Hi I have a similar problem. I have been able to play a mkv file yesterday and today I can not play a second film which is also mkv. Then it begins to load and freezes there. Should I download a program and convert all my mkv files now so I can play them with my wd live television box? I do not hope this is the solution to my problem…

In fact, playing MKV file from local HDD on Windows 8.1 PC is never a problem for WD TV Live Hub. The problem is MKV streaming over the Internet. Basically, with DLNA media devices, there are certificates given to each product that receives DLNA approval. The problem is that .mkv is not one of the media options that are categorized because it’s not a sanctioned format (not like WMV, MPEG, etc.) Besides, MKV is a flexible container format which can store just about anything (H.264, DivX, MPEG, any sort of audio, even menus and subtitles) while WMV, MPEG is more or less complete formats so they know what to expect while with MKV’s you really can’t tell without checking the contents itself.

Although most people meet with very limited success streaming .mkv files from NAS to a DLNA-certified HDTV, it is reported that many have good luck when streaming H.264 .mkv with AC3 audio. DTS audio in .mkv may results in av sync problems so it is advised to be converted to AC3 or AAC before streaming MKV.

Anyway, the best way solving this problem is streaming .mkv from Windows 8.1 PC while transcoding the file on the fly with media server like Tversity. Despite that, you may receive error message when streaming .mkv to WD TV Live Hub. In that case you’re suggested to convert .mkv to DLNA sanctioned format, e.g. H.264 .mp4. The following guide tells you how to convert .mkv to H.264 .mp4 video with AAC audio included for streaming to WD TV Live Hub.

Original article: Streaming .mkv files from Windows 8.1 PC to WD TV Live Hub via DLNA

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