# how do I burn an mkv to a playable dvd



## Julkerater (Sep 20, 2008)

Hi, Im a noob here and didn't know where else to post so..

I would like to know how to burn an mkv movie file to a playable dvd without doing any converting because it is really slick quality and it is just shy of filling a whole disk at 4.37GB. is there some kind of mod for idvd or something I could use? I will use any program that is free...
Anyone who could help me get "Dark City" to a playable dvd (using my Xbox 360 as dvd player) I will grovel at your feet....


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## fryke (Sep 20, 2008)

quite obviously you've illegally downloaded a 720p (HD) version of the film. you _won't_ be able to burn it to a SD DVD without converting. obviously. unless you're just burning the file to it, but then your dvd player won't be able to play it. basically: don't talk about illegally acquired material here on macosx.com.


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## Julkerater (Sep 20, 2008)

I don't know why you have to be such a dick.... I never said anything about illegally downloading anything... I asked a serious question I expect a serious answer take the stick out of your ass...


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Sep 20, 2008)

Read the board rules.  If you want to find out how to burn MKV files of commercial movies (which can't be legal, by the way), then there are plenty of forums on the internet   that will help you out.  This one is not one of them.  This forum is for discussing all things Macintosh within the limits of the law, and the only legal way to acquire "Dark City" is to purchase/rent a DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray DVD, or to rent it from an online store (none of which offer movie rentals/purchases in the MKV format), like the iTunes store.

We're not being dicks, we're adhering to the rules of the forum.  This forum's strictly legit -- but there are plenty of other forums that can help you out with your situation.


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## ryukun (Feb 17, 2009)

I've created an account to rebuttal the argument that MKV implies ILLEGAL.

I produce short films and release them under Creative Commons licensing which freely allows viewers to copy and use my work however they wish.
I use the MKV container because I like its compressions of HD Video as well as the ability to add several audio tracks and subtitle tracks.

Please don't turn away people when they ask for help with this format.  Its very versatile and your way of thinking will result in online stores avoiding adopting it in the future which would be a loss to the community.


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## fryke (Feb 18, 2009)

Well... If you re-read the original poster's post, you'll see him mentioning "Dark City", which is a commercial movie, not available under any free licensing. We don't turn away people who talk about the .mkv format (or Ogg Vorbis or DivX or anything). We turn them away because they ignore our board rules.

But: Welcome to our forums. Your input can be very helpful to it, and I'm looking forward to further discussions.


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## ora (Feb 18, 2009)

Oddly MKV files are the ones I have had most issue playing for some reason, i was trying to watch a bunch of demo films by physicists in my last job that nothing would play cleanly, even the thrice-blessed VLC.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Feb 18, 2009)

ryukun said:


> I've created an account to rebuttal the argument that MKV implies ILLEGAL.


No one implied that at all, as fryke said.  The "illegal" part comes from the fact that the original poster mentioned that he/she had downloaded a commercial film and wanted to burn it to DVD.

Nothing about this has to do with the MKV format (which is a pretty dang good format, if you ask me).  It has to do with the question being posed of how to burn a commercial film that was illegally downloaded to a DVD.

You DO have to admit, though, that the MKV format is mainly used to pirate films.  There's no argument about that.  Just like BitTorrent is mainly used to pirate software... we don't turn people away asking about BitTorrent or MKV files -- we turn people away who admit to illegal use of them.


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## fryke (Feb 18, 2009)

Back in the day, we banned any P2P-talk, though.


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## ora (Feb 18, 2009)

Things have changed a bit now, surprisingly all those claims that p2p would end up having legit uses have (partially) come true.

Blizzard delivers content for World of Warcraft via bit torrent for instance, or the Spotify app we are discussing in another thread uses peer to peer technologies to stream its (fully legal, ad supported) music.

Back on topic, to the OP - understand that this site has a strong policy (see board rules) on any illegal activity and we are specifically advised not to help if you we feel it is for illegal purposes. That said come ask us about legit Mac stuff and we are a friendly bunch who are happy to help.


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## fryke (Feb 18, 2009)

I don't guess he's here anymore.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Feb 18, 2009)

fryke said:


> Back in the day, we banned any P2P-talk, though.


But... but... how am I supposed to talk about all the Linux distributions I download, then?  Seriously??  

BitTorrent is the fastest way to get a Linux distro, hands-down.  Good luck using a mirror located in Romania or Croatia.


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## fryke (Feb 18, 2009)

Well, use a mirror closer to your location, then.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Feb 18, 2009)

Heh... yes, yes, fully aware of close mirrors.  Most still cap download speeds, and it's much, much faster to acquire the ISOs via BitTorrent.

By the way, I'm sure the members here were not aware of this... but me and two buddies invented BitTorrent back in 1998.  Seriously.    Well, we came up with the idea -- and it was more geared toward allowing distributed data transfer using low-speed, low-cost internet connections so that one client could download a file from multiple slow-speed computers simultaneously at a throughput that was faster than the maximum throughput of a single server computer.  Imagine a rack of 56k-connected computers (ie, using a standard 56k modem), each with access to a common set of data, all serving a different segment of that data.  You could then download a single file from a client machine at a speed that was greater than 56k, since you'd be getting one bit from here at 56k, one bit from there at 56k, etc.

See?  Told you.    Of course we wouldn't have given it away for free...   It just goes to show that if you have an idea, jump on it, otherwise someone else will!


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