Smoother MKV playback with VLC

If you're seeing stuttering in any MKV videos you've ripped, try out wipe0wt's suggestion and turn off loop filters in VLC altogether.  It results in a dramatic improvement in playback quality.  The gist is:

1. Open up VLC and choose Tools -> Preferences from the menu
2. In the bottom left corner of the preferences window you'll see a "Show settings" area.  Make sure you change it from "Simple" to "All".  This will change the left side of the preferences window so it's a tree view instead of a collection of icons.
3. Navigate to the following preferences group from the tree on the left: Input / Codecs -> Video codecs -> FFmpeg.  The right side of the preferences window will now change to "FFmpeg audio/video decoder".
4. Check the "Allow speed tricks" checkbox
5. Set the "Skip the loop filter for H.264 decoding" to "All"
6. Click on the Save button on the bottom right of the preferences window.

Enjoy!