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Viewing

Although VLC Media Player is sufficient to play the file, this guide recommends the use of the more flexible Media Player Classic in conjunction with the following separately installed components: ffdshow, Haali Media Splitter, and VSFilter, configured as directed below.

If you would like to download an archive containing the recommended viewing software, (and some of the alternate software) click here. Although this package is current as of 2006/01/18, it is recommended that you download each piece of software individually from its original location so that you can be sure you have the latest version.

(ffdshow icon) ffdshow-x264 (mirror here)
This open source filter is the fastest and best XviD decoder available. It also handles DivX and many other codecs perfectly. It is recommended over any bulk codec pack, and is included in the better slim packs. After installation, configure as follows:

From the "Start" menu, go to the ffdshow folder and open the "Video decoder configuration" utility.

Scroll down and highlight "Output" in the menu on the left.

Check the "Use overlay mixer" box. This will ensure an undistorted anamorphic picture.

Click the "Apply" button and the "OK" button.

Would you like to know more?Distorted picture
If the picture is still distorted, try selecting "No aspect ratio correction" in the "Resize & aspect" menu.

Disabling ffdshow
If for some reason you want to use the native XviD decoder, you must disable the XviD capability of the ffdshow filter. From the Start menu, go to the ffdshow video decoder configuration utility. Highlight the "Codecs" configuration menu then change the XviD decoder from "libavcodec" to "disabled".

Subtitles
To have ffdshow display subtitles, go to the Start menu and open the ffdshow video configuration utility. Scroll to the "Subtitles" menu on the left, check the "Subtitles" box on the right, then check "Accept embedded subtitles". If you want to have the subtitles appear directly over the picture instead of over a black border, un-check the "Letterbox" drop-down menu. The subtitle function works poorly in ffdshow-alpha but well in later versions.

(Media Player Classic icon) Media Player Classic
One benefit to using this player is that it can replace RealOne, Quicktime, and Windows Media Player. Just install the Real Alternative, Quicktime Alternative, and WMP 9 codecs. SVCDs and DVDs will play with no setup required. Media Player Classic is free and open source. Unlike VLC, it makes use of system-level codecs and filters which you can individually install, update, and control.

In some cases, VSFilter may be needed for subtitles. (See below.)

SUBTITLES (method 1):

From the "View" menu in (Media Player Classic icon) Media Player Classic, select "Options... O".

From the "Playback" menu, select "Output".Output

In the "DirectShow Video" section, select "VMR7 (renderless)".

Click the "Apply" button and then the "OK" button.

Load the movie, then go to the "View" menu and select "Subtitles".

Select the proper subtitle stream. If the menu is grayed out, change the playback output to "VMR9 (renderless)" and try again.

If the "Subtitles" menu item is still grey, change the playback output to "System Default" and move on to the second method.

SUBTITLES (method 2):

Download VSFilter and copy the Unicode version to C:\WINDOWS\system32.

From the "Start" menu, select "Run".

Type in regsvr32 VSFilter.dll and click the "OK" button.

Load the movie and the green VobSub arrow icon will appear in the system tray.

To enable subtitles, right-click the green VobSub arrow and select "Show Subtitles".

(If no green arrow appears, try this version of VSFilter.)

(Haali Media Splitter icon) Haali Media Splitter
The splitter makes sense of the streams inside the Matroska container. Install with the default options, disabling any other splitters.

For some alternate software, see the pink section.

(VLC Media Player icon) VLC Media Player
The easiest way to play a video file of almost any type is with VLC. You don't need to install any codecs or filters because they are built in. It has the ability to play SVCDs, DVDs, and disc images. VLC Media Player is free and open source.

(Windows Media Player icon) Windows Media Player
This player requires the Matroska Pack Full.

Install the Matroska pack with only these options checked:
Matroska, FFDShow, and VSFilter

Other players that work with Matroska files include Zoom Player, BSPlayer, The Core Media Player, MPlayer, and Xine.

Most Windows players will require the Matroska Pack Full, (configured as directed above for WMP) or its constituent components (configured as directed above for MPC).

Alternate video decoder: XviD.
Alternate ffdshow builds: Celtic Druid, free-codecs, faireal, and ffdshow-alpha (old).
Alternate audio decoders: CoreVorbis and OggDS.
Alternate splitters: Matroska Splitter and mkxds.

TIPS:

Watch the video all the way through. Look out for choppy playback, blocky or swimmy video, halos around objects, and incorrect colors.

Listen for audio that is tinny, or staticky. Listen for glitches, pops, or skips, and if you find any, try to determine if they're in the .ac3 files. Make sure the audio is in sync.

Watch the subtitles to make sure they are in sync at the beginning and end of the movie. Also look out for misspellings.

Test the chapters to make sure they are correct. If they're off, edit (.xml icon) chapters.xml with the proper times and re-mux. For frame-perfect chapters, open the movie with (VirtualDubMod icon) VirtualDubMod and refer to its time display.

A 2CD movie with Qpel, GMC, high resolution video, Ogg sound, and subtitles can be very CPU intensive. If you have a PC with a processor slower than 1 GHz, you may experience choppy playback or sound that is out of sync with such a movie. Making sure you have the latest version of ffdshow might help, but if playback is still choppy and you're sure the movie was encoded correctly, then there isn't much you can do except to upgrade your computer.

Once you've verified that the .mkv files are good, you can delete everything else in the ripping folder, except for the following:

(.xml icon) chapters.xml
(file icon) characters matrix.sum
(file icon) muxing.mmg
(.avs icon) script.avs
(notepad file icon) subtitles.srt

These files may come in handy if you ever want to rip the movie again.

The example ripping folder contains files named "Amélie (XviD-2xOgg-SRT) CD1.mkv", "Amélie (XviD-2xOgg-SRT) CD2.mkv", "chapters.xml", "characters matrix.sum", "muxing.mmg", and "subtitles.srt".

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