Problem with MKV files

[souperzombie]

I upgraded my computer not long ago and now I'm having a lot of trouble getting MKV files to work. I'm using both Windows 7 and Windows 10, both on different drives, and they both have their own problems when trying to play them. I'm using both Shark007 codecs and Media Player Codec Pack as they have both worked very well for me in the past with no issues, allowing me to play MKV files in Windows Media Player without hassle, but I have had to reinstall both of them several times due to a few finicky issues, namely having stupidly installed the Advanced version of 007 codecs onto an old drive which I then removed, meaning I couldn't install it properly without it trying to upgrade a version that didn't exist anymore.

In the past I also converted the MKV files into MP4, since my video editor of choice doesn't support MKV files, using Any Video Converter free, as it has also worked very well for me without hassle. However it has since stopped being able to convert MKV files at all without crashing on both versions of Windows.

Additional details:

My MKV files are in 720p and 1080p quality, and all of them have subtitles which could be switched on and off in WMP without issue before I upgraded, IIRC, as well as converted in AVC to have separate MP4 versions with and without subtitles.

The MKV files do not have any details when viewing properties in Win10

In Win7, trying to play any of the 720p files EXCEPT ONE gives the error:
"Windows Media Player cannot play the file. The Player might not support the file type or a required codec might not be installed on your computer". The single 720p file that works and the 1080p files play fine. Neither types have subtitles when played.

In Win10, 720p files either play sound but have no video (just a black screen) or do not play at all, 1080p files play normally, neither have subtitles.

Attempting to convert either of them with AVC in Win7 causes it to progress to about 1% and then crash with the basic "Any Video Converter has stopped working" error.

Attempting to convert with AVC in Win10 gives the error:
"Runtime Error"
Program: C:\Program Files (x86)\AnvSoft\Any Video Converter\AVCFree.exe

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information."

My craptop can play all the MKV files fine with subtitles as well as convert them with AVC. It is using an older version of Media Player Codec Pack but does not have Shark007 codecs installed. I have tried downgrading and uninstalling codecs various times on my current computer to no avail.

Any help getting this fixed would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[iyenal]

Try other players as VLC...

[souperzombie]

I have, but they don't solve my video conversion issues. And I want to use windows media player for them because it's much more convenient for me.

[PatientZero]

WMP is terrible for compatibility, optimization, performance and playback quality, always has been and probably always will be.
If VLC won't play them then it's a codec issue, I'd suggest doing a search for the K-Lite codec pack, that's always been my go-to download for codecs, and it comes with Media Player Classic, which works like old-school Windows Media Player but with modern compatibility and optimizations, it's my preferred media player personally.

[Skyla Doragono]

Combined Community Codec Pack is another one that comes with Media Player Classic, and has quite a few options built into it as well.

[souperzombie]

VLC does play them but Windows Media Player DID and it did it perfectly but doesn't anymore and I'd like to know why that is because it's frustrating, and none of the different codec packs have done anything. However none of this has fixed my video conversion problem that I still have.

[Petie]

As far as playback, the fact that WMP played them in the past is lucky but it's never been good with MKV. I'd really recommend just using VLC - it handles them very well and without the need for a bunch of tweaks.

As for your conversion issues, my go-to is Handbrake (https://handbrake.fr). It's free, easy to use, and works well for the most part (though I have had some rare audio sync issues in the past).

[Kriven]

I'm pretty sure MKVToolNix can output to different file formats as well.

[souperzombie]

I fixed my MKV issues with WMP, in Win7 at least (and some AVI related issues that arose randomly) by just using the recommended settings of Shark007.

As for your conversion issues, my go-to is Handbrake (https://handbrake.fr). It's free, easy to use, and works well for the most part (though I have had some rare audio sync issues in the past).

I tried this out, but it gives me a very similar problem to Any Video Converter, which crashes when it reaches 1-2%. In Handbrake's case, it gets to about 1-2% and then finishes, producing a broken file. I doubt this is a coincidence.

[Petie]

If multiple programs are exhibiting the same behavior, it sounds like a system issue and not one with the software itself.

[souperzombie]

If multiple programs are exhibiting the same behavior, it sounds like a system issue and not one with the software itself.

Yes, that seems to be the case. The error AVC it gives me seems linked to Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable, so it might be something to do with that. If it's something to do with my programs then I don't know which one it could be, because I have barely any installed at the moment.
On a partially related note, I found that all my MKV files, and the MP4 files that I converted them into, had very bad artefacts when they were played in any media player as well as when I rendered them in Sony Vegas, but not while I was actively editing/playing them in Vegas. I uninstalled my codecs and now they play fine, but unfortunately some of my footage is in some kind of h264-related AVI format (I think, I'm not good with stuff like that) that Vegas doesn't like, and as it turns out the video conversion issue is not exclusive to MKV files, but all file types, so I can't convert them to fix the issue.

[souperzombie]

Sorry for the doublepost but I think I've almost nailed this beast down.
As it turns out my video converters DO work but ALL of them break when trying to encode in h264 or x264, but I've no idea how to fix those. I've tried installing some trustworthy simple x264/h264 etc codecs to no avail, and I've no idea where to go from here.
I've also noticed that if I'm able to quickly convert the file (such as to a much smaller resolution) before the programs crash then the file produced does play normally but has very heavy artefacts.

[CCH]

I use Handbrake myself too on Windows 10 and never had an issue. It might be that your MKV files aren't encoded properly. Might need to go back to the source and get better MKVs.

[souperzombie]

Well, after many, many weeks I've finally solved this problem. My problems with encoding were just the tip of an iceberg; as it turns out, Amazon had sent me the wrong socket CPU. They sent me a LGA14C socket processor instead of the LGA1151 socket that was advertised, that I bought, and was slapped on the goddamn box about 5 times. I only figured it out because I was looking through Intel's warranty stuff because I thought the processor was just broken, and it listed my CPU as a LGA14C processor when I entered the FPO number. I sent a sternly worded email to Amazon and they're sending me a new one for free, even though I bought well over a month ago. So that's nice.