Make MKV files Compliant for streaming over DLNA

Many people get no luck when trying to stream a MKV file from NAS to DLNA certified TV or HD media player, but it does work for some guys. 

I wanted the capability of streaming MKV files off my pc on to my hdtv in the living room so i bought the Sony smp-n100 but soon realised it only plays mkv thru USB device and not over DLNA. So I promptly returned it. Is there such a device that will play mkv via DLNA over wifi or wired network? I find my DLNA can't index my mkv files.

Basically, with DLNA media devices(like WDTV, Dune HD Media Player, etc), there are certificates given to each product that receives DLNA approval. The problem is that .mkv is not one of the media options that are categorized because it’s not a sanctioned format (not like WMV, MPEG, etc.). Besides, MKV is a flexible container format which can store just about anything (H.264, DivX, MPEG, any sort of audio, even menus and subtitles) while WMV, MPEG is more or less complete formats so they know what to expect while with MKV’s you really can’t tell without checking the contents itself.

Anyway, the best way solving this problem is streaming .mkv while transcoding the file on the fly with media server like Tversity. Despite that, you may receive error message when streaming .mkv to the DMP (Digital Media Player). In that case you’re suggested to convert .mkv to DLNA sanctioned format, e.g. H.264 .mp4. The following guide tells you how to convert .mkv to H.264 .mp4 video with AAC audio included.

Download a free trial of the Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate first. It is a yet professional all-in-one BD/DVD/Video converting tool, which comparatively has better output quality, in particular HD videos and intuitive interface. What’s more, its deinterlacing function and merging, cropping, trimming, adding subtitles ability are what its many competitive products lack of.

Converting MKV to H.264 MP4 for streaming over DLNA

Step 1. Load H.264 MKV to the Video Converter Ultimate.

Have the Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate installed on your computer. Run the app and click "Add Video" button to load source MKV files. The converter works with MKV files encoded with H.264, Xvid, AAC, AC3, DTS codecs and converts any video thrown to it. It supports CUDA acceleration and batch conversion.



Step 2. Select DLNA optimized streaming media format.

DLNA applicable required formats include MPEG2, MPEG4, H.264 and WMV9. H.264 is recommended as a top choice for achieving very high data compression while maintaining good video quality at bit rates that are substantially lower (e.g., half or less) than what previous standards would need.

Here, you’re advised to follow “Common Video” to choose H.264 Video(.mp4) format for video streaming over DLNA. If the source MKV is 1080p or 720p high definition video, you may follow “HD video”>>H.264 HD (*.mp4) video to get best video quality and AAC 5.1 sound.



Step 3. Convert MKV to optimal DLNA streaming media format.

Click “Convert” to start converting MKV for streaming over DLNA.

When the conversion completes, click “completed”, back to the Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate interface, and click “Open” to find converted H.264 mp4 videos and then stream MKV video via DLNA t certified TV or HD media player for sharing.

Downloading all Disney movies onto Fuhu Nabi 2 and play for my boys using Mac

This post will give you the easiest solution to rip downloaded Disney movies to Nabi 2 for playing for your Kids, so that they can enjoy them anywhere they like.  

Just a few weeks ago my boys were super excited to open up their most recent shipment. It was the Nabi 2 Disney Edition Tablet tablet!  They love Disney shows and they especially love when they can call something as cool as a tablet – their OWN! To entertain them, I want to download their favorite Disney movies for convenient playback on the go. In this article, you will learn how to make it with ease.

To transfer your Disney movies on your Fuhu Nabi 2, all you need is downloading and installing Pavtube iMedia Converter for Mac  (A professional Mac Media Converter for Nabi 2). Overall, this program can help you extract Blu-ray, DVD and convert movies to Nabi 2 readable format on Mac. Please download it and follow the steps below to do your task.

Step 1. Run Pavtube Mac Media Converter for Nabi 2 and import source media.

Once run the software, click "Add Video" to load your video files like MTS/M2TS, MKV, MOV, TOD, TiVo, etc. The windows version is Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate.



Step 2. Set a Fuhu Nabi 2 suppported media format.

