How can I play .mkv files?

[YondBe]

so how do you explain updating HAALI made the "error" disappear? and that the file plays without any bug?

by the way, i got the file from bittorrent: the 1rst thing I tried if having my client recheck the file and no errors came up so my file is identical to the original file from the guy who released it (got it from original fansub team tracker)

[emptyeighty]

Originally Posted by YondBe

so how do you explain updating HAALI made the "error" disappear? and that the file plays without any bug?

In Haali Splitter Options -> Interface set Display Error Messages to Yes. That was changed to off by default a while ago. If there is an error at all it should display then.

[YondBe]

so basically, HAALI says there's an error but plays the file just fine...
then there's no error but a stupid (since the file can be played fine) message "first element of file isn't EBML"

LunaBlack posted a message about having problems with this error message
Since, just like for my files, there are chances that his file isn't to be thrown in the trash can at all but on the contrary that the "problem" can be fixed by either installing the latest HAALI or unchecking the display message option, I told him about this
You guys seem to have a problem with it...

sometimes, people have a problem and search google and find these forums: if what they read is "delete the file, it's fucked up", chances are they will delete the file
all this because of an option in HAALI or because they don't have the latest version of it installed

If i had read the replies and simply followed what they say, I would have deleted 4.5GB of data: funny don't you think, since I now play these files without any problems...

[emptyeighty]

Yes, we're evil people for trying to find out why exactly this Haali dude has the audacity to throw an error message when actually everything is perfectly fine... after all he must know nothing at all about the subject, being the person who actually wrote the code and all.
[/sarcasm]

Also keep in mind that there is a remote possibilty that this is a bug in Haali which by all means he should be poked about. That is if it actually turns out to be one, which needs further testing of course.

So _do_ you actually get said ebml error with Haali now if you enable error messages and which version of Haali are you using?

[YondBe]

no evil anywhere (I don't even believe in any god so there's really no reason I should believe in evil)

but one thing I believe in is trolls: people who think they are pros of whatever they want to be basically just because they spend half their lives on forums, sharing a whole lot of bullshit
they lurk on forums where they can't meet real pros: you'll never see them on doom9 forums for example but rather on fansubbing forums, stuff like that "related but not closely": in other words where they can find noobs and play god!
if I had followed the "pro's advice" given in this thread, I would have deleted 4.5GB of clean and perfectly playable data

nevertheless, I'm quite different and I do like to know what I'm talking about if I have to talk about it, so I went in HAALI's options and switched the "Display error messages" to "YES", just like you said
and then I opened my player and I tried playing the file wich I had the message with before and guess what? No message and the file plays right
so basically, you say you know, tend to say people saying you may be wrong are dumbasses, but don't know shit about the problem and it's solutions...
I've just left that option "on" and everything is just fine

I guess the guys coding HAALI have been made aware of that little header reading problem and they have modified their code so it doesn't mind in wich order the data of the header is

all things "pros" that say "just delete the file" obviously didn't try and didn't even know... (well, yeah you know: "pros" just delete tons of stuff every day because they know deleting solves any problem)

so you see, I don't care about evil, but I care about trolls and people saying they know when they don't
especially if what they know is "just delete the damn file, noob"...

[Nicholi]

You like to know what you are talking about... Like this imaginary CORE splitter you made up? Not to mention no one was advised to delete any of their files in this thread... good job at thinking everyone is a troll. Of course we all know anyone who distributes files on the internet are automatically pros... so yeah its not like the files could have been incorrectly made or something. Soon as I signed up to doom9 I got my pro invitation in my email. Pros don't exist anywhere else, we already knew that. Apparently you also have some pro decoder ring, and you can tell when someone is a pro or not...amirite?

