HEVC Support

[mkvuser1]

Can you please add HEVC/H265/X265 codec support?

Having HEVC/H265/X265 codec support would be handy for converting the audio for mkv files with HEVC/H265/X265 video.

For example you may have a mkv with HEVC/H265/X265 video and flac audio
if makemkv had HEVC/H265/X265 codec support you could convert the audio from flac to aac

[Yugatha]

Hi,

If you search the forums, this has been raised several times. MakeMKV is not an encoder - MakeMKV is a transcoder. It shifts from Bluray / DVD to MKV (without altering the video / audio format), though, depending on choice, compresses the subtitles.

There would be plenty of other programs available to transfer from flac to aac - handbrake has the ability (also does video conversion)

[mkvuser1]

Hi,

If you search the forums, this has been raised several times. MakeMKV is not an encoder - MakeMKV is a transcoder. It shifts from Bluray / DVD to MKV (without altering the video / audio format), though, depending on choice, compresses the subtitles.

There would be plenty of other programs available to transfer from flac to aac - handbrake has the ability (also does video conversion)

Hey

MakeMKV does have various options to re-encode audio when you enable Expert Mode,
I dont want to re-encode the video just the audio, I know I could extract the video and audio tracks and re-encode the audio and then mux them into an mkv,but that process would be more time consuming that if I could do it in MakeMKV.

[Woodstock]

Audio is one thing - it is relatively simple. Spend some time over on the handbrake forum (forum.handbrake.fr) and read how complex the OPTIONS for various video encodings are to make them work on different devices. Quite often, the settings you use for one device make the video incompatible with another, and vice-versa.

Also, the moment you add encoding to the mix, you remove the advantage in speed of ripping that MakeMKV has. I can often rip several disks (as in up to a dozen) in the time it takes the same machine to encode one, unless I'm willing to accept the lower-quality encodes from QSV hardware.

There are reasons for the "best tool for a particular job" mentality a lot of developers have - Rampant feature "creep" would mean ending up with the Microsoft Word of ripping.

[mkvuser1]

Audio is one thing - it is relatively simple. Spend some time over on the handbrake forum (forum.handbrake.fr) and read how complex the OPTIONS for various video encodings are to make them work on different devices. Quite often, the settings you use for one device make the video incompatible with another, and vice-versa.

Also, the moment you add encoding to the mix, you remove the advantage in speed of ripping that MakeMKV has. I can often rip several disks (as in up to a dozen) in the time it takes the same machine to encode one, unless I'm willing to accept the lower-quality encodes from QSV hardware.

There are reasons for the "best tool for a particular job" mentality a lot of developers have - Rampant feature "creep" would mean ending up with the Microsoft Word of ripping.

MakeMKV can direct stream copy video(AVC,MPEG2 or VC1) or audio streams
What I would like is if HEVC can be added to the list of codecs it can direct stream copy.

I know that different devices need different video setting for them to play, but that is not my issue,
I can encode video with no problems, and play it back on the devices I require.

Considering that support for direct stream copying of HEVC streams will be needed for UHD Bluray, why not add it sooner rather than later?

Does Make MKV have any intention of supporting UHD Bluray?

[Woodstock]

MakeMKV streams whatever the codec is on the BD or DVD. If you get a BD that uses h.265, that is what will be streamed.

Are you thinking of Plex, which will recode video on the fly?

[SamuriHL]

H.265 is not a valid DVD or BD format. It is used on UltraHD BD but that is not supported by any ripping tool yet due to the protection being used. So you will not find H.265 on any BD that MakeMKV can rip today.

[mkvuser1]

MakeMKV streams whatever the codec is on the BD or DVD. If you get a BD that uses h.265, that is what will be streamed.

Are you thinking of Plex, which will recode video on the fly?

I can open a mkv with h264 video and whatever audio and process it though MakeMKV
but I cant open and process a mkv with h265 video.

try it yourself.

No I am not thinking of Plex and I dont want to recode the video, I want copy it exactly(direct stream copy)
I only want to change the audio, but since MakeMKV wont process mkv files with h265 video I cant use MakeMKV unless
h265 support is added to MakeMKV.

[mkvuser1]

H.265 is not a valid DVD or BD format. It is used on UltraHD BD but that is not supported by any ripping tool yet due to the protection being used. So you will not find H.265 on any BD that MakeMKV can rip today.

I am referring to Direct Stream Copying of H265 tracks, I know that H265 is only part of the UHD BD standard. Im not talking about taking h265 video from a UHD BD I am refering to processing mkv files that are on a HDD.

I dont think it would be hard to make MakeMKV beable to Direct Stream Copying of H265 tracks inside a mkv file.
a mkv file dont not have any protection. Plus Direct Stream Copying of H265 tracks will be needed when the protection of UHD BD is broken, I think it would be good to implement part of the code that will be needed to process UHD BD now and test it

[Woodstock]

Ah, you're talking about using MakeMKV stream files already on your system, as opposed streaming them off a DVD or BD.

Frankly, I didn't know it could do that. I only use MakeMKV with BD and DVD, because I have other tools to deal with the files once they're on the media server. Sorry.

My media server has NFS, SMB, and DLNA networking, Plex optional, so accessing content from various devices doesn't require MakeMKV running.

[SamuriHL]

Yea I only use it for BD myself. I knew it could handle opening existing MKV's but I've never used it.

[yorgo]

Yea I only use it for BD myself. I knew it could handle opening existing MKV's but I've never used it.

On a couple rare occasions, I've opened an MKV with MakeMKV to re-create and eliminate unwanted audio tracks.

I'm pretty thin on H265 knowledge but I would imagine that if MakeMKV or another decryptor can't handle UHD BD H265 discs, it would not be able to handle H265 in any format, correct?

Also, for my own edification, what's a H265/HEVC MKV? How were these created?

[Woodstock]

Several encoders out there (including handbrake) will read whatever video you want, and output h.265/HEVC encoded video. A lot of pirate stuff on the net is also being distributed pre-encoded as HEVC, because the files are smaller than h.264 video.

I don't bother with it because it limits what you can play it back on.

[SamuriHL]

Once hardware decoding becomes more ubiquitous, h.265 will be a very useful codec to use. It's great for streaming for sure. I've no idea what Mike plans for it in terms of MakeMKV. Other programs are starting to support it more and more so we shall see.

[MrVideo]

On a couple rare occasions, I've opened an MKV with MakeMKV to re-create and eliminate unwanted audio tracks.

You can use mkvmerge to do that.