Janskeet said:

My computer monitor's max screen resolution is 1440 by 900. I don't even think that qualifies as HD.  But does VLC play HD? What about InterActual player? Does that play in HD?

That screen resolution is HD, it can do 720P. VLC can do HD, just as long as you have the computer to handle it, but either way, you computer is going to scale the video to your screens resolution, so if you try to play 1080P on it, its gonna scale it to 1440x900

And dont use InterActual Player, period

Because that's the way the world of software works.  99% of the time, you can find a free, open-source program that works many times better than its proprietary, expensive counterpart.

I recommend this

http://www.codecguide.com/download_k-lite_codec_pack_mega.htm

Media Player Classic along with VLC should play and do everything you need

Here's how it's done on a Mac, anyway - I can't imagine it will be too terribly different on a PC:

File - Open Disc

Then you get the options of VIDEO_TS Directory or DVD - if you choose DVD, it will read your disc drive.  If you choose VIDEO_TS directory, you can point it to said directory (the VIDEO_TS folder of the DVD files on your hard drive).

Wait, you're trying to open a text file in VLC?  I don't understand.

ChainsawAsh said:

Wait, you're trying to open a text file in VLC?  I don't understand.

 wonder if he is trying to play an iso since he mentioned a "DVD VIDEO_TS file"  and not folder (or even the VIDEO_TS.IFO file)

Since this is a technical question and I know the answer, I'll respond to this one (I have the option whether or not to see your posts):

If you're doing something else while watching it, then it means that you shouldn't be.

If it happens in the exact same spot every time and looks exactly the same every time, then it's a problem with the video encode.

If it happens randomly, and you can go back and watch the same section that it happened to later on and it looks fine, and you have no other programs running while you're watching it, it means your computer isn't fast enough (either you don't have enough RAM, or your processor isn't fast enough - probably RAM.)

You don't need that much.  Besides, some operating systems won't recognize more than 4GB of RAM (I have a dual-core 2.6 GHz processor with 4GB of RAM, and my Windows XP partition won't recognize more than 3GB of RAM).  I wouldn't go more than 6 or 8GB - any more than that and you're just wasting money on something you can never use (at least right now).

I have this problem occasionally, but it usually happens when I'm watching very high-bitrate 1080p stuff.  My solution is to re-encode at a lower bitrate, but not low enough that it degrades the quality too much.  My Planet Earth 1080p H.264 mp4 files are all encoded at 10,000 Kbps (average bitrate), which brings them to around 4GB apiece.  This doesn't stutter my system if I'm watching them on my computer with nothing else running, and they're all slightly less than 4GB which lets me throw them on my FAT32 hard drive to watch on my PS3.  I don't have any 720p files to give you a bitrate estimate for that.

Just play around with the encoding.  Pick a 5-10 minute section that exhibits this problem a lot (usually action-heavy scenes), and play around with re-encoding that section at lower bitrates until you find a bitrate that plays smoothly on your setup and isn't too heavily compressed.

Handbrake (at least on Mac) will now convert MKV files, and it's fairly easy to figure out how to use.

Janskeet said:

I beleive Windows XP only recognizes up to 3 GB of RAM but Vista recognizes a lot more I'm sure. I'm thinking of building a new computer like a year down the road so by then 8GB might be the standard when 2-4 GB is right now. As for re-encoding at a lower bitrate, that is beyond me. I don't know how to do that. I don't expect you to tell me either if you don't want to, I can look that up on google.

Wrong.

32 bit XP and 32 bit Vista will still only see >4GB of memory. To use more than that you'll have to go to a 64 bit version of either OS.

I suppose having you on my ignore list is kinda pointless, since I look at and read all of your posts anyway.  You're off.