Originally Posted by YondBe

nevertheless, I'm quite different and I do like to know what I'm talking about if I have to talk about it, so I went in HAALI's options and switched the "Display error messages" to "YES", just like you said
and then I opened my player and I tried playing the file wich I had the message with before and guess what? No message and the file plays right
so basically, you say you know, tend to say people saying you may be wrong are dumbasses, but don't know shit about the problem and it's solutions...
I've just left that option "on" and everything is just fine

That does not mean the file actually works. If Haali is reporting errors in the stream the only thing you are doing now is ignoring them, thats what that option is for. The errors are still there! How do you know the file is actually playing correctly? You can read and analyze every bit of data with your eyes and ears? Wow you must be some kind of super pro!

The main reason I suggested the files are likely b0rked and could not be CRC verifed was because the filename you pasted was "###_[H264-AAC]_-_01.mkv". Doesn't display a group name for someone else to get the files and verify isssues, doesn't display a CRC, and doesn't really say anything at all. Unfortunately for your magical thoughts on reality not every fansubber knows what they are doing. Some of them release bad files without even knowing it (wow that must be a mindfuck for you). Apparently they don't read doom9 and talk with other pros as people in your head do. However since you have only now told us you got the file directly from this still unknown fansubber's torrent, that does likely mean they are not corrupted. However you didn't state that before...are your imaginary pros also supposed to read your mind when you ask for help?

So whether you know it or not, or the fansubber you got these files knows it or not, those files are being detected as having errors from the only known "official" Matroska splitter. It doesn't matter much on how you rant about your imaginary ideal pros or trolls...the software is finding errors in the files. The only thing you are doing now is ignoring them. Not that I expect you to come back and actually give us any real information.

P.S. Could you comment on the so called "CORE splitter" which you "heard" was better then HAALI?

P.P.S. To the people who "have a problem and search google and find these forums", this is not the way to go about asking for help. So erase such notions in your head about this random newb (see foreign troll in disguise).

[YondBe]

Originally Posted by Nicholi

If Haali is reporting errors in the stream the only thing you are doing now is ignoring them, thats what that option is for

Originally Posted by YondBe

I went in HAALI's options and switched the "Display error messages" to "YES", just like you said
and then I opened my player and I tried playing the file wich I had the message with before and guess what? No message and the file plays right

so you see, like I said, some people don't even read or if they actually do then they don't even try to understand what they read

let me rephrase in a simpler way so pros like you can get the main idea:
1 haali old version sends an error message that says "first element blabla"
2 hash check says file ok, gspot and cccp say it's ok and complete too
3 new haali with error messages turned on does not show any error message and plays the very same unchanged file without any problems

and your conclusion is to delete this damn corrupted file... or that the guy who encoded is a noob... or that a noob shouldn't watch video files in the first place... or whatever of your "pros" answers

well, my conclusion is that some encoders (software, not the guy from the fansub team you easily call a noob) put data in the header of the file different ways
the old haali was stupid about this and only recognized the data if put in the order it liked
the new haali version doesn't care and is able to read header data in any order
so who's right who's wrong? the encoders putting data in different ways or haali finally deciding to allow the data in any order?
truth is none is wrong and they're all right: the main idea is to play the file and this is no good reason to fail playing it

pertty simple actually... especially for pros calling people they don't know noobs or saying to delete files they don't know either

[Milvus]

The mystery is still not solved.

* It doesn't like unproperly aligned TS packet at the beginning of a file, that is if the first byte is not an x47 (signature of a TS stream) the file type won't be recognized and we will get the not very meaningful error message "first Element of file is not EBML". Cyberlink splitter is not bothered with improperly aligned TS packets.

Haali is talking here about TS file, not MKV file. So, whatever oddity is in your file, it is not this one, this bugfix doesn't apply. If your file can be played flawlessly with VLC or MPlayer, then it's just a perfectly non-corrupt and standard file, and the error message was due to a minor bug.

By the way, "1rst element in file is not EBML" seem like a very generic error message in Haali Splitter, if it can pop-up (obviously wrongly) with some TS files. So it's probably unwise to make any decision for a problem only based on this information.

[emptyeighty]

So much text for one little piece of information. Still no mention of the Haali version used though.

Just fyi: Nicholi is the guy who codes CCCP and working with Haali to fix bugs in his splitter.