Click on the pull down menu of "Format" to choose "Common Video-> H.264 Video(*.mp4) or MPEG-4 Movie(*.mp4)" for Video to Nabi 2 conversion.



Tip: As the request in the beginning of the article, this video converter also supports to adjust the size. If you want to output 720P, just choose the “1280*720”. Apart from size, video bitrate, frame rate, audio codec, channels, etc are allowed to be changed as you like.

According to video testing result, for watching videos on the Android tablet, 720p with 1500~2500kbps is just all right.

Step 4. Start converting Disney movie to Nabi 2 support video format on Mac.

Now click "Convert" button to start encoding Disney Movie to Fuhu Nabi 2. When the conversion task is finished, you can click "Open" button to get the final output files and transfer to your Nabi 2 for watching effortlessly.

Backup/Copy Blu-ray Disc to BDMV with Pavtube BDMagic in 2 clicks

If we choose to backup full blu-ray disc to a BDMV folder, you are lucky enough to have an isured Blu-ray copy permanently we can play the video file inside directly on our PC or burn the folder to another Blu-ray disc anytime we like.

In general, Blu-ray Discs are easy to break and after we backup Blu-ray disc, we can rest assured of playing the Blu-ray disc without worrying about the damage to the optical disc due to frequent playing.  Here I will specify the steps of backing up full Blu-ray disc to BDMV folder in the hard drive in details:

Please first prepare a Blu-ray backup program capable of backing up full Blu-ray disc to a complete Blu-ray folder. Here, Pavtube BDMagic ranks top on the Blu-ray ripping, conversion and backup application list which can rolls off Blu-ray/DVD disc protection, supports loseless 1:1 Blu-ray backup and keeps all the disc titles and chapter structure perfectly.

Easy Guide: 2 Clicks Copy/Rip Blu-ray Disc to BDMV with Pavtube BDMagic

They provide free trial (no time limitation) before purchase; and you can reach the Mac version here.

Note: Before coping, you need to hook up an external Blu-ray drive with your computer, and insert your Blu-ray Disc into the drive.

Step 1. Run Best Blu-ray Ripper and import disc.

Click “Load files” icon to load your inserted Blu-ray disc . 

Step 2. Make 1:1 Full Disc Copy

Once loaded, click “Browse” to specify where to send the generated files to. When ready, click “ " icon to start copying your Blu-ray movie to an intact Blu-ray folder.



And it could take 1-2 hours to copy a Blu-ray to PC a depending on data reading speed of your HDD and source disc. After ripping you can click the “Open” button to locate generated files and transfer them into it or directly store it on your computer. The final output files have the same structure as that on the original Blu-ray disc.

Trial limits: Full Disc Copy feature can be used for 3 times only.

Tip: If you only want to copy the intact main movie without any recoding on Mac, turn to the guide to learn backup Blu-ray disc in M2TS.

Convert any Audio and Video files for Surface Pro 3 and Surface RT/Pro

The fretful experience of inability to play Audio and Video files on Surface Pro 3 and Surface RT/Pro will no longer exist with the help of an Surface Ultimate converter. Just read on.

Microsoft's Surface lineup just keeps getting better and better, through every iteration, Surface tablet has edged closer to becoming a true laptop replacement. However Surface has its own supported format as Window OS devices, which means there are still many video and audio formats that cannot be played by Surface tablet like Surface Pro 3 and Surface RT/Pro directly.

So we need to find a powerful Surface media converter which can all the videos and audios to  Surface tablets playable videos files first. Here Pavtube Video Converter Ultimate, is such an all-in-one Movie Converter for Surface device.
The program can not only convert all the videos and audios to Surface playable format, but also supports ripping/converting Blu-ray and DVD disc to Surface optimized formats.

Before converting, please download and install Pavtube Surface Media Converter on your computer. 

Simple Guide of transferring or copying Video and Audio to Surface Pro 3 and Surface RT/Pro

Note: BD drive is required for ripping Blu-ray disc.

Step 1. Once run the Ultimate Video Converter for Surface on your PC, import source media.

