How to use .MKV and .ISO with Premiere Pro? They are not supported.

[msp1518]

Hi all. My brother in-law sent us two .mkv videos and a DVD .iso he wants me to use in a video I am cutting for him. The only trouble is, I've no idea how to get them into a format PremPro can handle.

I've searched and the only solutions I have found are infinitely complicated for me. Avisynth is certainly beyond me.

Anyone know of a way to convert .mkv (info lists 942x720 H.264 4:2:0 YUV MPEG4 AVC) into something useable?

Same question for an ISO file.

Thanks much

By the way, this is not for anything 'important' nor am I getting paid, so I have no budget tp purchase software. I am sure there must be a free solution.

I tried this trial version software...

http://www.moyea.com/import-flv/

But it would NOT install. It just errored in a loop and was unable to find or understand I have CS5 PremPro.

[Harm_Millaard]

For the .ISO first burn it to disk and then copy the .VOB files to your hard disk and import those into your project. Notice this will only work if the .ISO is FULLY DVD compliant. If not, then you have to figure out your own approach. For the Matroska files, I haven't the faintest idea.

The best approach however is to ask your brother in law for the source material, since Matroska and ISO are not meant to be edited.

[msp1518]

Hey there, Harn. Unfortunatelty, that is all he has. I explained this makes it difficult, but he lost the source material.

For the mkv I just found a freware that supposedly does not put a watermark on the video so I am testing it out.

As for the iso... Fully dvd compliant/ No idea. guess I will find out.

[Ann Bens]

No need to burn the iso to disk. Extract with winzip or winrar.

[msp1518]

You've lost me. How do I extract and what am I extracting? I've never heard of the use of Winzip/rar with an iso file.

[Harm_Millaard]

Try with PowerISO

[DeeJay Lyon]

Use VLC to transcode (no audio or video recompression) MKV to TS and that will import in CS5.

[Jeff Bellune]

Off-topic replys branched and moved.  Use the link at the top of this thread.  Or this one:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/4360196#4360196

Jeff

EDIT:  EuroSiti did offer this workaround for the OP:

Here's a workaround:

Use the freeware tool Avidemux to extract the H.264 AVC video stream from the MKV container.

Hopefully Premiere Pro will let you import that H.264 video file. Edit it and export it as a video stream again afterwards.

Then remux the H.264 stream with MKVmerge (also free). Open the original MKV file in MKVmerge and replace the old video stream with your edited version.

That way you may be able to preserve the advanced indexing and multiple audio+subtitle tracks in the Matroska file.

Good luck.

[msp1518]

Can anyone explain how to use VLC to transcode? The settings are endless and NONE look correct. Everything is about coverting and shrinking and that is not what I want.

I have looked into this so many times and cannot find how to do it. I know it must be simple, but clearly I am blind.

What I need is to take whatever is inside that stupid MKV wrapper and extract it. Transcode it. I have been trying for A YEAR now and have never been able to find a solution.

I'm on a PC and unfortunately, there are free solutions for a MAC. But that won't help me.

EDIT: One option I see is tsMuxer! But which setting for Output? I can choose...

TS muxing... or M2TS musing... or Blu-ray disk... or AVCHD disk... or DEMUX

To explain more, I have a Blu-Ray I purchased and want to add the audio from my laserdisc, since the remixed audio on the disc sucks (hard). I'll also add English subtitles. To be clear, this work is for ME for my own personal use.

Here is a screen grab from tsMuxer. Which to choose? I will place the audio and video in Premiere Pro. Sync the old Laserdisc audio up and then EXPORT to Adobe Encore to burn a new BD.

[msp1518]

I guess the answer is no.

[Jim_Simon]

I've never gotten it to work myself, and use other programs.

[EuroSiti]

Why is it so important to use VLC for transcoding?

And why are you whining about not being able to find MKV stream editors for Windows? There are several of them - and unlike the MacOS ones they are completely free.

You can do it in no time with MKVcleaver (you could install MKVtoolnix first). And unlike tsMuxer it won't complain about B-frame content etc.

