MKV or other video formats

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leifgjh

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MKV or other video formats

#1

Post by leifgjh » Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:35 pm

I have a windows7 pc with 64bit cpu.
I would like to rip movies in mkv/h264 format, But i have tried to install codecs without any success.

1. Is There An easy, "foolproof" way to make mkv playable in wmc? (64 bit)
2. What is the best wmc format for ripping dvds and bd discs, if one Will not use mkv/h268 format?
3. What is the best file format for cd ripping?

Thanks very much!

Leif

lithium630

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#2

Post by lithium630 » Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:23 pm

leifgjh wrote:I have a windows7 pc with 64bit cpu.
I would like to rip movies in mkv/h264 format, But i have tried to install codecs without any success.

1. Is There An easy, "foolproof" way to make mkv playable in wmc? (64 bit)
2. What is the best wmc format for ripping dvds and bd discs, if one Will not use mkv/h268 format?
3. What is the best file format for cd ripping?

Thanks very much!

Leif
To play MKV, you should only need the Haali splitter installed. Personally I like WTV for my movies. It holds h264 just like WTV but FF/RW work and there are no issues playing on extenders.

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newfiend

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#3

Post by newfiend » Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:23 pm

There are a few questions you should answer first before I make any suggestions...

Are you only watching .MKV on the HTPC? Or are you planning on using Extenders?
Playing .MKV on a HTPC is a piece of cake. I do that all the time.. I can give you instructions on how to do it in a minimalist form so you do not have to install a bunch of Codec(s) or any Codec pack.

If you plan on using an extender to playback .MKV that can be a bit of a pain to configure.. and get working 100% I have had mixed results.

If you just want .MKV playback on the HTPC let me know by posting a reply and I'll get you detailed instructions. I use X64 with ,MKV w/o issue.
If you want a fool proof way to play back a file type on both the MC PC and the Extenders .WTV is probably the best container format as it supports FF and REW within MC. MKV will not support FF and REW. Play and Pause are fine though.

If you want to to backup your DVD - Blu-ray's there are lots of options out there I'll post a few for you to look at. (Google is your friend.)
Handbrake, Make MKV, Any DVD and Any DVD HD, You can use this for geting your video files into a .WTV Container here: http://www.videoredo.com/en/index.htm It will depend on what format you decide on encoding to what software you will want to use.

As far and Ripping Audio CD's it will depend on how much of an audiophile you are.. If .MP3 (compressed audio) isn't your thing there are other formats supported by WMC..they are:
.asx, .wm, .wma, .wmx, .wav, .mp3, .m3u, And .aac

You can set up Windows Media Player to rip those to the desired format by opening Windows Media Player, hit the ALT key, select Tool and then Options, On the Rip Music Tab you will have options to select from and even select the audio quality in Kbps.. I rip mine to .MP3.. and use roughly 160 to 192 Kbps.

I'm not that pickey on audio quality for music.. If you are I would suggest maybe ripping to WMA Lossless. The files will be much bigger and take up more HDD room but the quality will be much better.

HTH,
Let me know what dirrection you plan on going and I'll try and help more
newfiend~

leifgjh

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#4

Post by leifgjh » Mon Oct 22, 2012 9:59 pm

Thanks for very kind help.
I dont think i Will use extenders.
But is it not best to choose wtv?
(Plays directly in wmc and on extenders and no ff/rew problems)
Why choose mkw in Stead of wtv?

foxwood

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#5

Post by foxwood » Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:08 pm

Money. Unfortunately, the .wtv container isn't as well supported by the free creation/conversion tools as .mkv is. To take advantage of the advantages of the .wtv container, you'll have to pay for VideoRedo, whereas there are a number of free tools for putting your content in .mkv containers.

lithium630

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#6

Post by lithium630 » Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:11 pm

foxwood wrote:Money. Unfortunately, the .wtv container isn't as well supported by the free creation/conversion tools as .mkv is. To take advantage of the advantages of the .wtv container, you'll have to pay for VideoRedo, whereas there are a number of free tools for putting your content in .mkv containers.

DVRMSToolbox is free and can convert to WTV, but it's not the most user friendly program. I agree though that there is much more support for MKV.

