Anyone know of software to (easily) strip one of two audio streams from MKVs?

[LucasM]

The subject line kind-of says it all:

Does anyone know of software to (hopefully easily) strip one of two audio streams from MKVs?

While waiting for a Japanese series to be released domestically on Blu-ray, I got copies 'elsewhere' to hold me over.  However, the Japanese track is the 1st audio track (English being the 2nd audio track), so when I try to play it via my blu-ray player's USB input, all I can get is the Japanese track.  I have a program that allows me to translate from one file type to another, but when I use it, it changes the 5.1 English track to a simple stereo track, which is unacceptable.  [Watching it on the computer defeats the purpose, given that I only have stereo speakers here... plus watching anything on the computer agitates the hell out of me.]

So I basically want to leave the English 5.1 audio track and the video track completely untouched, but just remove the Japanese audio track from the files.

I'm hoping for something with a fairly simple interface [don't have the brainpower to learn something complex], and, since this may be the only thing I ever have use for it for, I really need it to be freeware (and free of spyware, obviously).

Thank you.

[BathTub]

Yeah it's basically what I use to make my HD Rifftrax, MKVToolNix for MKVExtract/MKVExtractGUI and MKVMergeGUI. At worst you might have take 2 steps to split the files apart into the video and audio streams, and then merge them in the right order. But it's incredibly easy and ridiculously fast. Seriously a movie merge might take 5 seconds to process. It may very well be possible to just peek into the MKV and flip the 'default audio' tags with these tool, but that's now how I use them.

*edit* yeah ok MKVMergeGui has a 'Header Editor' which looks like it should do exactly what you want. Just flip the 'default' flags without splitting the files.

https://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/downloads.html

[LucasM]

Thank you.  From what you say, it looks like MKVToolNix would be great: to not even have to 'do' anything but switch which audio stream was dominant.  But I downloaded and installed it, and it wants a registration code (for $47) in order to work on more than 5 minutes of a file.

EDIT: Looking at it further, under 'Effect'/'Audio' it appears that a simple clicking of a box changes the dominant audio stream.  But then when I try the sample-level function, what comes out is a single stream, and it is a much lower bitrate (128K) MP3 stereo instead of the 5.1 AC-3 640000 stream in the original that I'd selected.  When I then tried (for a different 'run' of it) changing the output options (under 'Setting'/'Advanced'), even with selecting AC-3 5.1, the highest bitrate possible was 448K.

[BathTub]

That doesn't make any sense, it's free (as in open source) software. I've never been asked to pay anything. What did you run that it asked for money? I just grabbed mkvtoolnix-amd64-6.9.1-setup.exe

[LucasM]

I installed mkvtoolnix-amd64-6.9.1-setup.exe on a Windows 7 computer.  It says, 'register to unlock functions' (eliminate the 5 minute limit per file, and get e-mail support), and when going to the page it links to, that shows a purchase price of $47 to register it.  [That page is this one: http://www.bigasoft.com/total-video-converter.html ]

Here's a screencap.



Yeah, I thought it was bizarre with an open-code program, too.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Looks like you may have grabbed something that isn't that program.

I think this is the official web site for that program:  http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/
Screenshots of the GUI don't look anything like what you posted.

What programs do you have already?

I amassed a bunch of programs like this when trying to convert 50i MKVs to something my TV or Blu-Ray could play, but can't remember the names, will have to wait until I get home to list them.

Now that I have a laptop plugged into my home theater I pretty much gave up trying to do this so I could play the files on the TV or Blu-Ray player.  Wonderful thing about a laptop with an HDMI port, attach it to the receiver and you can use VLC to play just about anything and get full surround sound.

[LucasM]

Looks like you may have grabbed something that isn't that program.

I think this is the official web site for that program:  http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/
Screenshots of the GUI don't look anything like what you posted.

What programs do you have already?

I amassed a bunch of programs like this when trying to convert 50i MKVs to something my TV or Blu-Ray could play, but can't remember the names, will have to wait until I get home to list them.

Now that I have a laptop plugged into my home theater I pretty much gave up trying to do this so I could play the files on the TV or Blu-Ray player.  Wonderful thing about a laptop with an HDMI port, attach it to the receiver and you can use VLC to play just about anything and get full surround sound.

