Problems with mkv media files.

[Alex]

I have had a lot of problems playing .mkv files on vlc media player, the only player that sort of worked was the Kaffeine player, but there was always a loss of sound synchronization - this could be adjusted 'on the fly' using the left and right arrows in quick succession. but a bit of a pain.

I think that the problem maybe that my computer just does not have the RAM for it (the media file was ~3.8Gb I only have 2 GB RAM)...would I be correct in that assumption? And is there anyway that I could use a USB drive or part of my HD as  'temporary' RAM?'.

I used to have the same problems with this type of file on Win XP as well, which indicates that it is not a problem with LL.

Thanks

Alex 

[rokytnji]

Mine does not struggle but I get good service from the  ati driver on mine.

Code:

$ inxi -G
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Wrestler [Radeon HD 6250]
           Display Server: X.Org 1.15.1 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: [email protected]
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD PALM GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.1.3

Maybe go into Settings>Install additional drivers may help you?

[rokytnji]

Also. 

I use "mpc" & "mpd" on low spec gear to play movies.

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/luci...mpc.1.html

mediaplayer via command line works OK for me also.

http://crunchbang.org/forums/viewtopic.php?pid=229427

[rokytnji]

Example:

Code:

harry@biker1:~$ apt-cache policy mplayer2
mplayer2:
  Installed: 2.0-701-gd4c5b7f-2ubuntu2
  Candidate: 2.0-701-gd4c5b7f-2ubuntu2
  Version table:
*** 2.0-701-gd4c5b7f-2ubuntu2 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/universe i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Code:

harry@biker1:~$ cd Videos
harry@biker1:~/Videos$ mplayer Transcendence.mkv
Creating config file: /home/harry/.mplayer/config
MPlayer2 2.0-701-gd4c5b7f-2ubuntu2 (C) 2000-2012 MPlayer Team
Cannot open file '/home/harry/.mplayer/input.conf': No such file or directory
Failed to open /home/harry/.mplayer/input.conf.
Cannot open file '/etc/mplayer/input.conf': No such file or directory
Failed to open /etc/mplayer/input.conf.

Playing Transcendence.mkv.
[mkv] Track ID 1: video (V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC), -vid 0
[mkv] Track ID 2: audio (A_AAC), -aid 0, -alang eng
[mkv] Will play video track 1.
Detected file format: Matroska
Load subtitles in .
Failed to open VDPAU backend libvdpau_r600.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
[vdpau] Error when calling vdp_device_create_x11: 1
[ass] auto-open
Selected video codec: H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10 [libavcodec]
Selected audio codec: AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) [libavcodec]
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, floatle, 128.0 kbit/4.17% (ratio: 16000->384000)
AO: [pulse] 48000Hz 2ch floatle (4 bytes per sample)
Starting playback...

As long as it works. I ignore the errors.

[Alex]

Thanks rokytnji, i;ll try all those out and report on my efforts. meanwhile, I obtained another copy of the same movie but this time an .mp4 file of only 800Mb. It played fine on Kaffeine, but something strange has happened to my VLC player: it shows a display of many superimposed 'ghosts of other scenes on top of the main one:

[Alex]

I did try additional drivers, but it told me that there were none available. Next I tried Mediaplayer but it told me that i had it, but I cannot find it. MP2 did not work for at all ...I think that I am doing something wrong there.

But I did re-install VLC and now it works perfectly. I must have fiddled with some of its settings.

But I do appreciate your help, even though I was unable to make full use of it - I'll get it all , one day lol!

[N4RPS]

Hello!

Nice desktop, Rok!

73 DE N4RPS
Rob

[Monkeyman]

I think that the problem maybe that my computer just does not have the RAM for it (the media file was ~3.8Gb I only have 2 GB RAM)...would I be correct in that assumption?

I'm the first to admit I don't know jack about much of anything but I doubt RAM has anything to do with it.  I've played 40GB BluRay movies on my computer and I only have 4GB RAM.

[N4RPS]

Hello!

Your statement is correct. The whole file is not loaded into memory before it begins to play.

I may be wrong, but perhaps increasing the size of your /swap partition, if possible, may help with this?

73 DE N4RPS
Rob