High Definition Playback Guide

[Viper007Bond]

Want to watch Top Gear in HD but have no idea what to do with this "MKV" or "TS" file you've downloaded? Then you're in the right place.

The majority of high definition rips on the Internet are encoded using the x264 codec and are stored in a Matroska (MKV) container. This is the same kind of thing as a Xvid encoded video inside of an AVI container.

Other rips are stored in a MPEG transport stream (essentially a raw rip of the broadcast).


Windows Users

The easiest thing to do is just install CCCP. It'll install the best media player ever (Media Player Classic - Home Cinema) and install the couple other codecs and softwares you need (ffdshow, Haali Media Splitter, etc.) without you having to do it yourself. It also comes with a handy control panel.


Media Player Classic - Home Cinema users also may want to use their video card to do the video decoding. This will result a LOT smoother playback as it uses your modern video card instead of your CPU to decode the video. A guide on how to set that up can be found right here.


Mac Users

QuickTime player will probably work, at least if you install Perian, but if it doesn't, then just download VLC.

[Edit by PacketCollision]
Note that Snow Leopard includes a new version of Quicktime (QuickTime X), that doesn't play well with the latest release of Perian. I compiled the latest revision from SVN (1388 at the time of writing), and it seems to play MKVs fine. Use it at your own risk of course. You can download it from my site.

Many people also like Movist, which includes FFDShow, a set of codecs that will play just about anything. It's got a nice UI, and seems to work great. If you have trouble getting QuickTime to work, but don't like VLC, give it a try.
[/edit]

Linux Users

Seriously? You're a big enough geek to run Linux but can't figure out how to play a x264/MKV video? Tsk tsk. (Hint: download VLC)


PS3 Users

Okay, this tip is for people who wants to play the .ts 1080i rip on their PS3. There is NO NEED to convert the .ts file. You simply change the ".ts" file extension to ".mpg" and PS3 will play it in all its 1080 HD glory!!!!! This applies to any .ts file of course. Enjoy!!!

Once you have the MKV file, you can transcode this file to work on your PS3 via mkv2vob. Once installed, be sure to check Use Old Fire Format & Always Transcode DTS and select MPEG-2 (Fast) from the Transcoding Codec drop down in the Configuration tab if you don't have a DTS system (if you have it, you'll know it.) otherwise the sound will not play on your PS3. From there copy to USB drive and place on your PS3, and enjoy!

[otter]

Worth noting for those of you, like me, who are in the habit of tossing the divx/xvid file onto a disc/thumb drive and playing it on your home DVD player. The only way you can play a MKV file like that is if you have a blu-ray player that can handle the format. There are no regular DVD players that can play the HD MKV format.

[TekiusFanatikus]

And those that stream content to say, an Xbox 360, the MKV file ain't gonna cut it (unless I convert it to an mp4 file).

[narf]

Well no regular DVD player can handle xvid/divx either, you also need one that is designed to handle that format.

[FordGT]

I use Shark007's codec pack for Vista and Windows 7. It includes everything you need to play everything.

http://shark007.net/

[s14blane]

Any word on if this will play on a PS3? I'm guessing no if it's in .mkv file format.

Question though- Will it work if you're streaming it through tversity on your media server?

Thoughts???

[wasapamati]

How can you play this on a Playstation 3? I've played every single kind of video format there is on the PS3 but this one just isn't having it. The PS3 doesn't even recognize that the file is there. Anyone know of a way to get this to play on a PS3?!

[The Chad]

How can you play this on a Playstation 3? I've played every single kind of video format there is on the PS3 but this one just isn't having it. The PS3 doesn't even recognize that the file is there. Anyone know of a way to get this to play on a PS3?!

I've had similar issues with getting the Polar Special 1080p to play on my PS3. I've used Handbrake to convert the video, but Handbrake pukes on the conversion and the video and audio is choppy. Any advice or suggestions?

[coloradoSTi]

I've had similar issues with getting the Polar Special 1080p to play on my PS3. I've used Handbrake to convert the video, but Handbrake pukes on the conversion and the video and audio is choppy. Any advice or suggestions?

If you can get your hands on VisualHub - i know they are out of business - but if you can get a copy, its the best way.

MPEGStreamClip is also very good for the Mac - its just a little more manual work than VisualHub.

On another topic - is there ANY reason why there should be any rip OTHER THAN the 1080i/p? If you want it in another resolution, then by all means, downsample the video.... but why have a SD, 720 and 1080 torrent? That seems silly. Windows and Mac users both can use MPEGStreamClip to do the conversion should they want to for free.

[Blayde]

um, for those of us who dont have a million billion mbps and dont want a 4.5GB file to get a 700mb file from.


WHY download a huge file to get a smaller one...

[coloradoSTi]

um, for those of us who dont have a million billion mbps and dont want a 4.5GB file to get a 700mb file from.


