Play mkv in streaming through WMP

[Gussman]

Do you know if there is any way?? I know that the Windows player does not support mkv by default, but installing the appropriate codecs solves the problem. On my computer I can play mkv without problems in WMP, but when I try to do the same on my smart TV things get complicated. I use the Windows local network to play files in streaming from my computer to the TV, and supposedly it uses WMP, but I do not understand why mkv files are not played (AVI files are ok) if from the computer it is ok. Is there any way to solve it??

Thanks.

[cobito]

The answer to what you are looking for is called VLC. You can download it for Windows from here.

[Bm4n]

You may need to transcode if your TV doesn't support the format, or adjust the bandwidth so that it doesn't cut out. A very customizable server is ps3 media server, try it. It's not the same to play on a PC as on a TV, your computer has the codecs, a good processor and the data on its own disk; the TV doesn't.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Gussman]

@cobito:

The answer to what you're looking for is called VLC. You can download it for Windows from here.

First of all, thank you for the answer.

I know the player, in fact it's the one I use on my computer, but the issue is to play streaming from my computer to the TV, a Samsung UE46ES8000, and I can't figure out how to do it from VLC, to be honest.

@Bm4n:

You may need to transcode if your TV doesn't support the format, or adjust the bandwidth so that there are no cuts. A very customizable server is ps3 media server, try it. It's not the same to play on the PC as on a TV, your computer has the codecs, a good processor and the data on its own disk; the TV doesn't.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I appreciate the answer.

The TV supports the vast majority of formats. If I connect an external hard drive with mkv files directly to the TV, the TV's own decoder plays them without any problems.

The problem comes when you try to do it through streaming over the local network. I've tried with Samsung Link, which is the most compatible, allows playing all kinds of formats and even using advanced functions of the TV (subtitles, different audio, fwd/rwd, etc.), but it gives me functionality problems on the computer.

I've tried with TVersity, which is another dlna/upnp server for streaming, this one allows mkv, but doesn't allow some advanced functions (like fast forward/rewind), which is a pain.

And finally I'm trying with the Windows Media UPnP server, which is the one that works best in general, but it has the drawback of not playing mkv. However, by installing the codecs on my computer, WMP already allows me to watch mkv on the computer, and, supposedly, should allow me to watch them on the TV through streaming since, as I believe, they are actually played on the computer and sent through streaming to the TV (or not??). The key is to know why the hell it doesn't play mkv on the TV and does on the computer.

Do you know if this ps3 media server allows you to fast forward and rewind the streaming?

Do you know if a NAS server would be a viable alternative?? That is, with a NAS server would it be like having the hard drive with the multimedia files directly connected to the TV?? Because, really, the decoder that Samsung incorporates is as good as VLC, and this streaming thing doesn't really convince me.

Cheers

[Bm4n]

Try it and then we'll talk

I repeat that if the computer plays it, the TV doesn't have to, streaming can be done in many ways, usually the file is sent as is, so it depends on the TV that reads it or not. I give you the example of my Samsung TV, and NO, I already tell you that it's not as good as VLC; it does read mkv but not always, depending on the audio format it contains sometimes it can't play it.

MKV is a container in which you can put video, audio and subtitles in different formats, so not always a device like a TV will be able to read all types of MKV. To avoid that, you can do streaming by re-encoding, that is, transforming the signal into another format, PS3 media server identifies the device to know what it can read and what not and sends the signal in a compatible format. When transcoding you can send that new signal with different qualities so you have to configure in such a way that it does not exceed the bandwidth of the network through which you connect it so that there are no cuts, besides the process consumes a lot of CPU.

Because of that, most NAS do not transcode because they do not have enough CPU power and those that do are quite expensive and you are not guaranteed that it will be as compatible as a PC that you can update at the moment or you can change the software. So a NAS will never be as good at transcoding as a PC. If you want to make a good investment, the best thing is that you buy an HTPC, they are not expensive and you can do everything with them; I have a NAS with all my library and this shares it on the network to an HTPC with XBMC as a media center in addition to with the laptop, tablet, mobile, etc. but it does hardly any transcoding because of that I have the HTPC. It is preferable to spend 300€ on one than to spend them on a NAS that transcodes.

