www.makemkv.com

I'm running a Macbook Pro 2.4 ghz with 4gb RAM, Snow Leopard and MakeMKV version 1.6.2. I'm using an external blu-ray drive (see screenshot attached).

I'm about to go through the title selection process (my purchased copy of Star Trek), no problems there. I click MKV on the title that I selected and it seems to work fine. I get the completed pop-up and then when I try to play the file in quicktime, I'm getting all sorts of artifacts and stuck frames. I've kept all the default configurations for MakeMKV. Anyone have any suggestions on how to fix my artifact/stuck frames problem? Thanks in advance!

Have you tried playing in other players? VLC (not the best for MKV), Plex, XBMC?

I use XBMC for all of my media now days.

when I try to play the file in quicktime

There is your problem. Dump quicktime ASAP.

Seems like QT was the culprit, thanks skittles and bikerjoe. DLed VLC and it played fine. However, still need some help.

My ultimate goal is to get it into my iTunes library to stream to my Apple TV. Any suggestions on what to use to convert from MKV to MP4? Handbrake? Needs to be a max of 720p in order for it to work with Apple TV. Thanks again!

Yes, handbrake is good and even has apple tv preset. Handbrake is also free and open source software built on ffmpeg and x264.
Please use the latest nightly build of handbrake though, the official one on the main page is very very old.

Thanks skittles! Much appreciated.