[YondBe]

the haali wich doesn't show any errors for the file is 1.7.189.11, gotten from official website
I don't know wich was my older version and can't know since it's been uninstalled

switching haali's version is the only thing I did, so the fact that this error doesn't show anymore can only come from that
I switched the option "display error messages" back on in my "new haali" and I play files without any problems

obviously, something has changed in haali

about the TS file stuff, these are, like I said when posting this, "a few feedbacks", nothing more
anyway, if haali is now able to disregard the order of header data in TS files, there are chances it disregards it in any filetype
and the fact that it doesn't show the error in my mkv file just seems to be a proof of it

but since someone knows the guy coding haali, the easiest way to find out may be to send him an email and ask

[Milvus]

Would be strange Haali added so much error resiliency in the MKV demuxer. For TS, which is a streaming format, it quite normal. For MKV, it would be a call for the spread of bad muxing tools and corrupt files.

Could you check your file with MKVVerify ? Perhaps this one will be able to spot the oddity in this single file, compared to the other files made by the same encoder.

[YondBe]

I tried on that file and all I got was "not a valid mkv file"... I guess this tool does not like what the old haali didn't like either
once again, since I've installed the latest haali I can play this file without any error message and I watched it: there are no bugs at all in the whole video

cccp and gspot open the file without problems (gspot says the file lenght is correct)

[Milvus]

Then the file must be broken somehow. If the CRC check was positive, then the error must have occured very early in the process.

As i said before, such error resiliency from Haali Splitter is both a good and a bad thing : it let you watch files with small bugs, but, il also help the spread of such buggy files... Bad thing for interoperability.

[emptyeighty]

Current CCCP uses an earlier version of Haali, but we've had no reports like this afaicr.

What if you use mkvverify on one of the later files that didn't show the error?

Also the log from mkvverify might have some clues as to what is up with that file.

[YondBe]

I'd really like to know what's happening with this file
I've put 2 file (a "good" one and the "bad" one) in a new folder and lauched mkvverify
here's the log:

file name: xxx_22.mkv

(mkv parser) note:
File type: Matroska v1

file name: xxx_23.mkv

mkvverify just closes itself when opening the file named 23 wich is the one with the problem, so it doesn't put any entry in the log
it only shows "file does not appear to be a valid mkv file" in the command window but don't even write it in the log


what's weird is that cccp or gspot or my players (KMPlayer and MPC) open the file without any problem...
maybe this error resiliency isn't that bad after all since there's really no reason to refuse playing a file that can be

in many cases, the watcher isn't the encoder and therefore some files may not be easy find in another version (as it's the case for that particular file we're talking about here: it's a quite unknown fansubbig of japanime I've never seen anywhere and I'm sure I could almost never put a hand on another version of the episode)

[Milvus]

Really really strange. I don't understand how some tools can say it's a perfectly normal mkv and others say it's not even a mkv...

Could you post some screenshots ?

* File in Gspot.
* Beggining of file in a hex editor (XVI32 for example).

[YondBe]

sure:





thanks for trying to find the real explaination of all this

[GHDpro]

Others will be able to confirm this, but based on the output in the hex editor I'd say you got a AVI file there. Actually GSpot is saying the same as well.

Just rename the .mkv file to .avi and more tools should be able to make sense of it.

I suppose the reason some tools choked on it and others didn't is because some tools look at the file to check it's file type (AVI files start with the string "RIFF", and there is probably a similar trick for MKV and MP4) and process the file as AVI, while other tools look at the file extension and fail because the file isn't MKV.

[Milvus]

Mystery solved ! I had some suspicion when you said "gspot and cccp say it's ok and complete", since gspot can't extract any information from mkv. From your screenshots, it pretty obvious the file is just a regular avi.

Nevertheless, you provided us inconsistent information (the first log show a true mkv), next time, please be carefull of not mixing your files, your logs or whatever !

[emptyeighty]

On an additional note you should _never_ use Haali for avi splitting - except if you have an abominable dual-audio avi, but even then remuxing to mkv is preferred.