! This is mine:

[Gussman]

Well, I don't know if I'm not explaining myself well XD I assure you that if I played the streaming via Windows local network through my TV's decoder, I wouldn't be here asking XDD. The TV plays everything I have without any problems, mkv, mp4, avi, ogg… If I put any file of this type on a pendrive or on a portable hard drive and plug it into the TV, I watch it without any problems. The problem is having to keep loading the hard drive up and down from the computer to the TV, so I set up a local network to which I connect the TV and play the videos by streaming. And the problem is exactly that, that it's not my TV that decodes, but the media center that is used, whether it's Windows, TVersity, or whatever. And what I don't quite understand is why the hell WMP is able to play mkvs on the computer but not on the TV, if the player is the same. I imagine that the issue is that the Windows media center for streaming doesn't natively load those codecs that the computer does when playing with WMP. TVersity installs its own codecs for mkv, so I imagine that the media center it incorporates is capable of using them natively. The thing would be to know how the hell to apply the codecs for mkv to the Windows media center, which I don't know if it will be possible.

I know about the transcoding thing, it's also used by tversity for incompatible files on systems like consoles and such, but I repeat that it's not my case, the files I try to play I've already tested before by plugging them directly into the TV via an external drive and they look great. I don't know why the hell the TV doesn't use its native decoder in streaming, but I assure you that it is so.

I don't need the NAS to transcode, as long as it serves me as a file server it's more than enough; if it works as a network drive and the TV interprets it as a hard drive plugged directly then it fixes the problem, because the problem is to play in streaming.

I'll try the ps3 server to see if it's capable of allowing the advance and rewind of the movie, even if it's in a rudimentary way like WMP.

Thanks.

[Bm4n]

Well, what's happening to you is not normal, I do have a file on USB or streaming from the NAS and it behaves the same way, if it can read it, it plays it, if not, it doesn't. You just need to put a UPnP server without transcoding, there are a dozen of them (Universal Plug and Play - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) so you have plenty of options. If once you have the server without transcoding (*), you shouldn't need any codec since it doesn't play it but shares it over the network, you can even use a router with USB to act as a server.

So the PS3 media server wouldn't be what you're looking for, although it will work perfectly for you, maybe even better. The problem with not transcoding anything is that for example, a movie with FLAC audio the TV won't read it (neither yours nor mine, VLC does), it's not the majority but it's annoying to press play and it doesn't work. If your TV is smart you can try Plex, it's good because you can let it choose or manually select the transcoding, plus it's a media center. If not, Serviio can be a good option too, plus it's quite customizable (Serviio DLNA media server).

Surely some server will work for you, if not most, WMP I don't think it's the best option (I've never used it, but its reputation precedes it); and by trying you'll find something that suits what you want.

*You should make sure of this, normally if you open the administrator you'll see a higher than normal CPU usage if it's transcoding.

[Gussman]

I don't understand it either. I thought a multimedia server was limited to serving files to the upnp player device and that was it. Maybe I need to investigate more on my TV if it's necessary to configure something on it so that it stops touching the balls when I play in streaming… or are they stories of compatibility of the different media servers... who knows.

I will try the media servers you tell me to see how they work. I already told you that of the ones I've tried WMP is the most stable, it never crashes. Tversity fails occasionally, and Samsung Link (the one provided by Samsung itself as a multimedia server) works pretty badly on the PC (although it's the only one I've tried that works practically as if the disc was plugged into the TV).

Out of curiosity, when you play something via streaming from the NAS, are your TV functions not affected? I mean, can you fast forward, rewind, turn subtitles on/off, slow motion, etc??

And thanks for that list of media servers... it will be a matter of trying until you find the good one, haha.

Edit: Ugh, I've seen that Plex has a downloadable app for Samsung TV along with the media center for the PC, I'll try it and I'll tell you

[Bm4n]

The fast forward thing usually doesn't work or if it does it's not functional because of the network speed limitation, I think it depends on the TV and not the server, but don't take too much notice of me. Fast forward yes, just like going to X minute, and going slower should work too and changing subtitles or the audio tracks also works.

Yes of course, Plex has an app for Samsung, it's a slightly more limited version but it works well you just have to install the server on the PC and it works as a remote XBMC