Working with MKV files?

[terrypin]

I'd appreciate some advice on the basics of working with MKV files please.

Today was the first time I've encountered this format, as a 5 GB downloaded video. I started by d-clicking it and encouragingly it opened DivX Plus Player version 8.1.2 (a program I installed a couple of years ago but don't recall actually using). The video itself didn't play. All I got was a blank window. Toggling between Pause and Play made no difference.
Q: Why doesn't Div X Plus play it?

So I removed the association with MKV, as it seems pointless keeping it. Then I closed DivX Plus and opened the MKV in VLC, which played it fine. And I was able to get the English subtitles, so achieved my immediate objective of watching the missed first episode of an ITV3 Danish TV series currently showing in the UK ('Those Who Kill').

I then got it playing in WMP 11, but unlike VLC I could find no way to get the subtitles.
Q: Are there any other players that will play MKV files, with subtitles?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[Baldrick]

SMplayer, MPCHC, Potplayer.

And if you would like subtitle support in WMP install vsfilter and maybe haali media splitter or lav filter.

[jman98]

Q: Why doesn't Div X Plus play it?

MKV is basically a box. It can hold any video or audio codec. So without realizing it, you are asking something like "Why does John have frogs in his box?" when I have no idea who John is, I know nothing about the box, and I have no context to know if frogs might be appropriate to be in his box. Divx Player has limitations. It doesn't support subtitles. There could be oddities in the audio or video (probably the video) that the player simply can't deal with. It's not really a "plays anything" kind of player like VLC is. If you really are curious you could install MediaInfo and post a dump of what it says about the MKV file and if anything stands out that might be a problem for Divx Player we could see it.

[terrypin]

SMplayer, MPCHC, Potplayer.

And if you would like subtitle support in WMP install vsfilter and maybe haali media splitter or lav filter.

Thanks, I'll try those.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[terrypin]

Q: Why doesn't Div X Plus play it?

MKV is basically a box. It can hold any video or audio codec. So without realizing it, you are asking something like "Why does John have frogs in his box?" when I have no idea who John is, I know nothing about the box, and I have no context to know if frogs might be appropriate to be in his box. Divx Player has limitations. It doesn't support subtitles. There could be oddities in the audio or video (probably the video) that the player simply can't deal with. It's not really a "plays anything" kind of player like VLC is. If you really are curious you could install MediaInfo and post a dump of what it says about the MKV file and if anything stands out that might be a problem for Divx Player we could see it.

Thanks. Seems odd to me that DivX should make MKV one of the few formats it chooses to make a default association with, when it lacks support for such a key feature as Subtitles.

Here's an extract from MediaInfo for a sample file:

Format: Matroska
Format version: Version 2
File size: 65.3 MiB
Overall bit rate: 8 894 Kbps
Encoded date: UTC 2011-03-23 18:39:57
Writing application: mkvmerge v4.4.0 ('Die Wiederkehr') built on Oct 31 2010 21:52:48
Writing library: libebml v1.0.0 + libmatroska v1.0.0

Video
ID: 1
Format: AVC
Format/Info: Advanced Video Codec
Format profile: High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC: Yes
Format settings, ReFrames: 5 frames
Muxing mode: Header stripping
Codec ID: V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Bit rate: 7 207 Kbps
Width: 1 280 pixels
Height: 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio: 16:9
Frame rate: 25.000 fps
Color space: YUV
Chroma subsampling: 4:2:0
Bit depth: 8 bits
Scan type: Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame): 0.313
Stream size: 52.9 MiB (81%)
Title: Danish
Language: Danish
Default: Yes
Forced: No

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Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[netmask56]

Hi Terry, Assuming DivX Plus supports all the possibilities of MKV apart from the basic vanilla version, supporting only the presence of audio and video, quite possibly it is this item that is causing it grief

Muxing mode: Header stripping

Get hold of MKVmerge GUI and run the file through it turning off compression found under the extra options tab. Highlight the video and check that it says none under compression then check the audio. Set it to none if necessary. Then let the program remux it. It is a stream process and only takes a few minutes. Try the new file which will have (1) appended to it's name.

[terrypin]

Thanks netmask56. Duly installed and opened the test MKV file in MKVmerge. But with the file selected in the top box the options are all greyed, including Compression, as you see here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/MKV-01.jpg

I have no clear idea what 'muxing' does, but I then went ahead and did it anyway. The resulting file still wouldn't play in DivX Plus.

I then repeated the exercise but this time selected each of the 7 'tracks' in turn, which made the options accessible, and set Compression to None individually in each case (tedious!).

The result was the same. And surprisingly the 'demuxed' file was exactly the same size as the original.

VLC cuts the mustard on the few occasions I expect to find myself with an MKV file but I'm now very curious as to why it fails to play in DivX.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[netmask56]

Quite likely for the reasons I mentioned - hasn't been fully implemented. There are quite a few media players that won't support MKV files that contain subtitles and or chapters or tags - Beyonwiz media player section, I think Topfield and Popcorn C200 won't play MKV's with compressed headers. MKVMergeGUI just strips compressed headers (if you select none) does nothing to the video and audio. So the file size will remain the same as will the quality..

[MightyO]

You could also check out XBMC player, it can play mkv-files and has got a nice interface in my opinion...
Also you can change skins and appearance...