Windows Media Player & Center, problems with .mkv files & .srt files

[johngalt]

Hmmm, I haven't tried one in 7068 yet - let me look....

 

[Falco77]

k cool thanks a lot

cheers

 

[zay]

Hello,
I found a solution that worked for me.
rename the files
C>windows>system32
MP4SDECD.DLL
MP43DECD.DLL
MPG4DECD.DLL

See the site:
Solved: Switch off MPEG4 Foundation Codecs > reinstate FFDSHOW - Australian Media Center Community
for more info

Falco, I can speak from experience, that renaming these files can cause issues with MC or WMP. I also had issues with getting mkv and srt files to work. While on build 7000, I did not get them to work. Once I upgraded to build 7068, I installed the shark007 codec, and also merged this reg file attached. Now please don't get me wrong, I am not saying don't try what Janjansen is suggesting, I am just letting you know what happened when I did it. I don't think anyone will offer ill advice, but I feel it is my duty to share my experiences with others. I hope you do find some resolution for your issue. One thing to consider, remove ALL codecs you have installed, then install the shark007, and merge the reg file, and see how it works for you. some codec packs take charge of media file types, and make it hard for the "correct" pack to work.

 

[johngalt]

I did the exact same thing on 3 builds - it plays them but does not allow for changing language / Sub titles....

 

[HKeleher]

I've used Media Center Control on my Vista box for over a year and a half now with good results. He's recently released a Windows 7 compatible version. I have three PC's I use at home and my media center PC is typically the last to be tinkered with (I usually just lay on the couch and watch videos.)

But I do watch a lot of MKV files with multiple audio and subtitle streams. While VLC plays those files fine it's not as convenient as being able to select and manipulate these choices while using WMC and a compatible remote. You can also download SRT files and select them if you so choose based on the video file you have.

I've not tried this on Win7 yet (but I will when RC becomes available and I upgrade my WMC PC) so try it at your own risk. Although I don't imagine you'll have much trouble. There are some required preinstalls such as FDDShow and a matroska splitter (like Haali) but those are easy to obtain and most codec packs include what you need as long as they are up to date. Just follow the installation instructions, it's not very difficult at all. No file renames, no registry changes, etc.

 

[zay]

I did the exact same thing on 3 builds - it plays them but does not allow for changing language / Sub titles....

Are you referring to renaming the files?

 

[johngalt]

I am referring to the MKV files not displaying subtitles in WMC whereas in WiMP they do.

 

[HKeleher]

If you use the Media Center Control I posted you'll be able to use subtitles embedded in the MKV container or any 3rd party SRT's you want.

 

[johngalt]

I'll give that a shot - since I am using Shark007's codecs, I already have FFDShow installed...

 

[HKeleher]

Okay, sorry for bumping up an old thread (well, it's not quite that old, heheh) but I finally ate my own dogfood. As I indicated before I planned to upgrade my Vista Media Center box to Windows 7 once RC was available and so I have.

It took some doing but I finally have WMC playing subtitles and changing audio streams using Media Control. I strongly prefer to be able to do all of this in WMC just using a remote while laying on my couch, no keyboard, no mouse, no switching apps/windows. The site is not entirely clear what you need to do so here are a few observations I figured out that may work for folks here:

• After upgrading from Windows Vista uninstall all old codecs and containers. I'm also running the 181.71 Windows 7 nVidia drivers as the Windows provided drivers just don't stack up.
• Install all of the packages Media Control explains in the following order:
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86) (or x64 depending on your system, mine is x86.) This needs to be first.
    
    [*]Haali Media Splitter
    [*]The latest FDDShow package - There was a bug in releases 2875 through 2913 or some close to those versions that would crash WMC, ouch. I'm using 2925 and so far no crashes.
    [*]Media Control version 6.0 beta which is found in the Windows 7 category of the forums.
  
  [*]Configure FFDShow as instructed on the Media Control site. You might need to configure the FFDShow audio decoder / Codecs / Uncompressed => None (or disabled.) I had some problems playing avi's in WMP where the sound stuttered very badly. I made several tweaks beyond this but I can't recall them off of the top of my head but I don't believe any of them are show stoppers.
• Disable Windows 7 default decoding though I've read that this may cause problems with Live TV. On this box I don't have a TV Card, it's just for viewing downloaded and streaming media. I do have an x64 machine in my office with a TV Card but I don't typically watch downloaded/streamed media on that box. Reboot after renaming the files.
• If you have a Windows MC remote then Media Control has the buttons preprogramed for launching the app in MC as well as switching between audio and subtitle streams/files. I use a wireless radio remote that doesn't have the color buttons but the Media Control configuration app allows you to reassign buttons which I was able to do in order to launch Media Control in MC and just switch streams. Works like a champ. This also allowed me to use subtitle files for videos (FFDShow is configured by default to look for them in the root folder of the video.)

