tobyhex wrote:
Each time I try to play them back with either vlc or smplayer, I get glitchy or hesitating video but the audio continues. I do not think it is my hardware as I am running a corei7 920 with 8 gigs ram on W764. I use the standard copy to hard drive settings, only choosing the main title and normal audio(not hd).
Is there a player that might work better or settings I can change to get these to playback?
When I copy a bluray, I also notice that the mkv coming out is typically 20+gigs. That is fine as a have the space, but other then converting with something like handbrake, should the file be so large? I read others on this board saying they usually have a below 20GB file.
From my collection, I ripped Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen and Die Hard 4, both with HD audio. The former ended up at just under 40 gig, the latter just under 30gig, and it was a problem I experienced with just Transformers 2. Die Hard played fine.
That said, this advice here:
ToxicDreamz wrote:
You should use VLC Media Player. If you ARE using VLC, go to the VLC preferences and go to the advanced settings > Video codecs > FFmpeg
You should now see an option that says "Skip the loop filter for H.264 decoding". Set the box list next to it to "All". Save and restart VLC and now play your MKV file.

...was posted in the general discussion forum about the same sort of problem, and it greatly reduced the frequency with which it was happening with VLC (for me). If I also enable the "allow speed tricks" setting that's next to it, that actually just about completely fixes it, at least with VLC.
Still, both Media Player Classic - Home Cinema, and Windows Media Player, played the mkv without that video stuttering right off the bat.
For me to just get the stuttering problem with the huge Transformers rip, my gut feeling was that it was some kind of data transfer issue, like the player just wasn't setup to be able to handle file sizes that great. I would say, definitely not a problem with MakeMKV or whatever it's doing, because if that were the case, it'd be happening with every player.