WMP and .mkv files

[Dodo la Saumure]

Hi,

I use my Samsung connected tv-set to watch the videos files on my
computer (W7-64). This works through my home wifi.
For that, Samsung gives me no other choice than use Windows Media
Player.
WMP can't read .mkv files but I've plenty of them and get new ones
every day or so ! This means that every time I want to read .mkv files
I have to reencode each to a .avi file and this takes hours using a
high percentage of my CPU ...

Do you know a solution to "force" WMP to read any .mkv file in an
acceptable way for Samsung Allshare to send it to my tv-set ?

Do you think there is nothing to do because it depends on Samsung
tv-set and not on WMP ?

[VanguardLH]

WMP can't read .mkv files ...

You don't have a codec installed that WMP can use to decode MKV files.
Get the K-Lite codec pack to add the needed codec.

http://codecguide.com/klcp_ability_comparison.htm

Once you install the MKV codec, you can play in WMP. You could also use
the Classic Media Player (optionally included with K-Lite) or VideoLAN's
VLC (which uses its own set of codecs).

[Dodo la Saumure]

Post by VanguardLH

WMP can't read .mkv files ...

You don't have a codec installed that WMP can use to decode MKV files.
Get the K-Lite codec pack to add the needed codec.
http://codecguide.com/klcp_ability_comparison.htm
Once you install the MKV codec, you can play in WMP. You could also use
the Classic Media Player (optionally included with K-Lite) or VideoLAN's
VLC (which uses its own set of codecs).

I have that codec and K-Lite already installed.
WMP can read the .wmp files on my computer after having me advised the
extension wasn't recognized by WMP but it can anyway read it.

My problem is not to read these files on my computer on which I mostly
use VLC, it's to read them on my Samsung TV that requires WMP and only
WMP !

[VanguardLH]

Post by Dodo la Saumure

Post by VanguardLH

WMP can't read .mkv files ...

You don't have a codec installed that WMP can use to decode MKV files.
Get the K-Lite codec pack to add the needed codec.
http://codecguide.com/klcp_ability_comparison.htm
Once you install the MKV codec, you can play in WMP. You could also use
the Classic Media Player (optionally included with K-Lite) or VideoLAN's
VLC (which uses its own set of codecs).

I have that codec and K-Lite already installed.
WMP can read the .wmp files on my computer after having me advised the
extension wasn't recognized by WMP but it can anyway read it.
My problem is not to read these files on my computer on which I mostly
use VLC, it's to read them on my Samsung TV that requires WMP and only
WMP !

Then you're stuck having to perform the conversion from MKV to WMP so
your Samsung Allshare software will work.

"my Samsung connected tv-set"

Connected how? The output from the video card doesn't involve any
codec. Could be the Samsung's Allshare is some plug-in to WMP or it
uses the Windows Media Player Sharing Service (which I don't have back
on Windows XP -- you never mentioned your OS). So the problem is not
with WMP or with WMP supporting the MKV codec but with Samsung's plug-in
installed into WMP or use of the WMPNETWK service. If Allshare rejects
anything but a very limited set of decoders, like only .avi, then you're
screwed in having to convert everything non-AVI to AVI to get their
plug-in to work.

"WMP can't read MKV" is what I focused on. Yet now you say that WMP
*can* play MKV files. The problem isn't with WMP. It's with Allshare.

My gut guess is that if Allshare was using an WMP plug-in that it could
send the output of whatever WMP can play to your TV. So I'm guessing it
uses the service to network the streamed video to your TV. The Samsun
Smart TV has a wifi and Ethernet connection so it's probably the
WMPNETWK service that delivers the content to the TV. Well, it's not a
problem of WMP using local codecs on your computer to play videos. It's
a problem with their Allshare software in what codecs it will handle to
stream the video over the network to your TV. Looks like it's rather
crappy software with which you encountering problems; see:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/smart-tv/1646643-getting-grips-samsung-allshare.html

That mentions http://www.serviio.org/ as an alternative. I don't use of
that crap. I figured the problem was with not having an MKV codec (you
didn't mention that you already had one), not with the AllShare app or
its WMP plug-in. You might find more focused help on that software at:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/smart-tv/

Don't know which model you have. I just picked one from their web site.
When I go to:

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/UN55ES7550FXZA

there is a "Live Chat" link. So you could ask there on whether or not
their Allshare program handles anything video formats other than .avi
and, if so, which ones. Doesn't look like a WMP limitation. Looks like
a limitation in their Allshare streaming network program.

You sure Allshare doesn't support MKV? According to page 501 at:

http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201208/20120821134242408/%5BENG_US%5DWEB-EPATSCE-2003-0821.pdf

it says "Playback of various video formats (DivX, MP4, 3GPP, AVI, ASF,
MKV, etc.)" Yeah, be nice if they actually provide a full list of
supported file formats rather than "etc". However, they do like MKV as
supported. Maybe you need to get a newer version.

I also found:

http://inglele.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/samsung-led-tv-allshare-supported-video-format/

MKV, like AVI, is a container, so maybe the problem is with the encoding
that was used within that container. What happens when you create your
own MKV files using the encodings shown in that last article? Yes, you
might end up stuck with reencoding the video inside the container but it
would test if Allshare would accept an MKV if encoding were one of those
supported. Having to reencode an MKV to another MKV probably will take
as long as switch containers from MKV to AVI. The same encodings in AVI
are those supported in MKV, so make sure you don't use an AVI container
that has an encoding that Allshare won't decode.