Windows 7 Media Center and .mkv files

[xjboonie]

I’ve got built a mini pc to play Hulu, Netflix, music, etc.  It’s still pretty bare bones in the software world – just have huludesktop, flash, itunes, and VLC.  I can get mkv’s to play under VLC but not in media center – they don’t even show up!

Is there something I need to turn on?  I’m new at media center after having used SageTV for years.

Thanks,
Mike

Oh – its Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

[htpc_user]

You will have to install Haali Media Splitter or DivX.  In my past builds with XP and Vista I used Haali Media Splitter, but since DivX has a solution now I used it since I figured it might be a little “simpler”.  Also, at the time I was having trouble when playing divx/xvid files where the audio was out of sync using Media Center’s native divx playback.  I figured installing DivX might solve that.  It didn’t.  But be forewarned, I can play mkv’s in Media Center now, but I have an audio sync issue with it as well sometimes.  It’s just sometimes though.  We watch True Blood episodes in mkv and they can be done by the same person and one time it will work OK, and the next week it doesn’t.  Lately, I usually just open TMT 3 and play it with that.  Since it’s just a one time thing, I don’t mind pulling the mouse out to get it started.

[mikinho]

My experience with DivX has been pretty poor.  I try it out at each new release and I really want to use it as I want Media Foundation to do well but I always go back to Haali Media Splitter.  It has its own share of bugs but for the most part it is stable.  Another option is using the MPC-HC standalone MKV Splitter.

For the rare circumstance that Haali does have issues I wrote a Media Center add-in that lets me choose any 3rd party application to play movies with.  For me it was ok to use the mouse on the rare occasion but not for my wife =)  If you are interested in it just let me know and I’ll share.

[xjboonie]

How does one use or install the Haali Media Splitter?

[mikinho]

Just download and install from [url=http://haali.su/mkv/]http://haali.su/mkv/[/url].  The default settings work out just fine. 

If you have an under performing network switch and watch high frame rate MKVs over the network then increasing the buffer helps but I would only change it if you have stuttering issues.

[captain_video]

Is there a way to get mkv files to play back on a media extender?  I’ve got a lot of shows in mkv format but it seems to be hit or miss getting them to play with both audio and video on an extender, if at all.  I’ve had no problems getting them to play in Media Center on the main PC.  I’ve got the Shark007 codec pack installed with Gabest’s media splitter as opposed to Haali per the recommended setup at the AVS Forums.

The latest version of DivX Plus will supposedly allow mkv files to play on an extender but so far it doesn’t seem to be doing much for me.  Could there be a conflict between the Gabest splitter and DivX that’s preventing DivX Plus from working?  I’m not sure if I should be changing the settings in the Shark007 setup utility.

[htpc_user]

[quote=”captain_video”]
Is there a way to get mkv files to play back on a media extender?  I’ve got a lot of shows in mkv format but it seems to be hit or miss getting them to play with both audio and video on an extender, if at all.  I’ve had no problems getting them to play in Media Center on the main PC.  I’ve got the Shark007 codec pack installed with Gabest’s media splitter as opposed to Haali per the recommended setup at the AVS Forums.

The latest version of DivX Plus will supposedly allow mkv files to play on an extender but so far it doesn’t seem to be doing much for me.  Could there be a conflict between the Gabest splitter and DivX that’s preventing DivX Plus from working?  I’m not sure if I should be changing the settings in the Shark007 setup utility.
[/quote]

The confilct that you mention could very well be what’s happening.  When I installed the RC of 7 I installed several different programs and it totally screwed my system up.  That’s why I chose to install only DivX this time around.

[captain_video]

I downloaded and installed the latest version of DivX Plus for Windows.  Included in the package is a converter that takes mkv files and transcodes them to an mkv file that my extenders can play.  There does appear to be a small amount of degradation, but that’s based on one sample file and I don’t recall how it looked to begin with so there may actually be little or no degradation with a better quality file (i.e., garbage in, garbage out).  Overall, the quality appeared good enough to play via an extender connected to one of the smaller TVs scattered throughout my household.  It’s not the perfect solution but at least it’s something.

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