Playing MKV files in Front Row

Hi

I don't think you can play MKV in Front Row. You need to get them into iTunes and the easiest thing I've seen to do this is VideoMonkey. It's free and will recode your MKV files into MOV files and then automatically add them to iTunes (you can tell it that the files are TV shows or movies so they show up in the right section)

Lastly it can also delete your orginals if you want and carry out batch conversions. Highly recommended for non-technical users.

Hey,

You can indeed play MKV files in front row! For anyone reading this who does not have VLC, you will first need to download and install VLC Media player for OS X, get it at http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html

This will install the proper codecs - the software necessary to play the video format. Now download and install sapphire. Get it at http://appletv.nanopi.net/getFile.php?Sapphire_1.0b6.5.sh

You will notice you get tons of lines of text. Just click file - Save as at the top of your browser, and save it to Desktop. Now you will need to open the finder, go to Applications, Utilities, and open up the terminal. This seems a little daunting if you have never used the terminal before, but don't worry it's not too bad.

Now type "cd desktop" without the quotes and hit enter. Now type "sh Sapphire_1.0b6.5.sh" (no quotes) and hit enter. You may be asked to type you admin password, do so and hit enter. Then when it prompts you to hit Y or N, hit Y and hit enter. Now Sapphire will install. Once nothing else is scrolling across the terminal screen, you're done!

Now open up front row, and you will notice there is a new entry called sapphire. Click it, and you will be given some options. There is a bunch of directories, including /Users/You/Movies If you have the MKV files in there, then click play to navigate to that directory, and click play on the video you want to play. If you have them somewhere else, note you can also navigate to the / or the root directory. From there you can navigate to anywhere on your computer, and play the MKV files from there. If you have a folder with all the files in it, navigate to it from the / directory, and once you are at the proper folder, hit the fast forward button, and you will see an option to add this directory as a collection. Now this directory will be at the front page! No more navigating after that! Note that sapphire can play any kind of video, not just MKV. If you have the codec for it, it will play it.

Feel free to reply with any questions or concerns you may have. If you get confused, I will be more than happy to help!

Good luck,

Dylan Demora

Thanks I was waiting for a long time to get this to run all my HD movies that are in .MKV format but I have one issue. I got it all installed and it reads that the movies are there but it wont play. Once clicked on the movie it just sits there forever and doesn't load. I have all the codecs installed but im still not sure why it just sits there. Please let me know if you have any ideas why it does this.

Thanks

OK I have to reply again because I feel dumb haha. So it takes a wile because the movie size is so big. All mine are 1080p and each movie is roughly 10gb plus in size so its just trying to read it but if you wait a min or 2 it works fine. Thank you so very much for posting those directions. Im very happy now.

Always happy to help.

You can also use Perian, a free QuickTime Component, that adds DivX, Xvid and MKV Compatibility to all QuickTime using Apps on your Mac. Download it for free at
www.perian.org