There are several situations in which you may find yourself needing to do a simple conversion of the audio contained inside an MKV file only to find out it’s not so simple after all. Despite the fact that the MKV format is a simple container for holding a video and audio files (as well as subtitles, chapters and other media) there aren’t too many options for working with the pieces contained within them. Demuxing (extracting) the parts contained in the MKV file and then working with them individually can be a somewhat daunting process for beginners and requires multiple pieces of software. Lucky, if you’re only in need of a simple program for working with the audio tracks contained inside Popcorn Audio Converter may have the solution you’re looking for.

To get started you’ll need to download the latest version of the Popcorn Audio Converter from the forums at Network Media Tank. Once installed launch the program and you will be prompted to allow for downloading a set of conversion utilities to assist in the conversion of the audio formats compatible with MKV. This simple method for obtaining the proper conversion tools is a handy addition to the program ensuring you’ve got all the proper software to accomplish the conversion without having to hunt down and download the packages manually.

Once the download has been completed you’ll notice that the once red boxes for inputting the locations of the tools, in the upper left hand corner of the program, have been filled in and are now white. If you should download a later version of any of the utilities used by Popcorn Audio Convertor you will need to use these input boxes to point the program to your preferred program location.

This should take care of the initial setup process of the program and you should now be all set to start your conversion. To begin, select the original MKV file you’d like to operate on in the Source File input box, which will be red until a file has been selected. Next determine the target file, this is the where you assign the name of the final converted file.

When you selected your input file you may have noticed that the text area below the file input area filled up with details on the original file. Use these details as a reference as to what is currently contained inside the MKV file. Next select the audio type from the tabbed options in the upper right hand area of the program that you’d like to convert. Choose the format of the original audio type currently contained in the file.

Under the tab for each audio format you’ll find numerous options for the conversion of that audio type. For example, under DTS you’ll be able to convert all the DTS tracks in this MKV file to AC3 Dolby Digital format. You can also adjust the bitrate or remove the DTS tracks from the MKV entirely. The other format options contain similar conversion possibilities though each original media type will have different format options available for the conversion.

Once the options have been set, simply press the Run button under the file input area to begin the process. A new dialog area will appear showing the conversion process as the file is demuxed, converted and finally re-muxed into a new file. The process is relatively quick, taking only a few minutes to convert a single audio track from a full length movie.

That’s all there is to it! A simple program that does it’s task very well and quite efficiently. The options may be somewhat limited but for the specific purpose of converting formats that are incompatible with your software or hardware the program performs very well. A perfect example of a program designed for a single specific purpose without the frills making it simple to use for beginners and advanced users alike.

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Audio Conversion using Popcorn Audio Converter

Using the latest version of DVRMSToolbox from Andy VT we can easily convert an MKV file to the new WTV format thanks to the inclusion of an updated todvrms program. Why would we want to do this? Well, for those who use Windows 7 Media Center exclusively for watching movie content it means ultimate compatibility. Converting to the WTV format for those who use Media Center exclusively means full fast forward and reverse support, no more codec packages and all the other features supported by the native format. The downside, of course, is limited support at this point for the format in other popular media players. For those concerned only with the best Media Center experience, however, this may be the best way forward.

To get started download and install the latest version of DVRMSToolbox which includes the new todvrms and a profile to convert MKV TV shows to WTV.

Then give your profile a name and description and remove the extra methods that aren’t needed for our simple conversion. Since we don’t need to retrieve and save TV series metadata we can remove most of the existing profile. Those experienced with DVRMSToolbox can add other actions such as removing the original file and moving the file to an alternate location at this point as well. Save your profile and close the settings application.

Now that we have a profile to do our conversion open up the DVRMSToolbox GUI program to get started with the conversions. Determine whether you’d like to process a single file or a complete directory and select the appropriate tab. Select the proper input and output files/directories and our new profile from the dropdown box and hit run. Simple as that the profile should start converting our MKV to a more Media Center compatible WTV.

It’s also possible to run the entire operation from the command line though the DVRMSToolbox GUI provides a graphical interface that most uses will find much easier to use. Once the conversion has completed, that’s all there is to it. You can now open your movie inside Windows 7 Media Center with full support of the built-in codecs including Dolby Digital audio and audio support on first level fast forward. No more fussing with codec packages and settings.

Remember, there is slim support for the WTV format from third-parties at this point however and if you’re accustomed to viewing movies outside Media Center or Windows Media Player you may want to hold off on converting until your favorite third party programs add support for the format. This is likely to be a fairly popular solution for those who are Windows 7 Media Center exclusive however.

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Converting MKV to WTV with the latest DVRMSToolbox

Previously, getting MKV to work properly inside Windows 7 Media Center has required quite a bit of effort on the part of the end user. It was necessary to install a number of third party codecs, make modifications to the registry and tweak codec settings to get everything to play nicely. By default Windows 7 Media Center uses a new method for playing back audio video content known as Windows Media Foundation which replaces the older method known as DirectShow. Unfortunately, every codec package available to this point is programmed for DirectShow and doesn’t take advantage of the new WMP format meaning playing non-supported formats was a substantial hassle.

Luckily for us there is a small light at the end of the tunnel in the form of Divx Lab’s MKV project. The Divx Lab’s project aims to utilize the Windows Media Foundation to enable playback of the popular MKV format on both the main Media Center machine as well as extenders. Not only does this mean support for extenders but it could also very well mean the end to playing with various codec package settings to tweak the audio/video settings to match the output of the default Media Center playback.

Beyond enabling playback through your Windows Media Center Extenders, the picture quality of the Windows Media Foundation solution is incredible and contains complete DVXA hardware acceleration support. So not only is the quality fantastic but hardware acceleration will keep frame rates right where they should be without the drops that can sometimes occur with CPU intensive codecs such as FFDShow.

Using Divx Lab’s MKV preview video quality is amazing in full 1080p without so much as a hint of latency in the playback. There are still a few downsides to using the preview though. For instance, you’ll still be required to install a third party codec for audio playback depending on the audio encoding used for your movies. The newest version of AC3Filter is all you’ll need though and provides ACM wrapper allowing the playback to be passed through Windows Media Foundation as well.

To give this great new product a try just head on over to the Divx Labs MKV Tech Preview page and create an account. Then hit up the Project Rémoulade Apps group page for a list of downloads and grab the latest version of the tech preview. To get your MKV files to show up in the native movie library you’ll still need to install the registry fix for either x86 systems or x64 systems depending on the OS being used. Don’t forget to grab the latest version of AC3Filter Full as well if you need extra support for AC3 audio and install that as well.

That’s all you need to give this tech preview from Dixv Labs a try and get MKV videos playing through the new Windows Media Foundation system.