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Topic: Best way to play .MKV (Read 13764 times) previous topic - next topic
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Best way to play .MKV

Sorry if this is a little off topic but it seems like ya'll would know about this.  So I recently got several video's that are MKV .h264.  I have power Dvd 9 Ultra Pro, Quick time pro, and windows media player on windows 7,  I just don't have a codec for any of them.  I was hoping to be able to use one of those 3 players.  Iv'e heard you can mount a MKV image as a blue ray and play it with windows 7 blue ray support?  I Ive seen a couple sketchy looking codecs.  Can any one point me in the right direction?

Best way to play .MKV

Reply #1
I recommend Media Player Classic Homecinema with Haali Media Splitter.

MPC-HC has integrated video and audio decoders so you don't need any directshow filter packs for h.264 and the like, and the Haali splitter, in conjunction with MPC-HC, lets you view movies in MKV (supports embedded fonts for subs and linked chapters, etc) and OGG/OGV containers.

Both of these are free, no "pro" stuff to buy. Although they might look a bit complicated at first.

Cheers

Also, this should be in one of the A/V sections of the forum, I guess a mod will move it soon.

EDIT: fixed links, the Haali link seems to be down, Google's cache has it though.
we was young an' full of beans

Best way to play .MKV

Reply #2
Second what Skelly said.

Also, you can find more frequent updated releases of MPC-HC at xvidvideo.ru.


 

Best way to play .MKV

Reply #4
I'm using MPC-HC with nothing else. The internal splitter is working fine on my side (I can switch languages and subtitles which is all I need) and for decoding AVC files I'm using the internal DXVA decoder (which uses the nvidia GPU). That's it. No more ffdshow, alternative splitter...

Best way to play .MKV

Reply #5
For a Windows machine, MPC-HC with Haali splitter as others have mentioned. For all other OSes, VLC.


Best way to play .MKV

Reply #7
I don't see how that's any any different from any other media player. It seems like it's pretty much exactly VLC plus Blu-Ray compatibility.

Best way to play .MKV

Reply #8
@zombiewerewolf thanks for that link!

@guruboolez the internal MKV splitter usually does the job, but there are edge cases where one will do something the other doesn't, I have movies with custom subtitle fonts that only the Haali splitter will access correctly, on the other hand, the MPC-HC internal splitter works with TrueHD audio while Haali's doesn't. It's quite easy to bypass the Haali splitter when these things happen though.
we was young an' full of beans

Best way to play .MKV

Reply #9
If you're using MKV, chances are you're watching foreign film, in which case CCCP and Media Player Classic/Zoom Player make everything dandy.

Best way to play .MKV

Reply #10
Container formats have little to do with whether the source material was produced United States or not (I assume this is what you mean by "foreign film"). The same applies to the codecs used.

Best way to play .MKV

Reply #11
No, I mean those formats which are popular with anime communities. Pretty much the only reason most people use MKV is because it can hold subtitle files, so it doesn't take a genius detective to guess that the person is watching a lot of anime. In which case basically every anime distributing site recommends installing CCCP and using either of those 2 players.

That guess is made purely on the idea that anime seems to be the only foreign films that consistently have subtitles. If there's a giant fansub community for French films I haven't heard of it.

Presumably though the OP has already solved his issue since it's been a week. Just for anyone who might search this forum.

Best way to play .MKV

Reply #12
edit: oops wrong topic but i was looking at this anyway.  Thanks for the help.  Ive been using Splashlite and its working great. I like the skin and it uses my GPU.

Best way to play .MKV

Reply #13
MPlayer is awesome

Best way to play .MKV

Reply #14
Here is how I configure stuff for playback:

Media Player Classic Home Cinema x86 / http://www.xvidvideo.ru/, Haali Media Splitter / http://haali.su/mkv/, and ffdshow tryouts x86 ICL / http://www.xvidvideo.ru/

1. Uninstall all codec packs, previous installations of the aforementioned, and the like.
2. Reboot.
3. Install MPC-HC with default options. Do not keep any previous settings.
4. Install Haali Media Splitter with all options checked except for the association of files with Windows Media Player.
5. Install ffdshow tryouts. Reset all settings and select all codecs except DV, raw video, and raw audio. Leave the other options unchecked unless you know that you really want them.
6. Start ffdshow's "Audio decoder configuration", go to "Codecs", and enable "WMA 7", "WMA 8/9", and "WAVPACK". Click OK to save changes and close the dialogue window.
7. Start ffdshow's "Video decoder configuration", go to "Codecs", and enable "VP8". Click on "MPEG2", then mark the "DVD decoding" checkbox that appears below the list of codecs. Click OK to save changes and close the dialogue window.
6. For slower computers:
        Start ffdshow's "DXVA Video decoder configuration", go to "Hardware acceleration (DXVA)", and make sure that "H264" and "VC1" are checked.

    For faster computers:
        Start ffdshow's "Video decoder configuration", and make sure that "DeBand" is checked.
7. Start MPC-HC, go to "View" -> "Options..." -> "Playback" -> "Output" and select "EVR Sync", "Bicubic A=-0.60 (PS 2.0)" as "Resizer". Use "Haali Renderer" if your OS is too old for "EVR Sync".
8. Go to "View" -> "Options..." -> "Subtitles", set "Sub pictures to buffer" to "0", "Maximum texture resolution" to "Desktop", and uncheck the two checkboxes next to the dropdown menu.
9. Go to "View" -> "Options..." -> "Subtitles" -> "Default Style", and make sure that "Position subtitles relative to the video frame" is checked and not filled in.
10. Go to "View" -> "Options..." -> "Internal Filters", and uncheck all transform filters that are now enabled in ffdshow. The important ones are at least "AAC", "AC3", "DTS", "LPCM", "Vorbis", "FLAC", "H264/AVC (DXVA)", "H264/AVC (FFmpeg)", "VC1 (DXVA)", "VC1 (FFmpeg)", "Xvid/MPEG-4", and "DivX". Save all changes and close MPC-HC.

Best way to play .MKV

Reply #15
I use CCCP. Works great, plays all formats I need very well. It comes with MPC-HC.

Best way to play .MKV

Reply #16
I use SPlayer. GPU accelerated playback, it's tiny and it has easy to use filters like sharpening, color correction... etc. It blends in with the native aero look. PLays back everything I have on my machine so far.



Also, using the numberpad I can stretch or zoom the video as I want to to fit the monitor. Optional lanczos interpolation in high quality mode.