Universal Video Format?

IMHO, MKV container wins hands down

Extremely universal with a low overhead. Basically any format Audio/Video Stream you choose to use it will support it as well as subs etc.

Its just far superior to AVI or MP4.

The only down side to it is Win 7 does not support it out of the box.
However, Sharks Codec will work if you wish to go that route.

If Not, all you really need is Haali splitter and your good to go. maybe AC3 filter too, just because it sounds so much better than Win7s built in decoder :)



~~The only way I know of to recode a Fullscreen video --> Widescreen is:
For DVD, Typical FS res is 720x480 and WS is 720X400 Anamorphic.
If you create a AVIsynth script and crop 40p from top and bottom, Resize using Laczos at 700x400.

This works, but it isnt ideal.
Youll miss a large portion of the image. Esentially your just blowing up the center part of the frame to create a WS look.

If it has black borders on top and bottom youll be fine though.

The handling of files and what you can put inside the container.
The actual playback will depend on the quality off the video/audio stream and what you are using to split/decode it.


By superior I mean it can handle pretty much anything you wish to throw at it.
If you choose MKV, you can have pretty much all of your videos in that format.
likely not so choosing others.

For example:
If you wish to have a H264 codec for Video, AC3 Audio, and Sub titles you may have issues with the MP4 container & likely AVI.

MP4 will require different splitters and and may not playback properly in all players.
It technically doesnt support AC3, although you can get it to work.

MKV will have no issue.

Another good example. MP4 is usually capped at 4GB. There are workarounds, but your pushing its limitations.
MKV can hold a significantly larger file size. Upwards of 40GB. Excellent if you recode HD video.

being reformatted to fit the screen

Mostly because they are using Raw Footage. They aren't generally ripping the DVD and converting it.
You can't do that with Standard Def to WS. Either have Black Borders, or Stretched and Squished, or you are zooming into the center of the screen and you actually will lose more of the picture that way.

They take a Satandard Def Raw Footage film that has the aditional content around the edges that get cut out for Standard Def. They are just re-burning it from raw footage with that missing content. My one theoretical way they do it. There is no other way, or you get what I explained above. You can't generally add content to make it widescreen.

seekermeister said:

Wishmaster,

Perhaps you can clear something up for me...in the article in this link:

Matroska - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It says:

LG has added Matroska support to Blu-ray players[12] as well as select HDTVs[13]

I can understand the compatibility aspect for players, but I wasn't aware that it mattered what format a movie was, as far as the HDTV itself goes...how so?

Im not sure exactly what your asking, but I will try to answer.
Are asking about the container (MKV) and LG player/HDTV support for it, or the codec to encode the video itself?

MKV containers are more suited for HD videos due to thier size they can hold.
If you were to compress a Bluray disc for example, say from 1080P --> 720P, Its still going to be quite large. Usually in the nieghborhood of 5-7.5 GB (with 5.1 sound)
For 1080P compressions in MKV, your looking at nearly double.

So in this scenario, you really can only choose MKV container, as a MP4, AVi etc will not hold something that large.


Many players used to support DIVX as well, but now that MKV and the x264 video codec are becoming popular, it seems they are headed that way for player/HDTV support.

Considering MKV is mainly used for HD content, it seems to me its a good call on thier part. As it will have far better picture quality being played back on a HDTV. It will have no isses holding a compressed 1280x720 or 1920x1080 video.

As far as the codec itself goes, H264 is maily what youll find inside of a MKV container. As well as most HD Bluray.

Its an excellent HD encoder, and standard resolution encoder as well.
Typically it can give the same results as a Xvid or DIVX at lower bitrates. And is superior at the same or a bit higher.

Oh, Yes any DVD player should work.

Some, can upscale DVDs to HD resolutions. It will not look as a good as a true HD, but does look quite good depending on the player itself.

All they are saying is with that player you can burn a DVD disc as a DATA disc, with a MKV file on it and that player will play it back.

Any other DVD player will work on the HDTV without issue, youll only be able to play regular DVDs. (or DVD & Bluray if its a regular Bluray player)