If you're willing to spend $70, try the Moyea Import Plugin. Says it's compatible with Premiere Pro CS4 and under, or Premiere Elements 8.0 and under.
IMHO, I like MKVs. Because they support video, audio and subtitle streams of all kinds -- moreso than other containers like AVI or MP4 -- they're useful. Incidentally, given an MKV file and an M2TS file of identical streams, the MKV file is smaller.
There is also something to be said about Matroska's relation to WebM, which according to the latter Adobe supports. Depending on WebM's future success, I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't already a large number of requests for compatibility with its accompanying formats (e.g. Vorbis and Matroska) -- claims of the opposite in this thread notwithstanding.
claims of the opposite in this thread notwithstanding.
It's more than just a claim. It's a statement from an Adobe employee who has access to the feature requests. There just aren't a lot of them for MKV support.
Please don't entangledin the format,eachteammust take into accountthe needs ofthe market, MKV relativelysmall minority. Format is a eternal topic. this time,every user can choose the other way to solve this problem, UseVideo Converter, This isan emergingindustry, If Adobe Premiere supported all formats, then many people will lose their jobs.I want to say "Thanks Adobe". There, i recommend a video converter,
AOVsoft's converter has some nice features (cutting without converting is always nice, and cropping is still a missing feature in too many standard programs). But I'm quite happy with the free alternatives (Handbrake, SUPER, Freemake (just as fast as AOV), MakeMKV (lossless) and XMedia Recode). Notably Handbrake which lets you adjust even more than most of the paid/professional tools. It's just a little less user friendly.
Some people have actually been developing these tools and formats for free continuously over the years, and they're not just half-done solutions.
Matroska and FLAC are superiour, better featured, lossy/lossless solutions.
I take it that there isn't an urgent need for MKV support in the United States, because you don't have a broad public demand for subtitles and foreign (original) language support? But anyone working in a multilingual environment would benefit from this. So it's not really an obsession. I am merely stressing the fact that the industry is keeping a whole bunch of inferior, platform dependent (and therefore short lived) file formats alive. They're even still developing new, closed, proprietary formats for mobile devices). This short-term profit speculation is the main reason why there is a "format war" going on. A war that forces content providers to create identical video content in different file containers.
The industry have been trying to agree on a mutual standard (MXF) since 2005, but even after 7 years it is still not really supported by any standalone equipment. Meanwhile Matroska (created in 2002) has basically developed all the features that MXF has, and it is already widely supported by leading hardware and mobile equipment manufacturers such as Asus, Samsung, LG and Western Digital.
The "high end" hardware developers just decided that they won't support MKV. That is of course the main reason why "the market doesn't use it".
While there is an increasing demand for HD video content, the industry has decided only to provide lossy audio content. It is practically impossible to buy online digital audio content in a lossless sound format legally. That is of course another reason why sound connoisseurs are sharing their CD and DVD audio content as FLAC files. When the CD disappears they're stuck with lossy AAC, WMA and MP3 files!
I take it that there isn't an urgent need for MKV support in the United States, because you don't have a broad public demand for subtitles and foreign (original) language support?
No. There isn't a need for Matroska because it's not a file format used for the major delivery mediums - disk, broadcast and web.
The industry have been trying t agree on a mutual standard (MXF) since 2005, but even after 7 years it is still not really supported by any standalone equipment.
Uh...not sure that's very accurate. Many professional camera use the format. And many TV stations use it for broadcast as well.
Matroska (created in 2002) has basically developed all the features that MXF has, and it is already widely supported by leading hardware and mobile equipment manufacturers such as Asus, Samsung, LG and Western Digital.
Yeah, for computer playback. But that's just not anywhere near a significant enough percentage of professional delivery. The big three are, as previously mentioned, disk (DVD, Blu-ray), broadcast, and web sites.
why you not change a way to think about it ? Now, it can't work. I suggest you change the video‘s format. I had similar experience, Every software has it's shortcoming, we have to use their advantage. there is a video converter software in aovsoft.com. I think it can help you solve problem. Because it support many formats convert, certainly, MKV is Including.
Though I do not know that software, I agree with you.
I get handed (or did, until I retired) all sorts of "stuff," and will convert, as is needed, to edit in my chosen NLE program. I also have about six other NLE's, that are basically enhanced "conversion" programs, as some handle different "stuff" better, than others. In the end, however, I finish in PrPro, as it does what I like best, and I use the others to get the material into it. I do not expect it to cover ALL bases, and have learned workarounds for odd footage. Maybe I should campaign for PrPro to become an "end-all/be-all," but would rather Adobe concentrate on doing certain things in the best possible, and most stable way.
What we need to remember is that MKV is a CONTAINER, not a CODEC. Simply adding MKV support isn't so simple, as there is no telling what video and/or audio CODEC is being used. Adobe would have to add a lot of addtional codecs, such as Xvid, Divx (non-professional), and others, or their CS would get a ton of calls asking why their MKV videos aren't importing.
