Watching TV Without Cable: Transcoding

Again, let me begin by saying that Mobile • Local • Social does not endorse illegal or unauthorized file-sharing, the use of BitTorrent for any unauthorized distribution or reception of copyrighted or otherwise protected content, or any other form of copyright infringement.  The views espoused in this post are mine and mine alone.

Additionally, while I cannot vouch for the quality of downloads, a search of popular torrent sites reveals that more and more 720p content is in the .mkv format.  I do not endorse filesharing nor does Mobile • Local • Social and this post is not to be construed as any recommendation for the reader to engage in unauthorized filesharing.  This post is merely to demonstrate how to convert a file from .mkv to a format recognized by common media players that do not support the .mkv format.

Disclaimer aside, perhaps you have validly purchased Blu-Ray content that you wish to either archive or watch in a room of your home without a Blu-Ray connection.  In that case, you will need to transcode the content.  Transcoding is direct digital-to-digital conversion of one encoding format to another format.  For example, if you convert an mp3 file into an AAC file, you have transcoded the file.  It’s just jargon for “converting”.  The reason for this is not all media players can handle all codecs (alternately “compressor/decompressor” or “coder/decoder”).

One of the best and most common formats for HD content such as one would find on Blu-Ray is .mkv.  As stated by The Wikipedia, .mkv stands for “Matroska Multimedia Container… an open standard free container format, a file format that can hold an unlimited number of video, audio, picture or subtitle tracks inside a single file.  It is intended to serve as a universal format for storing common multimedia content, like movies or TV shows. Matroska is similar in concept to other containers like AVI, MP4 or ASF, but is entirely open in specification, with implementations consisting mostly of open source software. Matroska file types are .MKV for video (with subtitles and audio)”

What this format allows is chapters and subtitles, like one would find on a DVD or Blu-Ray disc, along with a multitude of other features.  It also takes up less room than .vob files.  Because of this, it is a format that is gaining traction.  However, neither the XBox 360 nor the PlayStation 3 recognize .mkv files.  And here is where transcoding fits in.

On the Mac platform, the go-to program for transcoding is HandBrake.  It is open-source, GPL-licensed, able to take advantage of multi-threading processors, and most importantly – it’s free.  Because of this, if you are running a Mac, you probably have Handbrake; if not, you can download it here.  It is useful for a lot of things.

On the Windows side, after scouring the internet for freeware, shareware, and generally skeevyware transcoders, I have found the best .mkv transcoder to be (aptly-named) “mkv2vob”, available for free download here.

Granted, I don’t have Windows 7 running on my MacBook Pro, so the comparison involved using MKV2VOB a Sony VAIO Core2Duo with T8100 cores running at 2.1Ghz, 4GB of RAM, on Windows 7 (64-bit).  I tested HandBrake on a MacBook Pro (5th Gen) Core2Duo running at 2.4Ghz, 4GB of RAM on Snow Leopard.  Suffice it to say, it was no contest at all.

HandBrake is useful for converting DVD files to iPod formats like x264.  However, as always, it is pretty darn slow.  Converting a 1GB .mkv file holding 44 minutes of 720p video and AC3 Dolby sound to .x264 and 2-channel AAC took over an hour with HandBrake.  However, transcoding the same file on the VAIO using MKV2VOB took less than ten minutes.

I might also add that for prospective iPad buyers who don’t want to be locked into buying content from Apple, knowing how to get content onto the iPad that is not already in a readable format is vital to having the best possible experience.  I’ve tried watching video on the iPod classic, the iPhone, and the Zune 120.  It’s barely tolerable to watch a single episode on such a small screen as the iPhone.

However, the 9.7″ iPad screen practically screams to be used to watch content.  Ostensibly, an argument can be made that if you’re already paying for cable and DVR service, then downloading TV episodes of broadcast content is not really a copyright violation as space-shifting and time-shifting both may constitute “fair use”.  Of course, if you are not paying for cable, downloading TV episodes from a torrent is illegal.  But for the former, transcoding last night’s episode to watch on the iPad may be worth the dollar saved from downloading it from iTunes.

Ultimately, MKV2VOB wins.  It does one thing and it does it reasonably well and for free.

Is MKV2VOB perfect? No.  The sound is only 2 channel as opposed to Dolby 5.1 or DTS.  But consider what you may be using it for – watching a video on a laptop during a transcontinental flight or on an iPod during your commute.  Additionally, it’s free.  If you don’t like it, uninstall it.  You’re not out any money.  As it stands now, however, when I travel to California at the end of the month, I will have my netbook loaded with TV episodes and I will use MKV2VOB to do the transcoding.