MKV video files????

[tommygunn]

Hi there I have downloaded a couple of movies from newsgroups that are mkv format and they play fine on my PC but I can't get any audio on my Boxee Box. I have many other movies on my drive attached via usb in that mkv format and they run fine without a glitch. Any help or thoughts on this please. Video is fine and the movies source was blue ray.

Thanks,
Tommy

[darcilicious]

mkv is just a container, doesn't say how the video was encoded. Download and run "media info lite" and run it on a flue that doesn't play then post the output here.

[tommygunn]

Thanks darcilicious I will do that, I actually downloaded another version of the same move, the new Ghost Rider which was also MKV format and that did not play audio either but both versions of the movie were fine on my PC. Anyhow I will download "media info lite" as you suggest and post the output but I will do it tomorrow as I am heading off to bed.

Did I say thanks for you help....lol
Thanks very much and I will do as you suggest.
Tommy

[tommygunn]

Ok darcilicious, didn't go to bed as mentioned but downloaded and installed "media info lite". Here is the attached info of the movie.

Hope I did the attachment right.

Thanks and now I am off to bed but will wait 5 minutes just to see if you are still online and are able to see the attached text file.

[Cableguy]

Probably has something to do with your audio settings. Try changing your audio output to ALL and that should fix it. I had the same problem with MKV files and that fixed it.

[tommygunn]

Thanks Cableguy, that did it. Wish I had known that before I wasted my time downloading another version of the movie...lol I used to use the Popcorn Hour until it died but I am totally sold with my Boxee Box now.

Do you have any problems playing back dvd format (vob files)? With the Popcorn Hour I always liked the Dvd format because it give me all the menus so it was like playing back from a dvd or blue ray disk. Most of my collection are Iso or Dvd format so I was trying to use the same with my Boxee but occasionally the Boxee dosn't like the dvd format but I don't have any problems with Iso movies playing on the Boxee. ISO is actually my favorite format now with the Boxee.

Any advice here on what format I should use that would give me the best quality both for video and audio. I download all my movies and tv shows from the newsgroups so as mentioned above in the past with the Popcorn Hour most of my collection was made up of the DVD (vob) or ISO files which obviously you know already the ISO's are just the Dvd format. So lately when I am looking for any movie I try to look for the blue ray ISO rips.

Anyhow any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated as to what format I should use for the best quality.

Thanks again Cableguy and also to you darcilicious.

[twistybox]

If you are only using a TV with its built-in speakers and don't have an external sound processor or multiple speakers in a 5.1, 7.1, 9.2, etc. setup, then it doesn't matter much what sound format you have your movies encoded in as you'll never hear the difference.

In general, the best video encoding quality can be achieved with h.264 (the container such as MKV or MP4 doesn't make a difference here) and audio should be left as pass-through from the original source (Dolby Digital, DTS, etc.)

If you don't have the capability to decode surround formats with your equipment outside of Boxee, then you must turn those modes off in Boxee's settings. Setting audio output to "ALL" effectively does this and forces stereo output, causing Boxee to do all the decoding itself..