Extract-MKV

A script to remux blurays into mkv files using MakeMKV in a repeatable way. MakeMKV's interface is fine, but movies can have several tracks that need to be identified and tagged, and once you've closed the program that info is lost and all needs to be redone. By defining in a json file what should be done with each movie, it can be rerun and tweaked to standardize the library or fix mistakes without configuring everything from scratch.

How it works

MakeMKV's command line does not provide most of the options available in the interface, so two passes are needed.

MakeMKV extracts the chosen title with all available streams included
MKVToolNix's mkvmerge is used to remux the streams and set attributes

Usage

python ./extract-mkv.py SELECTION

SELECTION: A comma separated list of disc identifiers, or ALL to extract all discs
--force (optional): If the output mkv file already exists, overwrite it instead of skipping the title
--verbose (optional): Log out extra information, as well as MakeMKV and MKVToolNix output

Configuration

Create an env.json file next to the main script containing the following properties

{
    "makemkvcon": "C:\\path\\to\\makemkvcon64.exe",
    "mkvmerge": "C:\\path\\to\\mkvmerge.exe",
    "source": "path\\to\\bdmv\\folders",
    "destination": "path\\to\\put\\mkvs",
    "config": "path\\to\\media.json"
}

makemkvcon: Optional path to the makemkvcon executable
mkvmerge: Optional path to the mkvmerge executable
source: Required path to the folder containing all of the BDMV/ISOs
destination: Required path where mkv files should be created
config: Required path to a config file containing movie definitions
temp: Optional working directory instead of the standard temp location

The media.json file stores definitions for how to handle each movie

{
    "DISCID": {
        "TITLEID": {
            "name": "Movie Name",
            "year": 2021,
            "audio": [
                {
                    "track": 0,
                    "name": "5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio",
                    "language": "eng",
                    "default": true
                }
            ],
            "subtitle": [
                {
                    "track": 0,
                    "name": "English",
                    "language": "eng"
                },
                {
                    "track": { "index": 0, "forced": true },
                    "name": "English (forced)",
                    "language": "eng",
                    "forced": true
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

DISCID: The name of the folder containing the BDMV/CERTIFICATE/etc folder structure
TITLEID: The 'source file name' in the MakeMKV interface for the desired title
name: The name of the movie/series
year: The release year of the movie/series
version: The specific version of the movie
season: The season of the episode
episode: The episode number within the season
title: The title of the specific episode
extra: The name of the extra (setting this value marks this title as an extra)
type: The extras folder name to use (only used if extra is set) (defaults to extras)
path: Where to put the movie relative to env.json:destination
Track options (track order is determined by definition order)
- track: Track identification (a number is equivalent to only specifying index)
  - source: Specify a DISCID to pull this track from a different source
  - title: Specify a TITLEID to pull this track from (required if source is specified)
  - index: The index of the track in the MakeMKV interface (second audio track is 1) (core/forced tracks are not counted)
  - core: Select an audio track's core
  - forced: Select the forced subtitles track
- name: The display name of the track
- language: The language code for the track
- default: Set true if the track should have the default flag
- forced: Set true if the track should have the forced flag
- commentary: Set true if the track should have the commentary flag
- cropping: Set { left, top, right, bottom } to inform players to crop pixels without reencoding (few players actually support this)

Extra notes

Some movies include a comment like FPL_MainFeature on certain titles, this can be used as a TITLEID
For DVD ISOs, set DISCID="file.iso" and TITLEID="01" using the 'Source title ID' shown in MakeMKV
Uniquely identify BDMVs with a sha1 hash of MAKEMKV/AACS/Unit_Key_RO.inf: DISCID="[DISC_NAME]:[SHA1]"
- If a SHA1 hash is specified then DISC_NAME will not be used for identification and is only for display
- Hashes are only used for BDMVs, ISOs are not hashed and will not be found if a hash is specified
Set the env.json config property to an array to split definitions across multiple files
The env.json config property can use glob format instead of listing every file
Files are generated at [destination]/[path]/[name] ([year])/[name] ([year]).mkv
- If version is defined then [destination]/[path]/[name] ([year])/[name] ([year]) - [version].mkv
- If season and episode then [destination]/[path]/[name] ([year])/Season [season]/[name] S[season]E[episode].mkv
Values in DISCID="" act as defaults for all titles in the file, handy to avoid repeatedly specifying the path or series name
Values in TITLEID="" act as defaults for all titles in the disc, handy to avoid repeatedly specifying the movie name and year
Some movies have several titles with the same source file, differentiated using an angle number TITLEID="00245.mpls:1"
If video tracks are not specified, the first video track is used with all default values
If audio tracks are not specified, the first audio track is used with all default values
If subtitle tracks are not specified, the output will not have any subtitles included
Use the MakeMKV flatpak by setting env.json makemkvcon to ["flatpak", "run", "--command=makemkvcon", "com.makemkv.MakeMKV"]
Use the MKVToolnix flatpak by setting env.json mkvmerge to ["flatpak", "run", "--command=mkvmerge", "org.bunkus.mkvtoolnix-gui"]

TODO