- 01. What is x264?
02. What is a .mkv file?
03. Some quality comparison between xvid and x264
04. How to play .mkv files on your computer with diff. players
05. How to get the best quality possible from ur video file
06. How to improve quality of 6 channel AAC audio
07. How to burn .mkv files to DVD for dvdplayer
08. How to load internal Subtitles in VLC/MPC/Zoom Player
09. Will my standalone player (support for DivX/XviD) play .mkv files?
10. Requirements for playing x264 video?
11. External Subtitle Collection
12. If a file is down/reported
13. How to join 2 or more .mkv files
x264 is an open-source encoder for the H.264 codec used for High-Definition movies on HD-DVDs and Blu-Ray Discs. It has a high compression which is way superior to xvid. That means you get more quality at equal bitrates. A 700MB x264 rip will be sharper and more detailed than a 700MB xvid rip from the same source. x264 is the future in DVDrips!
Additional links for more information:
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| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X264 |
MKV means "matroska video" and it is a "extensible open standard Audio/Video container" (AVI is a container, too!). This file format combines several videostreams, audiostreams, subtitles, chapters and information in only one file. It supports new standards like 6-channel AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) audio or x264 video.
Additional links for more information:
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| http://www.matroska.org/index.html.en http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding |
To compare usual xvid rips with these x264 rips you have to think of some differences first. In xvid rips the dimensions of the original movie have been resized to save bandwich because of the lower resolution. Through high compression of x264 there is no need to reduce the dimensions of the movie which results in better quality.
Screen in original size:
| Code: |
| http://www.spazshare.com/files/140250yuppi.png |
How to compare the quality of a movie when the dimensions are not equal? -> Full-Screen screencaps!
I used VLC media player in full-screen mode (1280x1024) to make screencaps of both the xvid (from aXXo) and x264 (from uSk) rip of Night at the Museum.
Comparison screens:
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| http://www.spazshare.com/files/201899comparison_auto.png http://www.spazshare.com/files/626993comparison_ben.png http://www.spazshare.com/files/867128comparison_haus.png |
To watch these files you need just GOM player or VLC media player (no support for 6ch AAC at the moment, plays it as 2ch). If you want to use Media Player Classic you need some addons: ffdshow decoder + Haali MediaSplitter + VSfilter.
Package with Media Player Classic + addons:
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| http://rapidshare.com/files/73837201/x264playback_20071202.rar |
Check for the settings in Media Player Classic (menu - "View" -> "Options"):
Links to the other players:
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| http://www.gomplayer.com/main.html http://www.neuviewed.com http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ |
Software used:
Neuview Media Player
u can get this player from:
| Code: |
| http://rapidshare.com/files/82204266/neuview608.rar |
You need ffdshow decoder and Haali Media Splitter for .mkv files to work with Neuview! If a link is down write a private message to me!
| Code: |
| http://mirror01.x264.nl/x264/ffdshow_rev1846_20080205_clsid.exe http://mirror01.x264.nl/x264/MatroskaSplitter.exe |
always check for a newer version of this player. for seeing what this player can do visit this thread:
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| http://www.warez-bb.org/viewtopic.php?t=297913&highlight=neuview |
How this player does this, visit the official page:
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| http://www.neuviewed.com/neuview6/generate.php?pagename=home/index#title |
Technology explained:
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| http://www.neuviewed.com/neuview6/generate.php?pagename=technology/index |
What is Pixelfusion?
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| http://www.neuviewed.com/neuview6/generate.php?pagename=technology/pixelfusion |
NOTE: If any of u think that wat this simply does is get some contrast and brightness settings and gives the picture, think again 'coz u r wrong. This player revives the colors in the picture as they were supposed to look when the movie was shot, which r lost when a movie is compressed. And u wouldn't know wat it does until u give it a try.
1. The Main Window
Looks pretty sleek and simple, isn't it?
2. Opening the video file
Well the screenshot explains it pretty much.
3. Setting the "settings"
Sharpness is wat gives this player ultimate quality, but it takes practice and trial and error to achieving the right sharpness. Believe me when u see the difference between a sharpened video and unsharpened one, u'll always use sharpness.
RECOMMENDED: If u set the sharpness to full, the low bitrate videos may appear distorted at the edges. But in general if u download a movie from this thread u wouldn't that effect that much.
If u r watching a movie from atleast 1.5 m away from the screen, then the picture may appear distorted from upclose, but it looks gr8 from back there. TRY IT !
I set the sharpness to 100 and watch the movie from 2 m away, it looks gr8. Sharpness is similiar to sharpening used in Image Editing Programs like Adobe Photoshop.