WHY download a huge file to get a smaller one...

fair enough. (it was a question, was it not?)

then i would submit that a 700 meg SD and a full 1080 file would be sufficient. If you're going to bother to download something larger than the 700 meg file, then there you are.

as it sits, i'm downloading the 720p now, just because i want to see it before i go to sleep... but i'll end up deleting the file so that i can get the 1080 file whenever it gets posted.

[narf]

On another topic - is there ANY reason why there should be any rip OTHER THAN the 1080i/p? If you want it in another resolution, then by all means, downsample the video.... but why have a SD, 720 and 1080 torrent? That seems silly.

To me it seems silly to wait hours (days?) for a 1080p/i release only to downsample it to whatever resolution I like. Instead I can download the SD or 720p NOW (well, hours ago) and watch it.


On another topic - is there ANY reason why there should be any opinion OTHER THAN mine? That seems silly.




PS: So you're downloading 720p, eh? I thought there is no reason to have anything but 1080i/p...

[InSaNeBoY]

Is there any way to get that x264 into a different container format?

I'm using a mac, but it's old and slow so I use my appleTV to watch TopGear (been converting the old vids using iSquint to x264 mp4, but iSquint doesn't accept MKV)

[wasapamati]

Think I found a way to watch these on the PS3. Download MKV2VOB from this site :

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/mkv2vob

Use that program and it will basically make a copy of the file but with MPEG2 encoding which the PS3 will now understand. And as far as I can tell, it's not degrading the quality at all which is fantastic.

[coloradoSTi]

To me it seems silly to wait hours (days?) for a 1080p/i release only to downsample it to whatever resolution I like. Instead I can download the SD or 720p NOW (well, hours ago) and watch it.


On another topic - is there ANY reason why there should be any opinion OTHER THAN mine? That seems silly.

it seems silly to wait hours for a SD release only to downsample it to whatever portable resolution i like. Instead, I could download the 175 meg file to watch it on an iPhone?

it seems silly to wait hours for a SD release only to downsample it to whatever portable resolution i like. Instead, I could download a 350meg file to watch it on a VCD?

to wit - there are nearly limitless versions everyone could ask for.... in the end, there's little to be gained by having two HD versions - esp since they should be nearly the same size.

[coloradoSTi]

To me it seems silly to wait hours (days?) for a 1080p/i release only to downsample it to whatever resolution I like. Instead I can download the SD or 720p NOW (well, hours ago) and watch it.


On another topic - is there ANY reason why there should be any opinion OTHER THAN mine? That seems silly.




PS: So you're downloading 720p, eh? I thought there is no reason to have anything but 1080i/p...

the same reason people download the torrents of Star Trek instead of buying the BluRay...

the 1080 file doesn't exist.

[coloradoSTi]

Is there any way to get that x264 into a different container format?

I'm using a mac, but it's old and slow so I use my appleTV to watch TopGear (been converting the old vids using iSquint to x264 mp4, but iSquint doesn't accept MKV)

http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html

MPEGStreamClip is a great program and is free and is out for Windows and Mac. Its more work than VisualHub (more settings and whatnot to make confusion), but its really great.

[narf]

it seems silly to wait hours for a SD release only to downsample it to whatever portable resolution i like. Instead, I could download the 175 meg file to watch it on an iPhone?

it seems silly to wait hours for a SD release only to downsample it to whatever portable resolution i like. Instead, I could download a 350meg file to watch it on a VCD?

Trouble is, you don't need to wait hours for an SD version. It's available a couple minutes after the show finishes to air. Better wait minutes for an SD version and convert it to whatever floats your boat/mobile device than to wait hours (days?) for 1080i/p.

in the end, there's little to be gained by having two HD versions - esp since they should be nearly the same size.

If they're similar in size then the 1080i/p can't be better. Where would that additional image information come from with the same compression algorithms?

the 1080 file doesn't exist.

If you had your way, neither SD nor 720p would exist as well.

[deuses]

How can you play this on a Playstation 3? I've played every single kind of video format there is on the PS3 but this one just isn't having it. The PS3 doesn't even recognize that the file is there. Anyone know of a way to get this to play on a PS3?!

I'm having the same problem. I usually download my Top Gears and then watch them on my TV through the PS3. But the PS3 can't play this format. Usually when that happens I convert with one of my many video converters but I can't get ANY of them to open this file, not even virtualdub or MPEGStream as someone suggested before. Why wasn't this thing just ripped in a standard mp4 format? Or even xvid? Why in the world would it be ripped in a format that can only be played if you go download ffdshow and VLC player...

Can anyone point me to a program that will convert it or at least plugins for the usual video converters?

[narf]

Why wasn't this thing just ripped in a standard mp4 format? Or even xvid?

Who made mp4 the only possible way to go? Матрёшка is the standard container format for scene HD releases, simple due to everyone using it.

Oh, and if you didn't notice, there IS a regular old xvid SD release.