Well, apparently it’s not a simple task … or is it. It can be complicated until you get ahold of the right tools, cause the normal “method” (as in grabbing a single piece of software) that you can just install and make it all work doesn’t seem to exist for Windows 7 yet. If any of you can prove me wrong, please do so.
So, I’ve spent a few hours looking … ok, just one. But I figured this could help others in case you had the same problematic I’m on, as I do not like to download those “codec packs” that add more to your system than you need to. Think about it as eating a Windows 7 burger altogether when all you need is a just a small meal. Ok, that’s bad joke.
Anyway, these instructions are for the 64bit version of Windows 7. I’m not positive this can work on the x86 versions, but I have a good feel it can work on them too. Just be advised I haven’t tested it on a x86 installation, so your results may vary.
So with that said, let’s start!!!!
Things you will need:
– AC3Filter 1.63b FULL for Windows x64 from: http://ac3filter.net/
– Divx Tech Preview for Windows 7 from: http://labs.divx.com/mkvwin7preview
At the moment I wrote this, the latest version for AC3filter was 1.63b, and the tech preview of DivX for Windows 7 was still in beta. I’m sure these will remain at those versions for a while, but, shall that tech preview come out of its testing I hope you won’t need this guide anymore. Make sure you get the FULL version of AC3Filter, as this is the one that contains the files you’ll need for the x64 bit version of Windows 7.
So, anyway. You gotta install the DivX Tech Preview. I preferred to do a custom installation and just installed the MKV Splitter and nothing more, no DivX codecs, no players, etc. Just so nothing unnecessary got installed, as Windows 7 itself has its own codecs for DivX already installed. Just be advised that this little piece of software will want you to install the Google Bar crappy ass shit thing, so if you’re a bit desperate when installing things, do yourself a favour and do not click continue so fast. If you wish to install everything else that’s perfectly fine, but all you’re gonna really need from this is the MKV Splitter which is under DivX Plus DirectShow Filters.
After this, you could even uninstall the DivX Tech Preview, it won’t touch the MKV Splitter. But as it is right now, all you gonna get is Video, no Audio. The reason for this is that you also require the AC3 Filters, and that’s what the other app is for.
So, you install AC3Filter, and make *sure* that you pick the 32bit filters, you may ask why? That’s because the videos are coded in 32bit, hence why they require the 32bit version of the codec. A bit confusing, isn’t it?
After that, you’re done. With AC3Filter you should be able to play and hear your MKV files fine. Hooray! The only caveat to this is the tech preview splitters do not support subtitles … personally I do not know what that means, I have never seen MKV files with subtitles in them (I do not own that many MKV files to know for sure, so whatever).
That should be it. You should now be able to play MKV files on Windows 7, with the advantage of having hardware accelerated decoding that the DivX tech preview drivers provide.
As usual, if you got any questions, comments or noticed anything wrong in my guide, feel free to leave a message.