For better understanding sharpness visit this page:
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| http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/unsharp-mask.htm http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/local-contrast-enhancement.htm |
4. The Simple Menu
This is the only menu in this program and is pretty simple and self explained. It is mouse cursor sensitive, so u only need to move mouse cursor over it to open further sub options.
My settings for most movies:
Brightness : 50-60
Contrast : 85-100
Saturation : 70-80
Digital NR : 0
Sharpness : 100
Keyboard Shortcuts:
C : Pause/Play
N : Open file
M : Mute
Q : Back 2 mins
W : Forward 2 mins
P : Take Screenshot (saved as .bmp for maximum quality)
F1 to F7 : Pixelfusion Levels
Main problem with decoding 6 channel audio to 2 channel is that the background sounds become too loud as compared to the dialogue volumes.
This tutorial will teach u how to overcome that problem. Keep in mind there is not 1 setting for all the movies, u have to play around with settings until u get acceptable sound levels.
Software needed:
ffdshow
can be downloaded from
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| http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDShow.htm |
or as a part of k-lite mega codec pack
| Code: |
| http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Mega_Codec_Pack.htm |
Follow the steps below:
1. Opening ffdshow:
ffdshow standalone: "Start" - "Programs" - "ffdshow" - "ffdshow audio decoder"
K-Lite Codec Pack: "Start" - "Programs" - "K-Lite Codec Pack" - "Configuration" - "ffdshow audio decoder"
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| http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w2/keerat1563/0.jpg |
2. Configuring ffdshow to decode AAC audio:
3. Setting the volume amlification of individual channels:
set the sliders according to the amplification u want to give to a channel, play around with settings until u get acceptable sound without too loud.
Recommended: Set the right (R) and left (L) channels to levels lower than than the center (C) channel.
Mute button (M) can be used to mute a channel.
4. Setting the output type:
"Normalize Matrix" will normailize the difference in sound between different scenes so that u get constant sound levels.
Select the output speaker type to which suits u and sounds best.
Download the program VSO ConvertXToDVD 2.x! Download with keygen:
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| http://rapidshare.com/files/36200475/backupaaa.rar |
After Installation check for the settings! Menu - "Settings" -> "General".
"Working Folder" -> Folder with resulting dvd structure files!
Go througt all tabs. Most of the settings are selfexplaining. An important tab is "TV Format"! Set "Video Standard" for your region. "TV Screen" have to be set to "Automatic".
ConvertXToDVD don't support internal subtitle files within .mkv. You need to download the subtitle for your movie from my external subtitle collection (-> 7.) and put it in the same folder as the .mkv movie file.
Next step: Adding .mkv files with clicking on the green "+":
Check for the subtitles. There should be the entry "1 Subtitle Stream - 0 internal, 1 external". If you double click the movie you get a video preview window.
You are ready to "Convert". You can burn the files using Nero 7.7 and "DVD Video" profile.
8.1 VLC media player
Start VLC and load your .mkv movie file. Go to menu "Video" -> "Subtitles Track" and select your subtitle.
8.2 Media Player Classic
If you want to watch movies with subtitles with MPC you need VSfilter (aka DirectVobSub) addon! This is included in my x264 playback package (-> 4.). If it is installed load your movie in MPC. Then right click into the movie and go to "Navigate" -> "Subtitle Language" and select your subtitle.
8.3 Zoom Player
Start Zoom Player and load your .mkv movie file. Right click into the movie and go to "Stream Selection" and select your subtitle.
No! x264 is a different codec. It is unlikely that there will be any dvd-player which support it in the future as .mkv file format is open-source so nobody will license it.
These requirements are for using ffdshow decoder. ffdshow will be installed automatically with Zoom Player and is included in my x264 playback pack along with MediaPlayerClassic.
▼ 480p (All HDrips of my collection)
Works on following systems:
Pentium M 800MHz, 512MB (bitrate: <=2,000) #tested with Transformers RE-HDrip uSk
▼ 720p
Works on following systems:
Athlon XP 2.5GHz, 1024MB (bitrate: <=4,000kbps)
Pentium M 1.5GHz, 512MB (bitrate: <=5,000kbps)
▼ 1080p
Works on following systems:
Core 2 2.13GHz
Core 2 3GHz, 2048MB (bitrate: <=12,000kbps)
Subtitles are included in the .mkv container files of the movies. But there are some players which do not support this. Only use this link if you have problems with the subtitles!
Subtitle collection:
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| http://www.opensubtitles.org/en/search/sublanguageid-all/iduser-281737 |
If rapidshare links are down/reported please write a private message to me with the name of the movie. I will try to reupload as fast as I can.
You need MKVToolnix:
| Code: |
| http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/downloads.html |
Start mkvmerge GUI. Click "Add" to add the first part of the movie. Now click "Append" to add the second part of the movie. Finally change your "Output filename" and "Start muxing"!