I have noticed that the subtitles tend to flicker a bit which they didn't do on Vista so this is something I'll have to dig into later and see if I can adjust that. I'm running 720p at 60Hz so I'm not sure what's up there. Also you can use Windows Media Player to watch MKV's and use the task bar icons to switch streams (on the Haali icon) if you don't want to use WMC.

I've only just set this up but so far my results are good. It is beta on an RC so your results may vary of course, heheh. Hopefully this will get folks going.

 

[johngalt]

@HK - Enjoy the rep - *thank* you for getting this sorted out and including the additional steps that were not listed on the website....

 

[HKeleher]

Thanks! It took two evenings to sort out but when I set my mind to something I don't easily give up.

Hopefully this will help some folks out!

 

[YupYup]

Anyone try Project Rémoulade yet? it seems promising.

 

[HKeleher]

As I had hoped the latest 185.81 drivers released from nVidia for Windows 7 took care of the subtitle flickering issue! Now the install is complete and in many ways it's working better than it did as a Vista Media Center. I'm quite happy.

The only issue I'm seeing at the moment is the fast forward/rewind feature sometimes crashes MC. But since I like most people are used to using the skip foward/skip backward buttons this is of little concern and I'm sure it will be taken care of in a future release.

The big deal is being able to select different audio and subtitle streams using the remote.

 

[johngalt]

Thanks for the link YupYup - I did not know that Matroska Video format was DivX v7....

 

[HKeleher]

Neither did I. I thought they could use what ever codec they wanted that the MKV container supports but that was a wisp of a thought that I never spent much time looking into. Getting Haali's splitter was all I needed and once it worked I moved on the the next Windows "issue." Heheh.

 

[johngalt]

That is the weird thing, though - with the Windows 7 codecs I install, I already have Haali's splitter....

I wonder if I can just make some changes with the Windows 7 codecs and have it working....

 

[HKeleher]

The splitter that came with the codecs you installed may not be the latest available but the latest release since 3/28/08 isn't exactly ground breaking so you should be okay.

I used to install codec packs but have read that it's better to only install the codecs you need as the packs can gum things up. This has worked well for me. If you aren't sure what codec a file uses then the GSpot application will tell you and let you know if you have it already installed (good for troubleshooting video playback issues.) If an MKV file has issues VLC can be a helpful test since most everything is built into the player.

There also seems to be some Haali Splitter integration or friendly interaction with fddshow. In most cases that's mostly all I needed for most if not all mainstream video formats out there... at least ones I would consistently watch.

 

[Senna]

The workaround I've found (fresh install RC x64) is not removing/renaming the default filters, but changing the 'preferred' keys in the registry: the default installed filter doesn't appear to have subtitle/text output. I've written the steps to resolution below.
1. Download splitters from guliverkli2 repo on Sourceforge (browse all, there's x64 files)
2. Register downloaded filters - elevated command prompt, command is: regsvr32 "filename.extension" *you will get visual/audio result
3. Download/Install ffdshowtryout - only config change I needed was enable stream switcher in audio config
4. Change 'preferred' key in registry - this requires changing permissions on the keys by taking ownership with 'Administrators' under properties>permissions>advanced>owner (remember to check replace on subcontainers) then give Administrators full control. (keys below)
5. Change REG_SZ from {212690FB-83E5-4526-8FD7-74478B7939CD} to {04FE9017-F873-410E-871E-AB91661A4EF7} in [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectShow\Preferred] and [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\DirectShow\Preferred] *x64 only
6. Reboot

So far I have not had any issues with recording/playback of recorded items, DVD playback, mkv/ogg/avi subtitles, multi-language video files. Since this doesn't disable the default Microsoft DTV-DVD Filter it should still be able to be used as intended, YMMV. I exported the registry entries, but it's almost as fast to just paste in since you have to take ownership first.

 

[pocketpride]

Hee guys, I followed this thread i installed win7codecs en all is fine. But i have one small problem. I can't get preview thumbnails of mkv files. Does anyone have a clue?