MKV file will not play on one PC

I have three PCs with the same version of PotPlayer. Two of them will play a certain mkv file, one will not.
All will play the file with VLC.
All PCs are on the same Windows 10 1809 OS. All at the same patch level.
I ran mkvalidator over the file and it says the "file appears to be valid".
I thought it might be an issue with Audio as the audio track is A-EAC3, but other files with the same audio format play fine. I also removed the audio track from the file and it still would not play. But even so - it plays fine of 2 of the 3 PCs.
So something is different about this PC... I just don't know where to start looking.

I already uninstalled potplayer and tried different versions. So it seems to be my Windows that is the issue.

Any ideas?

Ghot said:

It's probably going to turn out to be a missing codec on the PC that won't play it.
VLC media player comes with just about every codec, which is probably why with VLC it plays on all the PCs.

I thought Potplayer made the same claim. Indeed, I even installed the additional codecs.
And all 3 PCs have all the same software and codecs installed, so if it works on one it should work on all.

Anyway, I'm ripping the disk again. Hopefully that will work.

UPDATE;

Found what's causing it to break, but not why it's breaking for only one PC.
After ripping the disc again I then, using MKVToolnix converted it to 1:2.35. That broke it.
Changing the video height has never broken an MKV file before, so I don't know why it's not working.
But after changing it the other Pcs could still play it.

The installer of K-Lite Codec Pack (download from codecguide.com website) can autodetect and fix broken codec configurations on Windows. VLC player actually is great for streaming video on a network, but seriously nothing beats MPC-HC with its built-in LAV Splitter for quality playback of MKV files. Nothing even comes close to it... especially not if you are talking DVD-V rips playback with madVR upscaling technique, but I use it mostly for playing MKV (Remux) Blu-ray rips with audio bitstreaming over HDMI. All of this stuff is already included in the Standard version of K-Lite Codec Pack, and the installer also lets you choose what (not) to install. It really is one of the most diligent installers I have ever seen made for any purpose. Ever.

hdmi said:

VLC player actually is great for streaming video on a network,

I used to use VLC. All my media is on a server. At the time it was a gigabit network. VLC stuttered, crashed, froze and was generally a nightmare when multiple people wanted to watch something.

So we switched to PotPlayer and have never had a problem. Seriously, this is the first ever problem I've had with pot player in 6 years, and it was because I changed the metadata of the file.

These days my network is all 10Gig. I don't recall the last time we watched a DVD. It's all bluray and 4K these days, and even some 3D :)

I have 10 PCs and I try to keep software standard across all PCs. I agree with you re MPC-HC, but others didn't like it so we stayed with Pot Player.

I don't know why changing the Video Heighht with MKV Toolnix header editor affected this one video on one PC, but at least I can now watch the movie.

Thanks all.

Wobitancrawfodi said:

I used to use VLC. All my media is on a server. At the time it was a gigabit network. VLC stuttered, crashed, froze and was generally a nightmare when multiple people wanted to watch something.

What I meant to say is, VLC is great for streaming real-time captured video (like from a video capture card or from a webcam) over a network, at least if you can walk the extra mile of setting it up right, because it can tend to be quirky otherwise. For playback of files that either are made accessible over a network share or are available from the local storage, the only true advantage of VLC is that all popular codecs are embedded in it. Which can be useful in situations where you can't─or won't─install additional codecs you need, at work or to be able to quickly show a video on a thumb drive to a friend. But in this case I would go for the portable edition.

As for K-Lite Codec Pack, pretty much everything that it can install can be individually disabled/uninstalled by using the installer of the pack so, there is no bloat. Using just the automatic feature that can detect broken codec configurations might help you find out what gives. The installer doesn't mess around with anything unless you confirm actions. With every new update, the author of this pack goes to great lengths to ensure that each item that is included in the pack does NOT get updated to the latest version before the item's stability has been validated first. That in fact is pretty exemplary to say the least... IMO anyway.

Callender said:

The solution was to convert to another format and delete the originals.

I've had bad files as a result of impending disk failures, and the occasional bad rip, but never this problem.

I find 1:2.40 to "squished" so I habitually change the display height to 1:2.35 on all of my rips. In this instance, this one file wouldn't play on one PC after changing the aspect ratio.

I could go to potplayer for support, but I hear their support is terrible. And they'd just say "if it works on 2 of 3 PCs it must be your PC not the potplayer that's at fault". How can I refute that?

@hdmi. Sorry my bad. The clue was in the word "streaming" and I missed it. I don't allow streaming over the network. We do use Netflix, and twitch and others but only on specific PCs.

There are 10 PCs here. With the exception of games, the software use is pretty much identical. It is all managed via a massive script. Software updates are disabled for all applications, or blocked if updates cannot be disabled. Windows updates are managed via WSUS. Nothing gets on to a PC without being tested for 60 days in a test environment. PCs are refreshed annually, at which time program versions are updated and if there is any new software it will be deployed then.

If someone attempts to update a program themselves that hasn't been tested it automatically gets rolled back next reboot. Login scripts reset program registry changes such as attempts to enable automatic updates.

On the 10 PCs the only problems I've ever had with playing media were with VLC. Switching to pot player resolved all of those issues. Since then (2014), I've never had a problem.

I re-ripped the movie and it played fine. Then I changed the aspect ratio and it wouldn't play on my PC.

Potplayer installs "opencodec" as part of its installation. However, I will install K-Lite on my PC and see if the file plays via potplayer after changing the aspect ratio.

- - - Updated - - -

UPDATE: Installed K-Lite. Didn't resolve the issue. If I change the aspect ratio, it wont play on my pc.