Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

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ptr727
Posts: 46
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2010 4:16 am

Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

Post by ptr727 »

Hi

I would like to be able to change the order of audio and subtitle streams in the MKV.

E.g. I rip a BD disc, and the MKV contains the DTS-HD audio stream first and then the DTS stream.
Some players can't play DTS-HD, and playback fails because they use the first stream.
Some hardware supports DTS but not DTS-HD, the player does a software conversion of DTS-HD to PCM, instead of sending the DTS track through.

If I can set the stream order, I can set most generally compatible DTS stream first, and the DTS-HD stream second, and this will always play fine.
I would like to do the same with subtitle streams, e.g. set the forced subs as the first stream, e.g. set English as the first stream.

A further enhancement would be to let me set the default stream options, and forced stream options as a general configuration.
E.g. prefer audio streams in this order: DTS, AC3, DTS-HD, TrueHD, etc.
E.g. prefer subtitle streams in this order: Forced English, English, etc.

P.
delpinsky
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Jan 14, 2011 2:34 am

Re: Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

Post by delpinsky »

If you don't need HD audio, you simply "check" the core audio of the Master Audio or TrueHD.
Otherwhise if you want to keep HD audio:
try using MKVMerge (mkvtoolnix), it has a "header editor" you are able to modify the "default"/"forced" tracks (audio/subs) and even the order of tracks inside the mkv with (the second one can produce some problems, so I have using MPC Home Cinema).
No need to remux. As last option, with mkvmerge you can adjust the order of tracks and in around 10 minutes you've remuxed everything without re-encoding.

Give it a try and see if that can help you :wink:

In the meanwhile there's no such option in MakeMKV, this is the best way to go.
ptr727
Posts: 46
Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2010 4:16 am

Re: Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

Post by ptr727 »

Thank you for the suggestion to use the MKV toolset.
I do know how to do it the hard way, I am asking for a feature to do it the easy way.

P.
Chetwood
Posts: 982
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 9:16 am

Re: Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

Post by Chetwood »

And a hard way it is! The header editor does not change the stream order but only the flags which software/standalone players are free to ignore. Also, keeping track of what number a stream has when 7 or so subtile streams need to be shuffled is a PITA.

Also, I don't what system you're using but remuxing 40+ GB with MKVToolnix takes 30+ minutes on my system (USB 2 attached external disk). Thus it would be really helpful if reordering streams would be possible. Thanks.
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tjkaz
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2011 8:51 pm

Re: Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

Post by tjkaz »

+1 for me. Right now I have to switch the default order using MKVmerge, and wish I could select it right away using MakeMKV.
paulster
Posts: 200
Joined: Sat Aug 20, 2011 6:54 pm

Re: Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

Post by paulster »

I'd love to see this is well. It's a PITA to have to use a third-party program just to reorder the various streams after ripping.
moravec
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Oct 13, 2011 8:49 pm

Re: Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

Post by moravec »

+1 for me too, would be great change to other audio or set different subtitle active...
Christian
Sidrack
Posts: 47
Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:46 pm

Re: Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

Post by Sidrack »

Usually when I rip a Blu-ray/DVD to Matroska using MAKEMKV, I see the list of audio/subtitle streams, for example:

English
Portuguese
Spanish

But when I check the file, the first subtitle is the one from the list, as default, and the rest in that order.

I wish it was possible to rearrange this order, and make it possible that the first audio/subtitle stream is not english, for example, but portuguese and english not set as default.

I know we can do all of that using MKVMERGE, but it is going to take a lot of time even using a fast CPU, for several titles.

That would be great, please do if possible!
samtoy
Posts: 42
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2011 7:05 pm

Re: Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

Post by samtoy »

+1 for me to!

I would *love* to see this option! I always have to use mkvmerge to change the stream order.. which involves another time consuming muxing step of course :(.

So please mike, could you add this option in one of the next versions?
_r0lZ
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:02 pm

Re: Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

Post by _r0lZ »

+1 for me too! It's really important!

