Any Apps for Surface 2 that can play .mkv files smoothly?

[lovenokia]

I am thinking about purchasing a surface 2, but I want to know if there are any apps that can play .mkv smoothly? Most of the apps seem to get bad reviews, and none of them are stellar reviews. I am also wondering if anyone knows about vlc for windows rt, because I know vlc plays .mkv well and how soon it will be until it will come out? Thanks

 

[Jas00555]

Vlc is coming very soon. The app itself is ready, they just need go recode the audio/video parts of it. They would be done by now but Microsoft changed a bunch of APIs. They're almost there.

 

[lovenokia]

Are there any other apps in the meantime? Is there any way I could get access to the beta or something?

 

[azcruz]

PowerDVD for Mobile. Been available since...

 

[tritoui]

I use mobile.HD media Player for one year with my RT1.It Plays 1080p mkv perfectly smoothly.

 

[katakulli]

The RT plattform desperately needs a really good FREE videoplayer which has mkv support. Why is this VLC thing taking soo long anyway?

 

[anon(8195883)]

If you have a desktop just install a plex sever..then you can stream any format to your surface using IE. No need to buy the plex app from the app store..it works great. I use it for media center .wtv files at home and away .

http://www.plexapp.com/

 

[Jas00555]

The RT plattform desperately needs a really good FREE videoplayer which has mkv support. Why is this VLC thing taking soo long anyway?

because 8 million lines of code takes a long time to rewrite. Patience. Its almost here.

 

[jMawl]

because 8 million lines of code takes a long time to rewrite. Patience. Its almost here.

That's a great answer It is odd to me that RT is so much more difficult to code (port?) than iOS, but that seems to be the case based on comments from Jean-Baptiste Kempf (President of VLC and developer for WinRT) over at VLC. It must be hard because they have 4 developers on WinRT and only 3 on iOS and 2 on Android, and they destroyed their kickstarter drive goal to develop WinRT VLC last December, and we still don't have it Jas00555, I am going to trust you have some better info than what is freely available online and hope for a launch in the very near future..

 

[Jas00555]

That's a great answer It is odd to me that RT is so much more difficult to code (port?) than iOS, but that seems to be the case based on comments from Jean-Baptiste Kempf (President of VLC and developer for WinRT) over at VLC. It must be hard because they have 4 developers on WinRT and only 3 on iOS and 2 on Android, and they destroyed their kickstarter drive goal to develop WinRT VLC last December, and we still don't have it Jas00555, I am going to trust you have some better info than what is freely available online and hope for a launch in the very near future..

Yeah, 8/RT is a lot different from IOS and android, at least when it comes to coding. I won't get into detail since I'm not sure how much you know about code, but if you're interested, check out the update section of their kickstarter and look at the most recent update. Its a couple of months old and they've made progress since then, but it'll give you an idea about the kind of stuff they've had to go through.

Edit: here's the link http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1061646928/vlc-for-the-new-windows-8-user-experience-metro/posts

Note: you have to be a backer to see some of the updates

 

[lovenokia]

Thanks for all the advice! Time to sell one of my ipads, I hate ios 7 so much lags like mad my the ipad, but I have to keep one for school though -_-

 

[nuprotocol]

I use mobile.HD media Player for one year with my RT1.It Plays 1080p mkv perfectly smoothly.

THIS. Mobile.HD plays all of my mkv anime/movies in full 1080p glory. A must buy for Surface/Surface2.

 

[sinic999]

You can try pressplay video. Its kind of decent but its the best free app that I used so far.

 

[Infinicat]

MKV is a container format which the Xbox Video app doesn’t recognize. You can convert or remux (depending on the formats of the original audio and video streams) your MKV files into MP4 files using tools like Avidemux.

 

[Steven Guillemet]

Another vote for mobile.HD, has played everything I have thrown at it, including MKV's with DTS sound.

 

[ttxzee]

I found a free App that plays 720P (at least) mkv very well, however it's only in Chinese. the app is called "迅雷看看播放器" (Xunlei Look Player) and i was only able to download this app while the PC region is set to China. to find the app after changing the region to china is easy; on the store home page, scroll to the right end, go into Top Free category, and the app should be one of the first few. to use it to play local files, click the "本地视频" (local video) at the left end, and choose your video.

 

[link68759]

AV remote works. The network remote features (controlling other devices and being controlled by other devices) work sometimes, hence the bad reviews, but local and remote playback are functional.

 

[Daylife]

VLC for Windows 8 and Windows Phone is almost ready, here’s the latest on its status | Windows Phone Central

 

[ShaneRay]

If you're considering mobile.HD, I'd encourage you to give the trial a thorough workout. I've experienced some nasty system crashes and reboots and other annoying bugs. So much so, that I'd never have purchased if these had surfaced during the trial. Just a friendly FYI...

 

[nuprotocol]

If you're considering mobile.HD, I'd encourage you to give the trial a thorough workout. I've experienced some nasty system crashes and reboots and other annoying bugs. So much so, that I'd never have purchased if these had surfaced during the trial. Just a friendly FYI...

also keep in mind to try multiple files b/c It could be your actual file. I've used mobile.HD since SurfaceRT and had nothing but success with this app. it's played every mkv I could throw at it.