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  1. Member
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    This is a playing problem that randomly happens to some mkv files when I move them to my external drive. All of my mkv files use the same codec, and are HD resolutions. VLC crashes upon opening these files every time, but plays them flawlessly both if I run the file that was originally on the hard drive and if I move the file from the external back onto the internal drive (therefore it is not data corruption due to the transfer), but not if I run the files directly from the external. Keep in mind this only happens to 3 of the several mkvs I have, so this is most likely not a hard drive cache problem.

    I have tried using other players, but VLC by far plays mkvs the best-- Quicktime with Perian is choppy, and MPlayer's audio is delayed.

    Does anyone know what could possibly be happening here, and if there is any possible fix?
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  2. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
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    If that's a USB external drive, it could still be part of the problem. Being able to move the files back and having them play properly seems to point to the drive, the external controller, cabling or the interface controller on the computer.

    I also suspect there is 'something' different about the three or files that don't play properly. VLC can also play damaged files, so the sync error displayed by the other players may be a clue. MPCHC also works well for MKVs.

    It's difficult to display file information about MKV files. MediaInfo works fairly well. Take a look at the differences between the files.

    And welcome to our forums.

    EDIT: The problem may also relate to your computer and how well it handles HD MKVs. It may be a combination of a somewhat slow external drive and some out of spec or higher bitrate MKVs and your system, for one reason or another, may be marginal for this.
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  3. Member
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    Thank you, and thanks for the quick reply!

    It's actually a FireWire 800 drive, and, in trying the programs you suggested, I came across an interesting find. Apparently the files work perfectly in Windows-- sort of. I've always used OS X for playing movies (I dual-boot Vista on a MacBook Pro, Early 2008 model), and using VLC in Windows yields, well, results. However, I'm quite disappointed with the 1080p downscaling VLC does in Windows to match my computer's resolution. The Mac VLC Player looks much much cleaner, as does MPCHC in Windows. Nevertheless, I would like to avoid a reboot whenever I want to watch these movies. I attached a table of the MediaInfo information I thought was necessary, though I really don't know what I'm looking for. Is there something I could do to fix this in Mac? Perhaps, maybe, re-encoding the files?

    Also, in the table, the red lines (#4, 6, 8) are the files that are giving me problems. Thanks much!

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  4. Member FulciLives's Avatar
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    Maybe extract the files from the MKV and make a new MKV ... doing so might fix whatever the problem might be.

    I've read reports of other people haveing troublesome MKV files and doing the above has "fixed" whatever was wrong with the original MKV.

    Just a thought ...

    - John "FulciLives" Coleman
    "The eyes are the first thing that you have to destroy ... because they have seen too many bad things" - Lucio Fulci
    EXPLORE THE FILMS OF LUCIO FULCI - THE MAESTRO OF GORE
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  5. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
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    Nothing shows that's odd to me. They seem to be a mixture of filetypes, same as the others.

    This is a MediaInfo screen shot of one of my DVD>MKV HD conversions. I cut off some additional info to the right to keep the size down. This type of information is probably what you would have to use to compare your good files to the problem ones.

    FireWire should be fast enough, so not likely the problem. USB can be flaky at times if you have other USB devices or the OS is checking the system and interrupting the access. But shouldn't happen the same with FW.

    I don't use my Mac G4 much anymore, so not much help with Mac problems. But you could ask in the Mac Forum.

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