Over the years i've been downloading codecs as i needed them and recently i decided to clean them up as i'm having a bit of difficulty trying to watch some videos but i'm not sure how to proceed. I was trying to watch some MKV files with dual audio and english subs, i can switch the audios alright, but i can't seem to be able to put the subs on. i tried using GOM player which only showed bits of the subs and everything else (real player, WMP11, Media Player Classic) just didn't show it at all, but a Matroska thingy pops up on my taskbar. Here's the info of one of the MKV files found under the media tab of property:

Title: Tridun
Muxer: mkv merge v1.4.0 ("Cornflake Girl") built on Feb 26 2005 14:33:38; libebml v0.7.3 + libmatroska v0.7.5
Duration: 0:24:39:312

Tracks:

Type: Video
Codec: XVID
Title: V: (undetermined)
Dimensions: 640x480

Type: Audio
Codec: Vorbis
Title: A: (Japanese)
Language: Japanese
Sampling rate: 48000

Type: Audio
Codec: Vorbis
Title: A: (English)
Language: English (United States)
Sampling rate: 48000

Type: Subtitle
Codec: AdvanceSubStation
Title: S: (English)
Language: English (United States)

Attachments:
UID: 2458297016
Name: JESTER.TTF
Mime type: application/x-truetype-font
size: 55.3 kb

Attached are the images of what video and audio codecs i've got on my computer (under computer management->Device Management->Sound, Video and game controllers->Audio codecs/Video codecs

While I'm at it can someone please teach me a bit on codecs and the different video containers and converting the files to different file formats and whatever else that i need to know so i can solve these problems myself.

Thanks in advance!

there are two utilities that i know of that will determine what codecs you need in order to play a audio/video file. I know Gspot will tell if you have them installed, not sure about the other one (AVIcodec).

gspot;
http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

AVIcodec:
http://avicodec.duby.info/

MKV files:
http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/how_to_play_mkv.cfm

for audio/video encoding i would visit these two websites, you will find everything you need to know, plenty of guides, tools to use and forums

http://www.afterdawn.com/

http://www.videohelp.com/

happy encoding

Thanks for the links, they're awesome!

I'm still having trouble trying to get the sub to work, i can get the dual audio to work only

you may be limited by the source file itself.