How do I make lossless selections from an MKV file?

[haggis999]

I have successfully used Handbrake to create iPad-optimised copies of some of my MKV files. However, I now have a different requirement and am struggling to understand if and how Handbrake can achieve it.

All my MKV files are lossless rips of my Blu-ray and DVD collection. Many of these are classical music recordings of opera and other music sung in a language other than my own. English subtitles are therefore vital for my needs (in addition to subtitle tracks for the language used by the singers). I also usually have both stereo and multi-channel audio tracks.

My current need is to create some short selected samples from my MKV files without re-encoding and without the loss of any of my subtitle and audio tracks. Assuming Handbrake can do this, what settings do I need?

David

[Devore]

Handbrake is not for that. Try mkvtoolnix and the mkv merge gui tool.

[haggis999]

Thanks for the advice. That saves me wasting any time trying to work out if Handbrake would be useful in this situation.

As it happens, I have already used MKVMerge for this purpose. What I was really hoping to find was an editor that would let me make my selections visually. I'm no longer sure why I ever thought Handbrake would do such a thing!

David

[Deleted User 13735]

Might want to take the VideoRedo TVSuite trial for a test drive (if your on Windows).

[haggis999]

Thanks for the suggestion and apologies for not making it clear that I was a Windows 7 user. I will give it a try but some Googling on the capabilities of VideoRedo TVSuite suggests that it does not offer support for MKV files. MKV files are also not mentioned in the feature listing for all three versions of this product.

[Deleted User 13735]

The original .m2ts files can be easily pulled from the MKV, if you're able to go the extra step.

[JackNF]

FYI, VideoReDo TV Suite 4 does in fact support reading and writing MKV files. It's not as robust as their MP4 container support, but it's good enough for simple cutting and remuxing.

Unfortunately it still probably won't do the job for you. Subtitle support is strictly teletext and closed captioning so subs from DVD/Blu-ray rips are useless if simply copied as-is without further processing. Multiple audio stream support is still somewhat experimental and disabled be default unless you dig through some advanced settings to specifically turn it on. Even then, if any of those audio tracks are DTS then you'll be out of luck as DTS is completely unsupported due to licensing issues.

[haggis999]

The requirement stated in my OP arises as a result of me giving regular talks to a classical music society. I usually present several carefully chosen extracts from my opera, ballet or concert Blu-ray recordings. Up to now I have just used the original disks, which are a pain to navigate quickly, but I'm trying to find a much slicker solution based on the MKV rips I am making for my own purposes at home.

Up to now, I have assumed that I need to edit my MKV files to create the required extracts but I have just realised that I have another potential solution (one which appears all the more attractive as I struggle to find a suitable editor). If I note down in advance the precise times for the start and end of each selection I could simply use the position slider in whichever Android or iOS app I use for playback control to move quickly to each cue point within each of my existing MKV files. This is not as slick as having much shorter extract files but is still a major improvement on juggling silver disks.

That said, I would still like to find an editor that does what I want but perhaps it doesn't exist yet...

[Deleted User 13735]

Thanks for the clarity, JackNF.
I've only played with the VRD TVSuite trial, since most of my performances (musical theater) are on widescreen DVDs, and no need for subs or multiple audio tracks.
My 2000-2010 producer's highlight reel was done all in VRD Plus, by clipping individual numbers from discs and queuing them back in VRD interspersed with new titles made in Vegas Pro. Audio norming was done with Toneboosters. Came out quite nice, and only took a day and a half to complete.

VRD is king in my house.