How to play .mkv files?

[Actatoi]

Yeah VLC is pretty good, but CCCP codec pack is also a good one and with media player classic it's BRILLIANT!!!. But if you got an old, slow computer you might get the best out of it with VLC. Since CCCP sometimes slow the movie down on older, slower computers.

What's so brilliant with media player classic?

Off topic, but your avatar reminds me of a gnome.

[Appzalien]

For those who are curious, MKV files are the winrar compression equivalent of the Anime circuit. Mkv files are compressed containers files, inside are the video, audio's (can have more than one), subs and extras. They can be extracted (MKV Extract GUI), viewed (MKV Merge GUI)(which is actually an MKV maker but gives more info about the individual files than the Extractor) and Converted (Virtual Dub Mod/ AlltoAvi/ MKV to Avi Converter).

Since the Anime Circuit is loaded with geeky twerps that think they are smart, MKV files will often be packed with the most outlandish formats of video and audio. Right now H264 video and aac Audio are the favorites. They think they are the codecs of the future but what they are is the codecs from hell. Converting MKV to Avi is often a lesson in frustration for this reason.

I have had some success with h264/aac using the combination of AlltoAvi and dbPowerAmp Music Converter as individual converters for the video (alltoavi select no audio) and audio (extract with MKV Extract GUI and convert to wav with dbPowerAmp with the aac plugin added) and finally join the two back together with Virtual Dub Mod.

Once you have the file in a universal format you can consider sharing it without putting people thru the kind of stuff this post is made of.

[imapotato]

Another vote for VLC. Nothing to install, nothing to configure. Just download and run and it will play just about anything you throw at it.

Also, unlike Media Player Classic (MPC), VLC has keyboard shortcuts for skipping forward and back for a set number of seconds.

[davidw89]

just use cccp player

[JohnDoe]

KMPlayer
No need for instaling codecs since it uses internal codecs. He even played some HD movies which were having framerate problems with other players on my pc .

[whitmar]

On the computer, I use VLC player with CCCP codecs. Until recently I couldn't play HD rip 720p mkv package files on HDTV, but for Christmas, I got a networked media tank that plays just about every kind of media file and has an HDMI output. If anyone is interested, the link is http://www.popcornhour.com. I'm very pleased with it so far. The picture definition and 5.1 surround sound has been excellent. I put in a 500gb Hard Drive, hooked it into the home network and moved tons of files there. I also plugged in an old USB DVD-ROM drive and have played x264 HD rip files I burned onto a dvd. The only trouble I've had is that occasionally, the video file will freeze and I have to reboot the device. All in all, it was easier than dragging a computer into the TV room (which my wife refused anyway!)

[Scavenger]

Did u tried VLC player?

[Diiyad]

VLC Media player plays them.

[C-mos]

update VLC it will play it.

+1

[Ludvig]

VLC is fine but the best splitter for .mkv is Haali :
http://haali.cs.msu.ru/mkv/
+ you get the video renderer which is awesome !
Simple solution:WMP11 + haali + the video codec you need.
Best solution:zp+haali Splitter+haali renderer+ codec you need
Don' t install ffdshow;don't install the cccp pack