In the meantime, you can use a tool to re-order the audio and/or subpic tracks of a batch of MKV files, based on their language codes. I've just discovered it and it seems good, although there is no way to change the Default and Forced flags. It is called PopCorn MKV ReMuxer, and works under Windows only: www.networkedmediatank.com/showthread.php?tid=43845
robpdotcom
Posts: 86
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 5:58 pm

Re: Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

Post by robpdotcom »

MKVmerge's Header Editor should do everything you guys are asking for, without remuxing. For a few files, it will take just a minute or two (it takes just a few seconds for each file) - for a lot of files, there is no batch mode so that could take a while.
_r0lZ
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:02 pm

Re: Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

Post by _r0lZ »

Hum, not sure. Theoretically, you're right. But playing with the header editor is a pain, and very dangerous. For example, it lets you define several times the same track number, or define two audio tracks as Default. If you don't take much care, you can totally loose your file. Furthermore, as soon as you add a flag or a track name, it moves the tracks parts of the header to the end of the file, and even mkvinfo doesn't display the tracks info without the -v flag (and with the -v flag, it takes ages to parse the whole file). Many standalone players cannot play the modified files because they expect the complete header at the start of the file.

The batch mode is not really useful, as you have to manually define all changes for all files. There is no "apply to all" button. Repeating the same tedious task is a pain, and can lead to numerous errors. Some of them will certainly be fatal.

Also, I have noticed that changing the track numbers with the header editor is NOT sufficient to force all payers to use the first track. You MUST remux the file for that effect. (Checked with several reputed players such as VLC, MPC, KMP...)
samtoy
Posts: 42
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2011 7:05 pm

Re: Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

Post by samtoy »

robpdotcom wrote:MKVmerge's Header Editor should do everything you guys are asking for, without remuxing. For a few files, it will take just a minute or two (it takes just a few seconds for each file) - for a lot of files, there is no batch mode so that could take a while.
The Header Editor is no solution. It can just change the IDs of the streams but *does not* change the real physical stream order.

If you open such a changed MKV in mkvmerge or MediaInfo you will see that the stream order is still like was before.
Chetwood
Posts: 982
Joined: Mon Aug 30, 2010 9:16 am

Re: Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

Post by Chetwood »

_r0lZ wrote:In the meantime, you can use a tool to re-order the audio and/or subpic tracks of a batch of MKV files, based on their language codes. It is called PopCorn MKV ReMuxer
It does zip up the subs so they work on the LIVE SMP but it does not reorder the streams for me. I've selected which tracks to preserve as well as the preferred order but after muxing, the streams are in the same order they were before. Also, since streams can't be moved up and down manually like in MKVmerge GUI I see no benefit over it, especially as this has it's own batch function (CTRL-J).
samtoy wrote:The Header Editor is no solution. It can just change the IDs of the streams but *does not* change the real physical stream order.
Exactly. And as I wrote above, standalones are free to ignore any flags and might resort to playing the first stream(s) rather than the one you selected.
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_r0lZ
Posts: 16
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:02 pm

Re: Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

Post by _r0lZ »

Chetwood wrote:
_r0lZ wrote:In the meantime, you can use a tool to re-order the audio and/or subpic tracks of a batch of MKV files, based on their language codes. It is called PopCorn MKV ReMuxer
It does zip up the subs so they work on the LIVE SMP but it does not reorder the streams for me. I've selected which tracks to preserve as well as the preferred order but after muxing, the streams are in the same order they were before. Also, since streams can't be moved up and down manually like in MKVmerge GUI I see no benefit over it, especially as this has it's own batch function (CTRL-J).
Hum, strange. I've noticed exactly the opposite. Here, it reorders the streams, but it doesn't change the track-numbers.

Also, IMO, it is possible to force it to re-order the tracks by specifying the order of the language codes, but, as far as I know, there is no way to re-order the tracks sharing the same language, or to move, say, the DTS tracks to the bottom.

Anyway, I agree that that tool is far to perfection, and I hope a powerful way to change the tracks order, numbers and Default flags will be available in MakeMKV soon.
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