MKV....Without conversion what will play them.....

[Biglad_UK]

I've been reading here, AVS and loads of other places but I wanted to have confirmed the definative list of what I can plug in to my TV and play native MKV files......I don't know about anyone else but my collection of MKV is growing really quickly and converstion to play on my 360 is taking ages and I lose the 5.1 which is a pain

So.....

Here is the list as I see it

MediaCenter PC
MacMini ( not sure if this is powerful enough )
Popcorn Hour ( when released )
LIM200HD
TVIX HD M-5100SH or M-4100SH

Have I missed anything ?


Recommendations

[leckie]

Well the MacMini will deff be powerful enough and you always have the added bonus of it being small and pretty to look at, and with Leopard out now it has the AppleTV interface.

[Matt Horne]

Currently using the TVIX 4100 which plays them very well both 720/1080p mkv files.

[Zaxx]

The Netgear EVA8000 with the latest firmware will play mkvs .

[Biglad_UK]

Originally Posted by leckie

Well the MacMini will deff be powerful enough and you always have the added bonus of it being small and pretty to look at, and with Leopard out now it has the AppleTV interface.

Thanks for the info....I'll keep the MacMini in the back ground as an idea cause it's really over kill for just a media player

Si

[Biglad_UK]

Originally Posted by Matt Horne

Currently using the TVIX 4100 which plays them very well both 720/1080p mkv files.

This was my favorite ( after the popcorn hour device ) although to get it in the UK it's very expensive.

Si

[Biglad_UK]

Originally Posted by Zaxx

The Netgear EVA8000 with the latest firmware will play mkvs .

WOW....I didn't know that.......I can't see any information confirming this.

Can you post a link ?

Thanks

Si

[Zaxx]

Visit Netgear's EVA8000 forum

http://forum1.netgear.com/forumdisplay.php?f=85

A Sub board from this forum is the EVA8000 beta forum.

Here's details of the latest firmware 2.0.111

Changes

New Sigma Codecs
Fixed issue where MKV AC3 audio has gaps when AC3 passthru is enabled
Fixed issue where MKV video stops playing after 8-12 minutes
Fixed intermittent squealching when playing MP3 audio
Fixed issue where DIVX video unexpectedly losses audio during playback
Miscellaneous UI fixes and enhancements
More DVD playback and navigation fixes
Fixed DVD trick modes
DVD tags shows correctly
DNS entries now show up if unit fails to get IP via DHCP
Fixed issue where unit locks up trying to set up network
Fixed misinterpreting tags in WMV files
Automatic scan for update file in data folder location
No longer reboots when trying to play MJPEG video
Removed audio pop heard on start of video playback
Playing music now stops currently playing video

Known Issues

MKV DTS audio has gaps if played thru passthru
Subtitles do not work in MKV videos
DVR-MS SD/HD videos gets out of sync audio
Music played via UPnP does not show duration (stays at 00:00) in Now Playing
DTS passthru setting does is always passthru
Using trick modes in MPEG1 causes instability
Unable to play Hauppauge MPEG2 standard profile (no problems with playing DVD profile)
Trying to play Hauppauge MPEG2 standard profile causes instability
No audio with some DRM WMV videos
DVDs with multiple angles don't play properly
TS video playback degrades system stability
Unable to play any video after stopping stuttering video
Support for HDMI 480P with HDMV-DVI cables is broken
(To get around this issue during setup, press the "TV Mode" button
until the mode is changed to one of the supported modes of 720, 1080i, or 1080p)

[PD_BARBS]

Can anyone recommend a good mkv convertor, any ones I have tried, are c**p. I am looking to convert large files, into avi preferrably.

[Smurkenstein]

For mkv to xvid

I use mediacoder [let google be your friend]...tried avitoall and some others but they just gave me stress.

