. Sorry, you're right. I completely forgot and yes DVD video is only capable of SD. I just ignored the fact that the OP want's to play it in a DVD player.

In that case, you might want to get the SD torrent as it will be easier to transcode.
 
Getting the SD torrent will be a bit faster, indeed. Less to download, less to process.

The quality will be less than what DVD video is capable of though. If you want to watch it on a big TV you may want to get the best you can have on DVD.
The SD release is 624x352 or something in that ballpark. You're trying to squeeze that into 720x480 (assuming NTSC based on your location), meaning you'll scale up both the width and height. Even with today's smart resampling algorithms there will be imperfections. With the SA special there may also be increased xvid compression issues because it's 75min instead of the usual 60min while still at 700MB... you won't notice them on regular screens, no idea how large your TV is.
If on the other hand you use the 720p one you'll downscale from 1280x720, so every DVD pixel will get unique info. 75min onto a DVD5 will give you boatloads of bits per pixel preserving as much as possible of the HD goodness, while of course at the lower DVD resolution.
 
I use ConvertXtoDVD. I believe they have their own filters and codecs so it'll run out of the box.

If you have Vista, you can try DVDMaker. Note, I don't know which flavors of Vista will have the DVDMaker. Also, you may need to download some codecs. Only do so if you need to. I use these ones and use the "Full".
 
What you really need is a HD player of some sort or a cable that goes straight from your PC to your TV. I tried both and both work just fine if you have a mid ranged vid card and CPU, any less will result in bad performance.

Buring HD for a normal DVD will just nerf the quality into SD canceling the whole point of downloading HD content.
 
WD TV. 90 bucks, plays EVERYTHING (apart from DTS, but Popcorn hour converter easily converts to AC3, without touching the video).
 
WD TV. 90 bucks, plays EVERYTHING (apart from DTS, but Popcorn hour converter easily converts to AC3, without touching the video).

Oh yeah, I forget about that. My brother in law has one and it works great. I would recommend this option as well!
 
There are many ways to get the MKV on a DVD. Most of them are really difficult to manage, I list two of the easier ones here=

a) Buy the Solid MKV to DVD Converter -this handy tool is a stand-alone Solution for all steps necessary. From reading the MKV file over authoring a DVD-Structure to burn it on the disc, this little program can do it all by itself.

Although there is a trial which can be downloaded and tested, it will only convert 30 mins from the input file.

b) wait a few hours, I have successfully converted the South America Special last night and will write a simple and easy-to-understand Tutorial today in this "Technology Help" Channel.
 
Why all the fuzz... Downloading a big file, converting it for hours just for the purpose to reduce quality. I don't get it. All the people who have no proper devices to play HD video, just get the SD version and spare you all the trouble. The result will be the same.
 
No it won't be the same. The SD comes in 640x360 and at least SD-TV Broadcast over Astra (I can only speak for the germans) comes in PAL 16:9 which is in Pixel 1024x576. The same as a DVD.

Since there are more People with a DVD-Player out there than those equipped with Blu-Ray (especially those with the Players capable of playing MKV via USB) this makes sense.

Instead of interpolating the source and produce some crap, I am going for shrinking the 720p material.
 
Assuming it works, the little improvement of quality wouldn't be worth the encoding time for me.

But still a standard DVD player might have trouble with a video file that is 1024 in width. Standard Pal doesn't cover that. It's Palplus. A computer will play it without any doubt, but I'm not sure for a normal DVD player.
 
Mh, I don't know how the different width/height ratio is dealt with on a DVD. When I look up the resolution of my dvd vob files, it always says 720x576. So I'm assuming, that the video is really encoded at this resolution, but that there is also an information about the ratio, so that the player 'stretches' the source material to the correct ratio.
It's either saved distorted with a corrective factor on the disc, or for other formats than 4:3 the height resolution is downscaled.
 
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