Request: Change order of audio and subtitle streams

[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]

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

In the meanwhile there's no such option in MakeMKV, this is the best way to go.

[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]

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.

[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]

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]

+1 for me too, would be great change to other audio or set different subtitle active...
Christian

[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]

+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]

+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]

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]

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]

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]

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).

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.

[_r0lZ]

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.