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#7

Post by foxwood » Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:13 pm

lithium630 wrote:DVRMSToolbox is free and can convert to WTV, but it's not the most user friendly program. I agree though that there is much more support for MKV.
It's been a while, but the last time I used it to convert some ripped DVDs, they were pretty much unwatchable, due to jerkiness.

It's an unfortunate indicator of just how niche Windows Media Center is.

leifgjh

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#8

Post by leifgjh » Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:18 pm

Ok then.
Please tell me how to set up mkv in wmc in A simple foolproof way on x64.
Thanks A lot!!!

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newfiend

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#9

Post by newfiend » Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:28 pm

Not only is it more expensive to convert to .WTV but that container is also only supported in Windows/WMC.. The container is not supported outside of Windows. If you decide later on to move on to XMBC etc.. you would end up converting all those .WTV files to another container format as they will not play.

I Like .MKV.. I have lots of files in that container. If FF / REW is something you can live without.. (I can.. I find it vary rare that I need to FF or REW) then .MKV is fine. Plus you can always take the mouse and move the slider bar in WMC to approx where you left off in a show and be pretty accurate. (it's a small pain but not a big deal)

If you have an AVR and want to bit stream the audio to the AVR some of the settings you will need to make will be different. If you want .MKV instructions let me know, but also I will need to know if you are using an AVR or not.

It's up to you at this point how you want to proceed.
newfiend~

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newfiend

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#10

Post by newfiend » Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:42 pm

Ok..
.MKV Container support for WMC.
Download Haali Media Splitter here: http://haali.su/mkv/
Do the defualt Installation, you will not need to change any settings during installation.

Go here: http://www.hack7mc.com/2009/02/mkvs-for ... ows-7.html and download and merge the Registry Hack with your Registry.. You only need the one Specific to your OS. (in your case X64 it's STEP #3 in the article do step 3 only on that page nothing else is needed.). Download and Merge..(double click it, Ignore the warning about merging info into the registry.. this has no adverse effects on Windows or MC.)

A lot of .MKV's have AC3 Audio. For that you will need AC3 Filter. That can be had here: http://ac3filter.net/wiki/Download_AC3Filter
Get version 2.5b and Install it. (There are specific settings for this if you have an AVR) Let me know if you do or not and I can help with configuration of AC3 Filter.

.MKV's do not natively display thumbnails in Windows.. This can be fixed by installing Icaros

Post Split due to 3 Link Limitation on TGB.tv.. (Finished two posts down.. Darn u Foxwood! LOL J/K Bro :D )
Last edited by newfiend on Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.

foxwood

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#11

Post by foxwood » Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:44 pm

newfiend wrote:Not only is it more expensive to convert to .WTV but that container is also only supported in Windows/WMC.. The container is not supported outside of Windows. If you decide later on to move on to XMBC etc.. you would end up converting all those .WTV files to another container format as they will not play.
That's not entirely true. WTV support has been added to some of the libraries that many of the free tools rely on (ffmpeg has had wtv support for over a year, and you can play .wtv files in VLC these days. I've played .wtv files on android tablets, (though the wifi connection didn't hold up very well for High Def files - they played OK off a USB drive). I don't know for sure, but I assume that's how Comskip was able to add support for .wtv files.

.wtv container support might not be as robust in these 3rd party tools as it in in WMC (I never tried to access the subtitles in a .wtv file, for example) it's definitely available. and I don't know what the story is with writing content to .wtv containers, but there is support for .wtv containers in open source libraries.

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newfiend

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#12

Post by newfiend » Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:50 pm

Icaros can be had here: http://majorgeeks.com/Icaros_d7220.html
Install this and enable it.

You may want to install DirectVobSub (VSFilter) as well as some movies have forced subtitles and withiout this you will not get subtitles for movies when you need to understand a foreign language part of a movie.
For that you will need the X64 bit version of VSFilter (DirectVobSub) available mid page here: http://www.hack7mc.com/2009/07/loading- ... ilter.html
Follow the instructions there on how to install it. If you need help just ask.

