No Audio on MKV except while played with VLC

[DarkPhoenix77]

Ok, so I decided I hate VLC. Everytime I play MKV files with it, it's always choppy and "studders". As a substitute, I use Mplayer for OSX and even Hawkeye for playing my MKV files. The problem is that I have 2 MKV files in particular that have no audio while playing them except when I play the files using VLC.

Has anyone ever heard of this kind of a problem? and if so, know of any fixes for it?

Again, forgive me if this is on another thread, but I had no luck in trying to find an answer...

thanks in advance.

[jagabo]

You don't have a decoder for the audio compression (probably DTS or AC3) used in the MKV file (VLC has its own private built in decoders, that's why it plays the audio).

[dizzie]

Wow, I've never found a program that plays files more smoothly and efficiently than VLC, even with mkv's. Weird!

[jagabo]

VLC's h.264 decoder is single threaded and can't keep up with 1080p h.264.

[DarkPhoenix77]

jagabo is right. The TV I use to play MKVs on is 1080p.
So I just need to find and install audio compression decoders?

[dizzie]

So, is mplayer's h264 decoder multi-thread? When I play a vid with VLC, it always seems to use both cores of the CPU equally, but maybe that is different...

[jagabo]

So, is mplayer's h264 decoder multi-thread?

I believe so. But I don't know for sure. I've never used it.

When I play a vid with VLC, it always seems to use both cores of the CPU equally, but maybe that is different...

Windows (and other operating systems) usually bounces single threaded programs around between multiple cores to spread out the heat. So you may see all cores being used. But the thread is never running on more than one core at a time. If you look at the total CPU usage while playing in VLC you'll see it maxes out around 50 percent on a dual core cpu, 25 percent on a quad. It will occasionally go over those values because there is more going on than just the h.264 decoding.

[jman98]

VLC's Mac build has always been a bit of an afterthought and it has never really been quite as good as the Windows and Linux builds. I don't know why, I just know that's how it is.

[DarkPhoenix77]

...but back to the question where can I find these audio decoders for Mac that will allo the MKV audio to play on MPlayer for OSX and Hawkeye??

[jagabo]

I don't know much about the Mac but I think you want Perian.

[Case]

First check in VLC (the Information window) what audio codec(s) was (were) used in your problematic MKV files.

[Case]

... I think you want Perian.

Perian extends the capabilities of QuickTime. It won't assist MPlayer for additional (audio) formats.