Grainy MKVs Options

[Garmichael]

MKVs appear very grainy, with tiny artifacts displayed all over the image. The degree of graininess varies depending on which MKV I'm watching, and from what I've been able to tell, it depends on the file size of the MKV itself. MP4s display beautifully without any grain or artifacts. Also, when I use gotSent to convert a grainy MKV into an MP4, the MP4 version looks great.

Is there a setting or something I can set to reduce this effect? What can I do?

[WDUser]

Well, there's something new every day... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) You didn't specifically mention it, but I assume artefacts/graininess decreases as MKV file size increases? But the very same grainy MKV becomes crystal clear on converting to MP4?

If so, can't be the TV connection since MP4s play back fine. All I can think of is that gotSent is perhaps re-encoding the original video (which the player can't seem to handle properly) somehow and making it more palatable for the hardware. How long on average does it take to finish its job per file? Does it indicate a simple demuxing/remuxing process or is there a hint of re-encoding being carried out anywhere? You can also compare the MKVs and MP4s with MediaInfo and see what exactly has been done to the audio/video streams post conversion.

Besides that... how is the player connected to the TV? Via HDMI? Do try different resolution settings (especially if it is set to Auto) and see if that helps any. Try and match the file's resolution, the TV's max. resolution etc.