Thats pretty much it. .MKV's should now play in Media Center.. Like I said before let me know if you have an AVR and want to have that decode the audio instead of the PC.. If so let me know and I'll get you instructions on setting up AC3 Filter.
newfiend~
Last edited by newfiend on Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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newfiend

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#13

Post by newfiend » Mon Oct 22, 2012 10:51 pm

foxwood wrote:
newfiend wrote:Not only is it more expensive to convert to .WTV but that container is also only supported in Windows/WMC.. The container is not supported outside of Windows. If you decide later on to move on to XMBC etc.. you would end up converting all those .WTV files to another container format as they will not play.
That's not entirely true. WTV support has been added to some of the libraries that many of the free tools rely on (ffmpeg has had wtv support for over a year, and you can play .wtv files in VLC these days. I've played .wtv files on android tablets, (though the wifi connection didn't hold up very well for High Def files - they played OK off a USB drive). I don't know for sure, but I assume that's how Comskip was able to add support for .wtv files.

.wtv container support might not be as robust in these 3rd party tools as it in in WMC (I never tried to access the subtitles in a .wtv file, for example) it's definitely available. and I don't know what the story is with writing content to .wtv containers, but there is support for .wtv containers in open source libraries.
hmm.. well that's news to me.. but good news at any rate. Thanks for the update. :)

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#14

Post by richard1980 » Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:21 pm

newfiend wrote:A lot of .MKV's have AC3 Audio. For that you will need AC3 Filter. That can be had here: http://ac3filter.net/wiki/Download_AC3Filter
Get version 2.5b and Install it. (There are specific settings for this if you have an AVR) Let me know if you do or not and I can help with configuration of AC3 Filter.
I suspect you are talking about decoding AC3 locally. When bitstreaming, AC3Filter is not needed. I currently only have Haali and I bitstream AC3 from MKVs just fine.

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newfiend

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#15

Post by newfiend » Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:28 pm

richard1980 wrote:
newfiend wrote:A lot of .MKV's have AC3 Audio. For that you will need AC3 Filter. That can be had here: http://ac3filter.net/wiki/Download_AC3Filter
Get version 2.5b and Install it. (There are specific settings for this if you have an AVR) Let me know if you do or not and I can help with configuration of AC3 Filter.
I suspect you are talking about decoding AC3 locally. When bitstreaming, AC3Filter is not needed. I currently only have Haali and I bitstream AC3 from MKVs just fine.
Yes.. I am assuming at this point he/she has no AVR and would need to decode it locally.. sorry should have been more specific.

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#16

Post by leifgjh » Tue Oct 23, 2012 5:42 am

I Will try this. It was very helpful.
Ps
Do You have A link or A link to a post on how to setup and tweek wmc

leifgjh

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#17

Post by leifgjh » Tue Oct 23, 2012 8:16 am

Thanks. No avr. Just A htpc

bobbob

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#18

Post by bobbob » Tue Oct 23, 2012 8:58 am

i never use ff or rew, skip is much better, more accurate and is available for mkv's. anything i archive gets stored in mkv but i use shark007's codec pack which gives me full functionality. people will try and warn you off codec packs such as shark's but it just does so many things for me i don't think i'd be able to configure the individual codecs to achieve the same result.

in the past codec packs were seen as a bad thing, but search the forum and the net, there are virtually no recent complaints about them. plus anyone that installs software without taking a restore point, or regularly backs up, deserves everything they get.

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#19

Post by richard1980 » Tue Oct 23, 2012 11:36 am

Except Matroska (MKV) is not a codec. It's a container format. It is not necessary to install a codec pack in order to play MKV files in WMC. The only thing needed is an MKV splitter such as Haali. Additionally, an inexperienced user (which is obviously what we are dealing with, no offense to the OP) can easily break WMC by installing a codec pack.

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#20

Post by bobbob » Tue Oct 23, 2012 1:00 pm

and your point is? i don't see anywhere that i stated mkv is a codec, just that shark's pack was a solution to his problem.

and i totally disagree that an inexperienced user could break his pc by using Shark's pack. i agree this wasn't always the case, a couple of years ago there were regular posts on the old tgb about the subject but i haven't seen one of these for ages and yet the robotic reaction from too many users is codecs packs are bad without any consideration of how things might have changed in the intervening period.

as i said anyone sensible would be backing up regularly and taking restore points so even that point is completely irrelevant

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