MKV2VOB Review (MKV HD Video File Converter)
Written by Rob Nichols on October 28, 2009 · Filed under How To, Review, Software
Being a PS3 owner can be fairly frustrating at times. Particularly, when you are trying to watch movies or TV shows. There are so many restrictions it can drive you insane. Yes, I’ve heard of programs such as TVersity which stream directly from your PC to PS3, however, unfortunately for me my PS3 is positioned in a place where it cannot access the wireless network and I simply refuse to have Ethernet cables sprawled all around my home. So what should I do? Well, a number of months ago I stumbled across a program called MKV2VOB.
At the time, I wasn’t too impressed so after not too long, I gave up. But just recently, I decided to give it another try after hearing about a major new update. And now, finally, I have the solution to all my problems with the PS3.
Basically, the program has several major functions:
- Converting MKV movies to other more supported formats (AVI, MPEG, h.264 etc)
- File Splitting for FAT32 or smaller USB drives.
- Transcoding audio from DTS to AC3
There are more but these are the only ones of real note. For me, these answer all my problems.
The major problems I have encountered on my PS3 are really quite irritating, but understandable. Firstly, due to lack of licensing from Microsoft, Sony refuse to have anything to do with NTFS or any other format for that matter. It’s pretty much FAT, or nothing. Therefore, this makes it impossible to transfer HD content across from a USB drive or external drive. Secondly, is the failure to support the MKV video format, which happens to be the most common format for encoding HD movie content these days.
When I first used this program to convert MKV, several months ago, I encountered a problem. A movie file that is say, 5GB before conversion, magically became 10GB afterwards. Not good enough. But after the recent upgrade I mentioned earlier, this problem is fixed. Not only does it transcode the movies faster than any other program I’ve used such as IMTOO and Handbrake, it doesn’t reduce the quality of the video at all. I manage to convert 8GB movies in roughly 3 or 4 minutes maximum. A 1GB TV episode converts in about 20 or 30 seconds which is quite astonishing.
There are several options when converting to increase speed or quality. You can decide whether to keep a high bitrate and sacrifice precious moments of your day, or you can sacrifice quality for that extra bit of time. You can decide on the output file type, subtitle options and audio languages. You can add either individual files or entire directories and subdirectories if you fancy leaving it for a while. These are just a few of the brilliant features that set it apart from its competitors. Also, a feature that I don’t use, but could be useful to some, is the ability to reduce the MKV file to an M2TS file.
In terms of user interface, it is perhaps not the most attractive looking application, but then again why does it need to be? It performs its task as a lightweight and stable application to the highest of standards. It is extremely easy to use and its progress is presented in a neat and clear way. Overall a great program for Windows and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for an MKV file converter. Unfortunately, it is limited only to MKV input; it would be nice if they were to expand the range of input file types.