That's the site I went to.  I clicked the 'Downloads' link in the stripe across the top of the page, then when the page it links to came up (same logo and page design), I clicked the 'Windows' link in the stripe across the top of that page (that link just goes down the page to the Windows area).  The download was there.

The only other program I have is 'Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate' (registered).  It was the one that (also) stripped it down to a 2-channel audio stream even though I selected the '6-channel' (5.1) option (the one I tried using first, with various audio-select configurations, before asking here).  I know the audio in the original is 5.1, because Media Player Classic-HD 64-bit shows the details on both audio streams (Japanese and English), and it is "ac-3, 48000 HZ, 5.1, 640 kb/s".



Thank you, BathTub, and MartyS.  I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to stop for a bit, as in 'not respond or proceed further' for a while, despite still wanting something to work.  With the mental exhaustion of the last two days, I've got an intense headache from concentrating enough to write these few posts, and the 'exhaustion to the point of feeling depressed' is VERY close to coming back.  [As usual I apparently expected it to be an easy process - easy enough for my brain to handle - but since my program didn't work no matter how much I tinkered with it, and mkvtoolnix isn't showing up properly for some unknown reason, and having to detail the differences, obviously it already is not going to be easy.  And with mkvtoolnix having a completely different interface on my computer, I'm now concerned about spyware possibly having been installed with it, even though I downloaded it straight from the source page. ]

[MartyS (Gromit)]

That's the site I went to.  I clicked the 'Downloads' link in the stripe across the top of the page, then when the page it links to came up (same logo and page design), I clicked the 'Windows' link in the stripe across the top of that page (that link just goes down the page to the Windows area).  The download was there.

Sorry you are not doing well Lucas, see you when you are functioning better.

If you linked to this site you probably clicked on one of the ads, pretty crappy that they used the same file name as the real download.

http://www.fosshub.com/MKVToolNix.html

Been there several times and some of the ads do try to trick you into thinking they are the proper download.

Click on the text for the version you want and it will be correct, current version is 7.0.

When I installed it the GUI looks nothing like what you posted, far more simple.

[LucasM]

Sorry you are not doing well Lucas, see you when you are functioning better.

Thanks.  One of the reasons it is over two years between visits to the eye doctor specializing in the bizarre effect on my eyes from the head injuries is that it has, each time, taken at least six months to feel more or less 'normal' again.  I was unfortunately deluded into thinking this time was different, so overdid it (for what my limits actually were, not what they seemed).

If you linked to this site you probably clicked on one of the ads, pretty crappy that they used the same file name as the real download.

http://www.fosshub.com/MKVToolNix.html

Been there several times and some of the ads do try to trick you into thinking they are the proper download.

Click on the text for the version you want and it will be correct, current version is 7.0.

When I installed it the GUI looks nothing like what you posted, far more simple.

Thank you.  Yes, it sucks that the ad 'strip' across the top isn't even MARKED as an ad strip.  And now I am seriously paranoid about likely spyware included with the bastardized version that turned up.

Luckily I did a Restore Point in Windows before installing it.  So after I uninstall that version, I'll reboot (in case it has something hidden in memory), do a complete scan with Microsoft Security Essentials, then reboot, and then do the restore point.  [I think that is the sequence to be sure everything clears out. ]

[LucasM]

Happily, no malware or spyware was found.  After the Restore Point, I installed the one from the link there, and got this, which I'm assuming is what I should have been seeing all along.



I don't have the mental capacity to try it out, but I suspect it will be easier to find the simple process of swapping the dominant audio track (per BathTub's find) than to try to fiddle with all the stuff on the other one (or pay $47 for a program variant that apparently is less functional than the original).

Thank you both again!

[BathTub]

That looks like a version higher, but appears to be almost exactly the same as what I am using.

[LucasM]

Nonverbal parts of my brain were functional enough where I tried it out. [Verbal still messed up: there was at least one thinking/typing mistake in each word in that previous sentence (and this one).]

It works just as easily and quickly as described, and I can now hear 5.1 English audio in that series in the home theater.

Thanks again BT and MS(G)!

[BathTub]

Huzzah!