I hope they do add more CODEC and container support, including the above mentioned, as PrPro has always been on the cutting-edge of all popular formats. It only makes the software better.
The one drawback that I see is that those CODEC's mentioned are delivery-only CODEC's, and are not meant to be edited.
However, PrPro DID add support for 100% DVD-compatible VOB containers (with the MPEG-2 CODEC), and those are designed for delivery too. The few cameras, that produced mini-DVD discs, seem to be becoming but a footnote in the history of Video.
It might happen? Some other NLE programs, like CyberLink's PowerDirector, Magix MovieEdit Pro, and some others (mostly "consumer-level" NLE's) do support more of those delivery-only formats, like DivX. Some have even reported that PrElements will handle some, that PrPro will not, though I have not tested, since my version of PrE is quite old, and does not offer such support.
I suppose no one tried changing the file extension from .MKV to .AVI, right?
It worked for me.
It took awhile for the video to conform (after importing the video to PP, check the status bar on the bottom right corner to view the status of PP conforming the file).
Unfortunately, the thread deviated very soon from the original question, which should have been Importing/editing MKV footage. There is another similar MKV thread around, and it too deviated into an "Adobe should, or should not, support every format." Or, they became an argument on how good/bad MKV was.
The real explanation as to why Adobe won't support the Matroska MKV container is of course that they simply don't like it. I bet this reluctance has something to do with making money. If Matroska (or FLAC or OGG) was in fact supported natively by any Apple, Microsoft, Sony, Adobe (or any other major MPEG-LA member) product, many users would use it instead of MP4, M4V, MOV, F4V and other commercial standards falsely being marketed (via the ISO label) towards public and private companies as the only acceptable video standards.
Top quality freeware programs like Handbrake or MediaCoder and many 'cheaper' commercial products support both MKV and MP4/M4V and many of the best video codecs available. So there's no reason to pretend that there's any other explanation than commercial 'monopoly' interests behind this decision!
I bet you think we've never actually been to the moon either.
No, the real reason is almost certainly lack of need on the part of Premiere Pro's user base. There are no cameras that record files using the MKV format. It's not widely used in professional circles. MKV remains a primarily consumer format for teenagers illegally ripping and sharing their movies across P2P networks. Until enough professional users require the MKV container, I can understand why Adobe hasn't spent resources incorporating support.
Jeff and Mr. Hunt, Thank you both VERY VERY MUCH - you're both thousands of times helpful than either of the afformentioned 'experts' on video formats.
Thanks for the props, but to be fair I have to say that all I did was echo Harm's "it's impossible" comment, while leaving open the possibility that a plug-in existed that I didn't know about.
I think conversion is your best bet, and if you have the right freeware (like maybe VirtualDub, AviSynth and DGMPGDec) you can probably do the conversion on the cheap. For example, if DGMPGDec will open your MKV file, then you create a D2V index file, and use that as the source in an AviSynth script. Then load the AviSynth script into VirtualDub and save it out as an AVI file. I recommend the Lagarith or UT codecs for maximum quality. Pr will import and edit the new AVI file just fine.
It's people like you that are destroying the internet. The original poster was simply asking if there is a way to import mkv format into Adobes $300 video editing software instead of using freeware. He didn't ask what your opinion on the format was and frankly no one really gives a crap.
Since I’ve edited video for paying customers I’m what you could call a ‘professional’ using ‘professional software’ so here’s a conundrum maybe you ‘video format experts’ can answer. How can I, a video professional using professional $300 software that I paid for from my own pocket, edit my daughters first baby steps to upload via youtube so I can share this shorter, yet more touching, video with my parents whom reside abroad?
If your answer doesn’t include a link to a plug-in, directions on importing mkv video or anything of that nature than please save it for another thread, because I doubt anyone stumbled upon here just to read criticism of certain video formats. Thank you.
Success likely depends on what's in the file itself. Both MKV and AVI are simply containers. What's inside makes the critical difference.
Bottom line, stick to using video you shot yourself with a supported camera format inside of Premiere Pro, and you should be fine. Look for a consumer program to edit Internet downloads and other non-standard media.
Pirates? You are not thinking that small, are you? We here at CoreCodec have been pushed for Matroaka adoption for over 4 years now.... and it is supported within products by:
- Toshiba
- Panasonic
- LG
- Netgear
- Samsung
- ASUS
- Motorola
- JVC
- Sigma Designs
- Seagate
- RMI
- Western Digital
Conveting as you are suggesting is not an option... TS and PS while good for streaming... is not really a 'great' container.
While I do have to admit that I have not encountered MKV that often, all instances have been in the legit arena. Maybe there is use elsewhere, but none of my clients have brought material from that area.
I've been following this thread for some time, as I always want to learn of newer CODEC's and technologies, because there is always a client, just around the corner, who will drop it on my desk.