You can click "Add Video" to load video files like MTS/M2TS, MKV, MOV, TOD, TiVo, etc, audio files like m4a, wma, wav, mp3, flac, etc. If you want to rip Blu-ray/DVD disc, click on "BD/DVD folder" to load movie from DVD and Blu-ray source(Disc, folder, ISO).



Step 2. Select output format. You can easily find the optimized profiles for Surface: "Microsoft Surface Windows RT/Pro H.264 Video (*.mp4)" under "Windows" which is specially designed for Surface Pro 3 and Surface RT/Pro and supplies full-screen effect.



Tip: By click "settings" button, you can easily adjust the output parameters of the video. Remember the file size is based more on bitrate than resolution which means bitrate higher results in big file size, and lower visible quality loss.




Step 3. Click "Convert" button to start converting any video and audio to Surface Pro 3 and Surface RT/Pro optimized videos.

After several simple clicks, you can obtain available media files on Surface Pro 3 and Surface RT/Pro by this Surface media converter. Just have a try now!

Get MKV with DTS Audio to play on iPad Air, iPad Mini 2, iPad 3/4 smoothly on Mac

This article teaches you how to convert MKV movie with dts audio for playing on iPad Air, iPad Mini 2, iPad 3/4 with Mac OS X.

Blu-ray movies are normally compressed in MKV file format with surrounding sound – dts audio. (Learn how to copy Blu-ray with DTS 5.1 in all audio streams) DTS audio may not be the file type for iOS devices like iPad Air, iPad Mini 2, iPad 3/4 to handle since its nature as surrounding sound that requires multi-speaker to pull off.

Anyway, if you have MKV dts file you'd like to play on these iPad series tablets, this is a tutorial about how to convert them to iPad supported format, say, mp4 or mov.

At first, to get it done, it is not so complicated. you just need an easy-to-use third-party software to transcode MKV with dts to iPad Air, iPad Mini 2, iPad 3/4 quickly and smoothly. Download and install the App: Pavtube iMedia Converter for Mac.

It works well in converting MKV DTS videos to iPad supported video formats on Mac. The program is easy to use and produces excellent results. It will provide you an optimized preset for iPad Air, iPad Mini 2, iPad 3/4 and fast conversion speed. If you need, you can adjust video and audio parameters like bitrate, resolution, channels to change the videos size or to make it fit your iPad tablet best. In a word, it will make MKV with DTS videos fully compatible with iPad Air, iPad Mini 2, iPad 3/4. The windows version is Video Converter Ultimate.

Just download it and follow the steps below.

Convert MKV with DTS videos to iPad Air, iPad Mini 2, iPad 3/4 on Mac for playing?

Step One. Add MKV videos to Mac iPad Video Converter.

Click the "Add Video" icon to add your source mkv videos, or drag-and-drop them directly.

Step Two. Choose target video format.

Choose the iTunes supported formats in the "Format" dropdown list. You can go to "Common Video" or "HD Video" options to find what you like. I think MP4 format is better for iTunes.

For iPad Air, choose " iPad Air Full HD Video(*.mp4) for play with iPad Air.

For watching on iPad Mini 2, select "iPad Mini HD Video(*.mp4)".

For enjoying on iPad 3/4, choose "iPad 3/4 (New iPad) Full HD Video(*.mp4)", or other preset if you don't need full size.



Step Three. Customize video specs. (Optional)

Click "Settings" to open profiles settings window. Here you are able to customize video size, bitrate, frame rate, sample rate(Hz)…all the specs can be fixed manually. A personal tip: the higher bitrate you choose, the better video quality will be; and you will get videos in larger size.

Tips: DTS to AC3 5.1 Availability - Set advanced video and audio settings.

Click on "Settings" button, and the following window will pop up, which enables you to adjust video and audio parameters including codec, aspect ratio, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate, etc. Here you set Audio codec as AC3, and adjust Audio sampling rate and Bit rate to fit your player. By the way, 5.1 sound is available in "Channels". I find that bitrate higher results in big file size, and lower visible quality loss.

Step Four. Start Conversion.

Go ahead and click "Convert" button to get MKV with DTS Audio to iTunes conversion started. After a while, you can find the generated file for iTunes quickly via "Open" button.

