Convert .MKV video files to .m2ts for PlayStation 3 using tsMuxeR
Besides gaming, the Sony PlayStation 3 is an excellent device for high definition video playback. Besides Blu-ray disc playback support, the PS3 can also play high definition video files, which can be downloaded from the Internet. The most common HD video file format is currently the Matroska (.MKV) file format, which the PS3 does not currently support. The .MKV files however in many cases contain AVC encoded video with AC3 audio, which are PS3 supported formats. In order to play the files a simple process of converting the .MKV files to .m2ts files must be performed, but with the free tsMuxeR software this is very simple to achieve and takes only a few minutes.
Preconditions
- tsMuxeR software. Download from here and extract to appropriate folder
- Matroska .MKV video files with AVC (h.264) video and AC3 audio streams
Make sure you have some free space on your hard drive as a file with roughly the same size than the original file will be created in this process.
Using tsMuxeR
The conversion process using tsMuxeR is a very simple one. It consists of adjusting a few settings, which you can see highlighted in the screenshot on the right.
The video or audio content is not actually converted at all. All tsMuxeR does is that it extracts (demuxes) the video and audio from the Matroska .MKV file and wraps them (muxes) to a .m2ts transport stream format. The video or audio remain untouched, so the quality is not impacted and the process is very fast.
Perform the following steps:
- Open a .MKV file with AVC/AC3 content using the Add button
- Observe the track info for AVC profile information. If it shows a value higher than 4.1, then use the Change level function to adjust it down to 4.1
- Choose M2TS muxing as Output
- Click browse button and choose the name and location for your file
- Click Start muxing to begin
After a few minutes you should have files named filename.m2ts and filename.meta. Now all you need to do is to burn these on a DVD-R(W), and slip the disc to your PS3. The PlayStation recognizes the file on the disc allowing high definition video playback!
April 9th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Awesome! Most of them play back fine on ps3 media server. Some of them i had to use the Avisynth/MEncoder method to play them in the “TRANSCODE” folders or else the audio and video wouldn’t be in sync (again).
One other question though, when ever i need to use the Avisynth/MEncoder method to play files, it doesn’t show the subs. Do you know of a way to make Avisynth/MEncoder play embeded subs?
April 7th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Luke
Try using PS3 Media server. It will stream the .mkv file without having to convert it to .m2ts first. Read all the comments here. This has been mentioned before.
April 4th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Hi there. I want to play my mkv. anime files from my computer on my my ps3 via wireless media server. I used tsmuxer to convert the file, but after its converted, the video and audio become out of sync and it seems like the video is faster than it should be at times. I’ve been trying to use many different programs to convert the files, but to no avail. They all either mess up the audio/video timing or the ps3 just says the file is corrupted… What should i do?
March 29th, 2009 at 11:32 am
is the converted file supposed to be choppy like this? I converted the .mkv file with no errors but when I play the new .m2ts file in VLC (just testing it before sending it to the ps3) it is choppy as hell and there is no sound whatsoever. The file I converted was a Tri-Audio DBZ episode so maybe the tri-audio thing cant be ripped?? I dont get it…also why is the video choppy in VLC now when it worked perfectly as .mkv?
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:19 pm
I needed a way to convert MKV files on my MAC so I could Stream the movies to my PS3 wireless. txMuxeR worked perfectly, Audio & Video came out great. Took about 18 minutes for a 2 hour 720p conversion. Thank you for posting this information, I was searching for over an hour on how to find a solution.
March 21st, 2009 at 1:41 pm
I need to convert the file so it’s burnable to a blu-ray disc. Would this method work for doing that?
March 10th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
“qzq” This is sort of unrelated, but why does the profile of the video have to be changed to High@4.1? It still plays when I leave it at High@5.1.
since this guide was written the ps3 updates have since made it possible for play high@5.1
February 20th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
this is an excellent site, been using two days now, already leaps ahead of friends, thank u for your time and patience