I am trying to get .ass subtitle support to work in Windows 7 media center. These are embedded in an MKV file. Thankfully, Haali media splitter has come a loooong way since earlier this year and it actually works now. The problem I'm having is with getting subtitles to show up. Please refrain from mentioning CCCP, k-lite codec pack, or shark's codec pack. I tried them last time I ran into problems and ended up having to reinstall the OS for my trouble. All the suggestions I see on like for these are quite old, often going back with Windows 7 beta releases. I found FFDshow to me completely ineffective due to it using DirectShow and WMC using the new Windws Media Foundation Architecture (wikipedia's article). Is there a current, single plugin/filter/whatever the !@#$ WMF uses to handle just the subtitles?
Like Omnituens said above I think that you should try running the files in VLC to try and determine if it is the video player.
These are the sorts of 'solutions' I'm trying to avoid and does not solve the core problem of Microsoft Media Foundation compatible software. I have not tried other players since my last reinstall on Windows 7 and when I said enough is enough for using solutions that are not built from the ground up for Windows 7's new system. My experience has been almost entirely negative when trying to sidestep the issue with Vista codec packs, registry hacks, and other players. Windows media center has worked extremely well up to this point, so I am looking specifically for a solution that works within the current media foundation framework. So is it safe to assume that no one has gotten .ass subtitles in an MKV to render when using Windows Media Center for video playback?
VLC is a bit of a misnomer here; VLC uses it's own rendering/codec engines to play files - it doesn't rely on system codecs, like WMC does. That's why VLC is one of the best cross-platform media players - you don't need libraries/codecs for each and every possible OS version out there. Installing/uninstalling multiple codec packs is usually a recipe for disaster - fine one good codec pack you like and stick to it. Don't try to install other codec packs on top; even uninstalling isn't always 100% effective. The best I've found for Windows Media Centre compatibility is the Shark codec pack. It does take a little configuration/tinkering, but it's worked flawlessly with WMC for every kind of obscure codec type I've thrown at it. How important is it for you to use WMC? If you *really* want to avoid codec packs altogether, then the best I can recommend is to switch to XBMC instead of using WMC. Like VLC, XBMC doesn't rely on codec packs as it uses it's own engine. The only thing that it can't do is play live TV. Otherwise, it's handled pretty much everything I've ever thrown at it without breaking a sweat. Plus it has a very good UI and is far more flexible/customisable than WMC.
The short answer, I found help at this site: http://www.thehtpc.net/tips-tricks-guides/my-codec-guide-for-windows-7-media-center/. The author's requirements are very similar to my own, and once I got the 64 bit version of vsfilter installed, subtitles work, though it appears to be software only and playback is a little choppy (but acceptable). My reason for stubbornly clinging to WMC is that this is my media PC in a media PC chassis with a remote. I was using the software that came with the chassis, but it's ability to find media sucks, getting it to refresh a folder is still a mysterious process for me. But it worked flawlessly with the remote and the interface buttons were pretty big. That made them easy to work at 1080p while bouncing around on a treadmill. Then I tried media center and it works almost as well with the remote, did not require any fiddling, and the interface is also as easy to work while bouncing around. It also is integrated with the shell so I can browse to the folder holding whatever it is I want to watch, I can double click on it, and it plays. VLC is probably worth a try, but I have a player that has good support for my remote and a good interface. I won't abandon those things easily.
You should really give XBMC a try; it's not an OS or shell replacement, it can run as a standalone app. If WMC supports your remote, then XBMC shouldn't have an issue with it. Plus - as already mentioned - you don't need to tinker with the config/codecs to get pretty much any video file, including subtitles, to work. Pretty much everything works out of the box. If your remote isn't working quite the way you want it, then try out Intelliremote; it supports pretty much every media app out there (through plugins), including WMC and XBMC. It will allow you to re-map the controls on your remote and configure it however the hell you want. EDIT: Should probably mention that XBMC is a full-blown media centre front-end, with a 10-foot UI, as opposed to just a video player (which VLC is)
