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-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 
menu, go to the ffdshow
folder and open 
.
Scroll down and highlight
in the menu on the
left.
Check
.
This will ensure an undistorted anamorphic
picture.
Click
and
.
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 
menu in
Media
Player Classic, select
.
From the "Playback" menu, select
"Output".
In the "DirectShow Video" section, select
.
Click 
and then
.
Load the movie, then go to the 
menu and select
.
Select the proper subtitle stream. If the menu is grayed
out, change the playback output to
and try
again.
If the "Subtitles" menu item is still grey, change the
playback output to
and move on to
the second method.
SUBTITLES (method 2):
Download
VSFilter and copy the Unicode version to
C:\WINDOWS\system32.
From the menu, select
.
Type in regsvr32 VSFilter.dll and click
.
Load the movie and the 
icon will appear in the
system tray.
To enable subtitles, right-click
and select
.
(If no green arrow appears, try
this version of VSFilter.)
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
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
This player requires the
Matroska Pack
Full.
Install the Matroska pack with only these
options checked:
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 
chapters.xml with
the proper times and re-mux. For frame-perfect
chapters, open the movie with 
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:
chapters.xml
characters
matrix.sum
muxing.mmg
script.avs
subtitles.srt
These files may come in handy if you ever want to rip the
movie again.
.
