Ok, I tried it on two diff win XP laptops, though both was in VLC(for the playback this is). I might try out MPCHC and see how it goes then, I've heard it's got some aspects of using more GPU processing than CPU, or something.
The subs weren't hardcoded, I'm fairly sure they're just put in with the .mkv, but the audio/video is real high quality it seems, I wanted to somehow convert it either into just the video and a .srt file(cos my dvd player or 360 can use them anyway, I think) or make a new .avi with them hardcoded.
Essentially to play it on my 360 or DVD player, I'm going to have to transcode though, the sound stream is apparently too good for the 360 as well. Dammit I wish I didn't download such a high quality bunch of vids! Thanks for your advice though Konfucious, it's been quite helpful!
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EDIT:So it seems your suggestion of MPCHC was quite helpful, it doesn't struggle at all with the picture as I've been noticing in VLC(quite annoying it'll hang or scramble, especially at good bits(ie more action more going on) and lose subtitling too), but then within about 3 minutes MPCHC went out of sync with subs and sound, which is hard for me to deal with. I'm gonna keep looking for good mkv players though, and just give up on transcoding. If I get a good player I'll be fine to just VGA my TV into a laptop/pc.