Computing desk
< January 3	<< Dec \| January \| Feb >>	January 5 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

January 4

Smart(er) TVs

Are there any TVs in general production that can natively play MKV files? Obviously there are any number of codes that might be involved, but it seems that most of them simply don't open MKV containers whatsoever, regardless of what's inside. Googling brings up lots of hits on how to convert MKV files into MP4 or AVI or whatever, but are there any that don't require that extra step? Matt Deres (talk) 22:37, 4 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

This 2018 Samsung SMART TV lists MKV as one of the supported container [1]. This [2] also suggests LG TV's with webOS support MKV although it doesn't provide any clue when the support was added. I'd note that WebM is a reduced from of MKV so it's possible any TV which supports them will also support generic MKV although some of them may need the extension renamed. Nil Einne (talk) 04:23, 5 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

BTW, I have a 2012 47" LG TV from the 3D heyday 47LM6410-TB. IIRC, it was not the cheapest, but also was not the most expensive and this is NZ so I suspect it was relatively low end despite the price. It's old enough that Youtube no longer works due to using some ancient abandoned API, and apps etc are also not really supported any more. However I just tried and confirmed it can play MKVs although some seem to get regularly stuck during playback, I suspect either some codec problem, not liking the USB drive or something. Now that I think about it, I think MKV support has been common for a while probably since it's very common in the copyvio content communities for HD content and that is surely the prime target for file playback support. (I purchased a standalone Bluray device for a relative once, and I seem to recall it could also play back MKV.)

I noticed the LG site did mention it depends on the country, I wonder if the problem could be that media rights organisations have convinced TV suppliers in North America that they need to kneecap their smart TVs to avoid "supporting piracy". Alternatively, since every TV nowadays is some sort of smart TV, if you're thinking ultra-cheap no name ones I guess maybe they've skimped so much on the software they only support MP4 or something.

I should mention I'm mostly thinking USB play back here. I imagine playing over network/media servers is the same, but I don't know.

P.S. In case it isn't obvious, I don't like the limitations imposed by smart TVs so use a computer so haven't actually used the smart TV aspects much.

Nil Einne (talk) 14:04, 5 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you kindly. It's odd how support for computer files has shifted and changed over the years. Way back in the day, even MPGs needed converting to VCD/SVCD, even though those are just MPGs anyway. Then suddently, DivX support for AVI containers blossomed like crazy and MPGs went away. Then MP4 support was suddenly everywhere. It would be cool if people could settle on a video codec/container the way they did with MP3s and music. Matt Deres (talk) 15:26, 5 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]