Now open your iTunes and then sync the converted mp4 movies to iTunes library for convenient playback on iPad Air, iPad Mini 2, iPad 3/4 or stream them to other iOS devices (iPhone/iPod) for smoothly watching.

In this way, you can enjoy your favorite MKV with DTS Audio on your iPad Air, iPad Mini 2, iPad 3/4 with iTunes wherever you are.

Rip and Convert DVD to HD MP4, MKV, MOV, M4V, AVI, WMV, etc. on Mac

If you want to watch DVD movies on Mac with high quality, read this paragraph to learn how to convert DVD to HD MP4, MKV, MOV, M4V, AVI, WMV, etc. on Mac for watching.

Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), a type of optical disk technology similar to the CD-ROM. DVDs are commonly used as a medium for digital representation of movies and other multimedia presentations that combine sound with graphics It consists of movies compressed in MPEG-2 format, allowing you to play them on DVD players and computer DVD-ROM drives.

If you are a Mac user, you may consider counting down hard drive space as well as avoiding video quality to be worse. Then resolve this issue, you need to rip DVD to High Definition video formats like HD MP4, MKV, MOV, M4V, AVI, WMV, etc.. In facet, if you convert a 7-8 GB DVD to standard video formats, the output video size would be hundreds of MB and if you convert them to HD videos, the size is often a little bigger but will surely decrease the video damage. So the HD video seems to be lossless compared with the original DVD.

To accomplish this goal, Pavtube BDMagic for Mac is a fast and fully loaded Blu-ray/DVD ripping solution that makes it easier than ever to rip encrypted commercial BD/DVD movies to any video formats such as HD MP4, MKV, MOV, M4V, AVI, WMV, etc., and enjoy your favorite movie collection anywhere with iPhone, iPod, iPad, PS3, PS4, Xbox360 and other devices. Besides, this program can duplicate Blu-ray and DVD video to backup with 1:1 quality on your Mac with original quality.

What is more, you can even edit and touch up BD/DVDs with an intuitive built-in editor for a better BD/DVD visual enjoyment.

• Rip Blu-ray/DVDs to virtually any video & audio formats without loosing quality.
• Ready presets for devices like iPhone, iPad, PSP, Xbox 360 and more.
• Convert BD/DVDs to be to edit in iMovie, Final Cut Pro, FCE etc.
• Backup Blu-ray and DVD movies to your Mac, Macbook, external hard drive and online

How to convert DVD to HD videos format (MP4, MKV, MOV, M4V, AVI, WMV, etc.) on Mac

Step 1. Run Pavtube BDMagic for Mac, and load your inserted Blu-ray to it.



Step 2. Select output format.

Click "Format", you can find many video formats in the dropdown list. There are HD MP4, HD MOV, HD AVI, HD WMV, etc. available for your choice.



Tip: The top DVD ripping software come with preset formats for more than 150 devices, such as Apple TV, iPhone 5S/5C, Samsung, iPod nano, HTC, iPod touch 5, Creative Zen, Sony, Sandisk, Motorola, Archos, Nokia, Zune, BlackBerry, iRiver, PSP, Xbox 360, PS3 and more.

Step 3. Change target video/audio specs (Optional)

If you are not satisfied with the default video/audio specs, click "Settings" to adjust video seize(pixel), frame rate, bitrate (the higher bitrate, the larger file size and better video quality), or audio settings.



Step 4. Start Conversion.

Click the big "Convert" to start converting DVD to HD MP4, MKV, MOV, M4V, AVI, WMV, etc. for storing on you Mac hard drive or watching on your portable devices.

Movies converted from your DVD files to 1080p will give great visual quality. The only thing is that the larger files with more pixels will result in much slower conversions. Get the Pavtube DVD Ripping tool on Mac to start your conversions today! Here is the top DVD Ripper for Windows users.

Read more:

How to Free Copy DVD to AVI Using Pavtube Free DVDAid
Make it easy to watch DVD MPEG-2 videos on HTPC
Upload music DVD files to play on your Mobile Phone 

The Hassle-Free Guide to Enable 2D/3D Blu-Ray and DVD Playback in XBMC

This article shows how to remove your 2D/3D Blu-ray and DVD protection and rip them into MP4 format for playing via XBMC.