MKVcleaver will demux the "stupid" Matroska file and give you:

- A lossless .H264 video stream file

- An equally lossless soundtrack file (or more)

- Timecode TXT files

- Subtitle files

I suggest you simply use MKVcleaver or MKVtoolnix to remux the MKV with the audio track you want to add. It's up to you whether you want to keep the original audio in the MKV file.

Personally I would stick with the MKV file. But you can use Handbrake, Freemake + Burnaware to burn the audio-improved MKV file straight back to an M2TS file / Blu-ray disc if you like.

[Guest]

yes, I use the same method to edit mkv video with Premiere Pro, but I not user VLP Player, I use FreeMake to transcode MKV video to Premiere Pro. it also completely free and works well on my computer.

[EuroSiti]

I also use Freemake Video Converter a lot, because it has some extraordinarily fast transcoding features that also makes use of your video card memory. As long as you carefully deselect all the toolbar junk that comes with the installer, you should be safe.

But if you are really picky and want to change video containers without transcoding (in other words: stream copy), or if you want to add metadata to your file, XMedia Recode is a great tool.

For pure storage purposes, I use:

- MakeMKV for lossles DVD/Blu-ray backups.

- Handbrake or XMedia Recode for editing/downsizing video files without metadata loss.

- Exact Audio Copy (EAC) for lossless CD backups & metadata additions.

- Audacity for sound file editing & metadata additions.

The next big thing will be H.265 (HEVC) and VP9 video encoding, of course. There should be a quality&size benefit even for non-HD content.

[josuemolina]

ADAPTER from Macroplant should solve this problem for anyone editing with an MKV (Matroska) file. It's extensive file support will help you convert to mp4, mov, or avi. This is good for both Mac and PC. Plus its FREE.

try it: http://www.macroplant.com/adapter/

[msp1518]

I am going to look into this today and will post back my results.

[Scott32112071by9w]

I'm aware that this is a very old thread, and I hope you know about OBS by now, https://obsproject.com/download.

This forum has failed you, I’m sorry friend. Once you have OBS downloaded and installed on whatever platform you're using. 

• Launch the OBS Studio application.
• Navigate to the File tab and select ‘Remux Recordings’ from the list.
• A new window will pop up. Select the OBS recording (.mkv/ .flv file) and click on the three dots.
• On clicking the ‘Remux’ button, the MP4 file will be generated in the mapped folder.

This is by far the simplest way to solve your .MKV issue I’ve seen anyone suggest, as I've felt your frustrations. I just searched for a topic, came across this, and had to respond to you.  

[EuroSiti]

Does Adapter have a Direct Stream Copy option?

That way you don't have to actually convert the video & audio streams ( = quality loss). There is no reason to convert the actual streams.

The video has most likely already been MPEG4/H264 compressed when the MKV file was created.

A really good conversion tool will allow you to simply change the file container without transcoding the audio & video streams again - plus it saves quite a lot of time if it's a long video.

TEncoder has this feature - and it's also free.

But of course: You still have to bear in mind that the MP4 container is much more restrictive than the Matroska container, so you might be forced to convert anyway.

Lack of MKV support is usually an indication of commercial arrogance.

[Jim_Simon]

Lack of MKV support is usually an indication of commercial arrogance.

Not again...

[EuroSiti]

🙂

Personally I think it's fair to say something like that every time others claim that "there's no need for MKV support"... But I shall stick to talking about Direct Stream Copy vs. transcoding for now.

[TheWallyDee]

I know this is an older thread but the issue still persists: How to import an .mkv into Premiere Pro?

Short answer - as far as I can tell - you can't.

But you can simply use a free tool called tsMuxeR

In tsMuxeR - click 'Add' to choose your .mkv file, then click 'Start muxing'.

That will output the stream as a.ts file and Premier Pro will be able to handle it just fine.

[Jim_Simon]

I use XMedia Recode myself to create Firefox friendly HTML5 videos.  No problems to report with that installed on the edit system.