Playing MKV files on Plasma TV

[esabet]

Hi;

I have a VERY newbie question: What is the best way to play an MKV file on my Plasma TV? Do I rebuild/reauthor it and burn it onto a Blu-Ray disk and play it using my Blu-Ray player?

Thanks.

[cal_tony]

For me... best way I like to play MKV files on my TVs is thru a Media Player from a Hard disk connected via USB cable. Currently the Seagate Fat+ has been selling for $40-$50 from various places (Newegg@ $39.95) and it works quite well for MKVs. Actually, any of the Media players perform this function excellently. I have a PS3 that I hardly ever use now. I converted all my Bluerays to MKV. Stuck em on 2TB hard disks and have never thought about using plastic disks again.

Over the years I've bought quite a few DVDs. Some I've only watched once but many I've played a number of times. Anything I've watched more than 2 or 3 times and plan to watch again I put on hard disk as well. For DVDs, I save them as ISOs instead of MKVs

Tony

[esabet]

For me... best way I like to play MKV files on my TVs is thru a Media Player from a Hard disk connected via USB cable. Currently the Seagate Fat+ has been selling for $40-$50 from various places (Newegg@ $39.95) and it works quite well for MKVs. Actually, any of the Media players perform this function excellently. I have a PS3 that I hardly ever use now. I converted all my Bluerays to MKV. Stuck em on 2TB hard disks and have never thought about using plastic disks again.

Over the years I've bought quite a few DVDs. Some I've only watched once but many I've played a number of times. Anything I've watched more than 2 or 3 times and plan to watch again I put on hard disk as well. For DVDs, I save them as ISOs instead of MKVs

Tony

I should have known there is a soultion out there. Thank you. But I feel so stupid as I recently purchased a new Blu-Ray player.

Now these Media Players, can they playback MKV files or do you need to buy additional software?

[jagabo]

Now these Media Players, can they playback MKV files or do you need to buy additional software?

Media Players like the Seagate Freeagent Theater series and the Western Digital WDTV series can play MKV, MP4, MOV, MPG, TS, M2TS, AVI, WAV, MP3, FLAC, etc. with a wide variety of codec support. Much better than the media players built in to some HDTVs. Other devices to look at Popcorn Hour, Boxee Box, Asus O!Play, Roku, TVIX players, etc. The LG Blu-ray players like the BD530, 550, etc. appear to have fairly good media support too. Some of these devices have built in hard drives, some USB ports for external hard drives and flash drives, some have wired or wireless networking to play files off network shares and internet sites like Youtube. All have problems with some files and their own particular quirks.

I have a WDTV Live and am pretty happy with it. One feature it doesn't have is native NetFlix streaming (the WDTV Live Plus and Live Hub have that now). But with the addition of PlayOn on my server I get that.

[esabet]

Thank you very much for all your help. It turns out that the new BR Player I purchased does support MKV files!!!! It also allows you to connect a HD via USB and there you have it!!!

I must say I would have not looked into it if it was not for your replies. So thank you very much!

[pottrings]

Thank you very much for all your help. It turns out that the new BR Player I purchased does support MKV files!!!! It also allows you to connect a HD via USB and there you have it!!!

Can your BR player play videos with soft subs?

I played videos from my HD by connecting it to my plasma tv instead of the player because i'm not too sure how to access the videos if it's plugged to the player. Should i connect it to the player or plasma? Will the player be able to play more video formats compared to the plasma? Will the soft subs appear if i use the player?