Using openwith to play MKVs with TMT5

[NitDawg]

I know you can playback MKVs in 7MC using a couple different approaches, but on my x64 HTPC I cannot find a happy solution between local playback and playback on my xbox360 extenders. I was suprised to see TMT5 plays MKVs quite nicely, and since I use this for my BluRay discs, I figured I could also use this to playback MKV files on my HTPC. 

I downloaded minkinho’s “openwith” but could not find any documentation or help in how to define external players with certain file types. Anyone use this feature? Looks pretty nice.: http://mikinho.com/wmc/open-with/

Here’s to the MR crew satisfying my green button appetite! 

NitDawg

 

[Mike Garcen]

given that our very own Mikinho wrote the app, he might be able to help 😛 I’ve never used it though, so yeah… 🙂

[mikinho]

I can help there.  Save the below as a reg file and import it.  That or apply the registry keys yourself

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMikinhoOpenWithVideo.mkv]
"FileName"="C:Program Files (x86)ArcSoftTotalMedia Theatre 5uMCEPlayer5.exe"
"Arguments"=""{0}""

[NitDawg]

’nuff said. Thanks Minkinho, I will give it a shot.

[mikinho]

If possible, let me know if it worked.  I know version has quite a few improvements I could make but not sure if anyone uses.

[NitDawg]

[quote=mikinho]

I can help there.  Save the below as a reg file and import it.  That or apply the registry keys yourself

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMikinhoOpenWithVideo.mkv]
"FileName"="C:Program Files (x86)ArcSoftTotalMedia Theatre 5uMCEPlayer5.exe"
"Arguments"=""{0}""

[/quote]

[quote=mikinho]

I can help there.  Save the below as a reg file and import it.  That or apply the registry keys yourself

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMikinhoOpenWithVideo.mkv]
"FileName"="C:Program Files (x86)ArcSoftTotalMedia Theatre 5uMCEPlayer5.exe"
"Arguments"=""{0}""

[/quote]

 

Thanks, this is a cool approach. For whatever reason whether I imported the registry key through regedit or double clicked the reg file it would not generate the FileName key attribute, but I was able to manually add the uMCEPlayer5.exe path in regedit. A few observations:

• I get the openwith config warning on filetypes that I did not assign to openwith, such as MP4…native playback still happens, but I have to click “OK” on the openwith message, so do I need to assign the default media player in 7MC (I don’t know what path that is) to avoid that message?
• MKV defaults most of the time to TMT5, but after stopping and resuming or opening another MKV, native playback opens it up instead of TMT5.
• I also tried using WMPx86 to launch, but that did not play nicely in terms of closing down when wanting to get back into 7MC.

Still messing around, but enjoy the knowledge seeing how openwith works. Thanks minkinho!

 

[mikinho]

[quote=NitDawg]

• I get the openwith config warning on filetypes that I did not assign to openwith, such as MP4…native playback still happens, but I have to click “OK” on the openwith message, so do I need to assign the default media 

[/quote]

Odd, it shouldn’t.  I’ll test tonight.  By chance when this happens are there SRT files in the same folder as the video file?

[quote=NitDawg]

• MKV defaults most of the time to TMT5, but after stopping and resuming or opening another MKV, native playback opens it up instead of TMT5.

[/quote]

That is known issue, will get fixed this week.

[quote=NitDawg]

• I also tried using WMPx86 to launch, but that did not play nicely in terms of closing down when wanting to get back into 7MC.

[/quote]

I hadn’t tested with WMP but I would assume it wouldn’t play nice since internally Media Center uses the WMP engine.

[sccrgoalie1]

Would this work for dvd folders?  I’d rather have Arcsoft playing my dvds.

[mikinho]

[quote=sccrgoalie1]

Would this work for dvd folders?  I’d rather have Arcsoft playing my dvds.

[/quote]

I didn’t add this functionality because there is an easier way to do that already.  Give me a little bit to follow up on that.

[sccrgoalie1]

Great!

[htpc_user]

This program sounds good. I don’t play a lot of mkv’s, but the last time I did I had terrible audio sync issues when trying to play inside of 7MC. So I just figured no more than I try to play an mkv I would just give up and go over to the HTPC, minimize Media Center, open up TMT manually and play the file. But it would be nice to do it from the couch and have it return to Media Center when finished. Does the program close after returning to Media Center?

[mikinho]

[quote=htpc_user]This program sounds good. I don’t play a lot of mkv’s, but the last time I did I had terrible audio sync issues when trying to play inside of 7MC. So I just figured no more than I try to play an mkv I would just give up and go over to the HTPC, minimize Media Center, open up TMT manually and play the file. But it would be nice to do it from the couch and have it return to Media Center when finished. Does the program close after returning to Media Center?[/quote]

 

Yes it does.  When the configured applications quits, Media Center regains focus or Back is pressed.

[sccrgoalie1]

Hey Mikinho,

Any chance you could post up the easy way to use TMT to play dvd folders automatically.  I am using my movies.

Thanks,

Mark

[mikinho]

Hi Mark, I’m working on the blog post today…I’m expanding it a little bit.  I was writing it for the native Movie Library.  For My Movies it is a bit easier though, you can configured External Players via http://wiki.mymovies.dk/(S(o10p4jnqkfcltiz5da3nd145))/My%20Movies%203%20User%20Customization.ashx. If you have any trouble with it just let me know and I can create a sample XML for you. (Just provide the base XML file you have since I don’t have MyMovies installed)

[sccrgoalie1]

Cool, I’ll give that a go.  Looking forward to the blog post as well for the native library.

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