How can an older laptop play HiDef .mkv files?

[Raycaster]

I have a Windows Home Server setup with a ton of media but mostly in 720 or above in .mkv format. Perfect for my wdtv unit and my i5 laptop but my wife's HP G50 laptop has trouble with some of the .mkv files.

She is wireless so most of the time copies the .mkv to her laptop and then views. Some of the .mkv really kill the G50 with stuttering and lag etc.

On my BB Playbook I have streaming software that lets me run a server on one of the networked machine. I run a app on the tablet it stream wireless and transcodes buffering out every movie flawlessly.

Is there a easy way to do this for Windows 8 on her laptop?

I also have a xbox on the network.

 

[Ocean]

should be able to barely, a few thing ideas without having that laptop in front of me.

vlc has a difficult time playing mkv, (its splitter is shit) you will squeeze more performance by not using vlc for mkv, (k-lite codec pack and wmp)

ensure your power settings are on performance,

ive used vlc for streaming, seems fine, but with more powerful comps, so i dont know where your issue might be.