Any experience with .mkv video files?

[JParedis]

Hi,

I got an name.mkv video file (or as it says on the .mkv website, it's a 'container', not a codec).

It does play in windows media player, and it also plays via SageTV ... however ...

1. It does not show up in the selectable video files, I got to select it manually ("play other file"). Guess that's something that can be 'fixed' by adding the extention somewhere in the properties file?

2. It starts always in the small preview window (left under corner). I do not seem to be able to select it, have to go back to main menu where I can move to the small screen and by hitting enter make it full screen.

Does anybody have experience with playing .mkv files via SageTV?

I found a site explaining how to convert to Divx, but it seems to take time and requires me to install too many additional software (but may at end be the only way out).

Jan

[Lucas]

They will show up if you include .mkv in the Sage.properties line.

seeker/video_library_import_filename_extensions=

After that they should play. Just how well they play, is a different matter.

On my old P4 3Ghz processor, even though the latest h.264 support in 6.1 allows me to play h.264 .ts files smoothly, x.264 .mkv files don't play smoothly.

[JParedis]

Lucas,

Thanks for that info, I did include the extention and it does now appear in the Video's.

I got an AMD Dual Core 4200+, 3Gb of RAM and running VISTA Ultimate. The .mkv file does play smoothly on the HTPC, however is a disaster via the MVP. Guess that's because SageTV than has to convert it to MPG2 format.

Are you aware of an easy way to convert .mvk in a more standard format (AVI, MPG)? I did find a page, but it did require multiple manipulations and software before it could be done.

Thanks ... Jan

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by JParedis

Are you aware of an easy way to convert .mvk in a more standard format (AVI, MPG)? I did find a page, but it did require multiple manipulations and software before it could be done.
Thanks ... Jan

Jan,
Don't forget .mkv(matroshka) is just a container format for x.264.
I am not aware of a specific tool but there should be a few that would allow you to reencode the x.264 to Mpeg2.

I am currently avoiding .mkv files since they don't play well on my current HTPC and it will be unlikely that they will be supported natively(without transcoding) by the future SageTV HD Extender.

I prefer to view either the h.264 or mpeg2 versions of the clips.