Settings:

Audio
enable copy - tick
copy audio - tick (you can transode the audio if you like, but the files I have been trancoding have dd 5.1 and this setting preserves the surround)

Video
MODE - two pass
enable video - tick
rate 1600 kbps (I dont think this is actually used with two pass)
Format XviD
wrapper avi
dont tick copy video unless you want to preserve the codec (my mediaplayer doesnt do h264 so I transcode to xvid)

Picture
framerate - tick
dropdown original (global must not be ticked)

Very nice results in my hands - I tend to transcode overnight



another program I used was DivX converter drag and drop - results weren't very goo.

[robsonalan]

Originally Posted by Biglad_UK

WOW....I didn't know that.......I can't see any information confirming this.

Can you post a link ?

Thanks

Si

I can confirm this. I have an EVA8000 with the lates Beta Firmware and it is now playing all of my MKV files without a problem that do not have DTS encoded Audio. MKV's with DTS audio has no sound at present but I am sure this will be fixed with the next firmware.

It is very happy playing 720p and 1080p MKV files with the new firmware.

[PD_BARBS]

Originally Posted by Smurkenstein

For mkv to xvid

I use mediacoder [let google be your friend]...tried avitoall and some others but they just gave me stress.

Settings:

Audio
enable copy - tick
copy audio - tick (you can transode the audio if you like, but the files I have been trancoding have dd 5.1 and this setting preserves the surround)

Video
MODE - two pass
enable video - tick
rate 1600 kbps (I dont think this is actually used with two pass)
Format XviD
wrapper avi
dont tick copy video unless you want to preserve the codec (my mediaplayer doesnt do h264 so I transcode to xvid)

Picture
framerate - tick
dropdown original (global must not be ticked)

Very nice results in my hands - I tend to transcode overnight



another program I used was DivX converter drag and drop - results weren't very goo.

I have used both the ATItoAll and Divx Converter and the results where not good. I will give this a try

[PD_BARBS]

Originally Posted by Smurkenstein

For mkv to xvid

I use mediacoder [let google be your friend]...tried avitoall and some others but they just gave me stress.

Settings:

Audio
enable copy - tick
copy audio - tick (you can transode the audio if you like, but the files I have been trancoding have dd 5.1 and this setting preserves the surround)

Video
MODE - two pass
enable video - tick
rate 1600 kbps (I dont think this is actually used with two pass)
Format XviD
wrapper avi
dont tick copy video unless you want to preserve the codec (my mediaplayer doesnt do h264 so I transcode to xvid)

Picture
framerate - tick
dropdown original (global must not be ticked)

Very nice results in my hands - I tend to transcode overnight



another program I used was DivX converter drag and drop - results weren't very goo.

Thanks for the tip, this worked great, one thing though I had to use a much higher bit rate around 6000, to be able to get the quality of the original, but easily the best convertor I have used.

Great help

[Smurkenstein]

Ahhh...should have read 16000 not 1600. Whatever, I'm transcoding at the moment using 6000 as you suggested.

I think the good thing is you can set mediacoder to transcode say a 10 second clip just to try the settings out and then view the results usng the inbuilt playback and compare head to head with the original...all in the mediacoder software. Fantastic for tweaking.

Request to moderators > any chance of a sticky with links and settings for transcoding software essentials? If you have an older player, transcoding is quite important - there is a lot of software out there that doesnt work very well, and optimisations can be very time consuming.

[PD_BARBS]

Originally Posted by Smurkenstein

Ahhh...should have read 16000 not 1600. Whatever, I'm transcoding at the moment using 6000 as you suggested.

I think the good thing is you can set mediacoder to transcode say a 10 second clip just to try the settings out and then view the results usng the inbuilt playback and compare head to head with the original...all in the mediacoder software. Fantastic for tweaking.

Request to moderators > any chance of a sticky with links and settings for transcoding software essentials? If you have an older player, transcoding is quite important - there is a lot of software out there that doesnt work very well, and optimisations can be very time consuming.

I got over excited with my results, when I copied the stuff back to the media player, there is alot of stuttering on the playback, so I may need to mess about with the setting abit more. I didn't know that you could transcode a small clip, so that maybe a better option than waiting for the 2 gb to be complete.

Thanks