XBMC is a free and open source media player developed by the XBMC Foundation. It is a popular multi-platform alternative to Windows Media Center for HTPC (Home Theater PC) use.

XBMC Supported formats:

Video formats: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, H.263, MPEG-4 SP and ASP, MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), HuffYUV, Indeo, MJPEG, RealVideo, RMVB, Sorenson, WMV, Cinepak.

Audio formats: MIDI, AIFF, WAV/WAVE, AIFF, MP2, MP3, AAC, AACplus (AAC+), Vorbis, AC3, DTS, ALAC, AMR, FLAC, Monkey's Audio (APE), RealAudio, SHN, WavPack, MPC/Musepack/Mpeg+, Shorten, Speex, WMA, IT, S3M, MOD (Amiga Module), XM, NSF (NES Sound Format), SPC (SNES), GYM (Genesis), SID (Commodore 64), Adlib, YM (Atari ST), ADPCM (Nintendo GameCube), and CD-DA.

Unfortunately, 2D/3D Blu-ray and DVD discs aren't supported by default in our favorite media center application, XBMC, and you may have the issues below:

I'm very frustrated at the moment. I just bought a blu-ray drive for my HTPC, and then learned that playing blu-ray discs on XBMC is somewhere between non-trivial and impossible. Any way to help me out?

In that case, we need to convert 2D/3D Blu-ray and DVD videos to XBMC media center supported format at first, then playing them on HTPC will be as easy as a pie. Note that you must have a BD drive in the first place to support blu-ray playback.

Then, a professional Blu-ray Ripper is the key. I found Pavtube BDMagic which aims to solve this problem by giving us the ability to store our purchased physical 2D/3D Blu-ray and DVD discs to local computer, hard drive then add to XBMC for smooth playback. It has a simple yet very easy-to-use UI, and has a large output list that supports various formats. The most important thing is it accepts my every disc, which Handbrake and Jack the Ripper couldn't.

Download a trial version and follow the step-by-step guide on ripping, converting Blu-ray (2D and 3D) /DVD to XBMC for playback.  If you are working on Mac OS X, please get BDMagic for Mac.


How to rip 2D/3D Blu-ray and DVD movies to view on XBMC
Step 1. Load disc

Run the Blu-ray/DVD Ripper for XBMC and click "Load files(s)" to import DVDs and Blu-rays. Note you need to have an external Blu-ray drive if you want to rip ISO, IFO, and BD/DVD folder as well as Blu-rays, DVDs are all supported by the app.

Keep Internet connected during importing.



Step 2. Choose format.

Although XBMC support lots of formats, I still recommend MP4 format as it's most acceptable by most devices, so that you can stream the converted video on other devices.

Click "Format" and choose "Common Video>H.264 Video(*.mp4)" as below:



If you want to keep 1080p resolution as source movie, you can choose HD Video > H.264 HD Video(*.mp4) for XBMC.

Step 3. Adjust output settings (Optional)

Click "Settings" to change video size, bitrate, frame rate and audio specs. You can chose "original" size to playback on TV.



Step 4. Start conversion

Click "Convert" in the main interface to start the conversion (batch conversion supported). After conversion, click "Open" which is below the "Settings" to find the converted video.

Add your ripped mp4 video and transfer this media file to XBMC, now just stream 2D/3D Blu-ray and DVD movies to other portable devices for watching.

Main features in Pavtube BDMagic:

* Full Disc Copy can 1:1 backup the whole Blu-ray/DVD disc with original structure including chapter markers.

* Directly Copy will backup 100% intact Blu-ray/DVD main movie with all the multiple tracks excluding menu.

* Rip and Convert latest Blu-ray/DVD to various video formats for playback or editing, edit the video before conversion including trim, crop, effect, etc, add *sst and *ass subtitle into video part and so on.

Read more: 

Rip BD/DVD to MP4 on Mac for my iPad, Apple TV, PS 3, Xbox 360, Roku
Convert FIFA World Cup Games TiVo to MP4/MPEG for NAS Sharing