Media center (vista) and codecs.

S

stain.

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 17, 2006
Messages
1,045
I need to get VMCE to recognize divx mkv, and x264. Well, it recognizes them, but won't play them. I know that I need to get the codecs in there, but I've not got a clue how.

I'm doing a build for a friend and this is the last thing I can't figure out.

Thanks for your help!
 
If you can play the files in Windows Media Player then you should be able to play them in media center.

However for MKV files and possibly MP4 you may need to make some small changes to the registry for them to be detected/show up in MCE, if you get to this point, reply back and i'll grab them from my Vista MCE as there still on the desktop.

For codecs, my vote goes with FFDShow and CoreAVC, other codecs including the ones that come with Nero have had my MCE crashing all the time when i jump to my movies folder and it tries to generate thumbnails.
 
CrimandEvil said:
Anyone that recommends Klite deserves not to be listened to; it's a terrible suggestion.
Click to expand...

Your reasoning being?

I'm actually a CCCP user myself but I really don't like it when someone dismisses someone's recommendation entirely without any sort of backing.
 
Danny Bui said:
Your reasoning being?

I'm actually a CCCP user myself but I really don't like it when someone dismisses someone's recommendation entirely without any sort of backing.
Click to expand...

Because K-Lite just takes every codec they can find and stuffs them in one package. They conflict. All you need is FFDShow, Haali's splitter and VSFilter. This is essentially what CCCP provides. I still recommend installing them separately, but CCCP is by FAR the best codec pack.
 
dandragonrage said:
Because K-Lite just takes every codec they can find and stuffs them in one package. They conflict. All you need is FFDShow, Haali's splitter and VSFilter. This is essentially what CCCP provides. I still recommend installing them separately, but CCCP is by FAR the best codec pack.
Click to expand...

K-Lite does have a basic version, you know.
 
Basic has DivX and XviD. You should never have DivX installed on your PC unless you work for DivX. You should only have XviD if you encode with it. And you still need Haali.
 
dandragonrage said:
Because K-Lite just takes every codec they can find and stuffs them in one package. They conflict. All you need is FFDShow, Haali's splitter and VSFilter. This is essentially what CCCP provides. I still recommend installing them separately, but CCCP is by FAR the best codec pack.
Click to expand...
Exactly. I've seen many to many Klite related problems because someone on the internet suggests to install it. Anyone that knows anything about codecs knows to stay away from it.
 
K-lite is absolutely horrid. It causes codec conflicts and overwrites some DLL files that you need for other media playback. I've helped numerous people try to straighten out their "video playback issues" that were using K-lite, and it isn't pretty.

Codec packs are usually garbage anyway. But, CCCP is the best 'pack' all-in-one solution.

It is much better to go individually. Go with these..
- PowerDVD 7.3 codecs
- Haali
- CoreAVC
- FFDshow
- Quicktime Alternative
- Xvid
- AC3 Filter
 
Ok, I can play house season 1 with WMP but not WMC.

as someone said a few posts back there might be some registry keys to change to get this to work?

Actually I have been getting KMV to play with VLC player, not VMCE
 
You need to add some data to the registry so that MKV/MP4 files show up in the Video library. There may be a program to add them but i didnt notice it.

Is this the problem you have? Or are you able to see the files in your MCE video library, but get an error when you try to play them?
 
Quicktime
Xvid
Matroska splitter

Avoid FFDSHOW if at all possible. Utter trash, that thing. Sure, it does everything... but it does it all poorly.
 
When I go into vmce I can see all the files except mkv.

It won't play xvid's. Although it DOES in WMP.
 
silent-circuit said:
Quicktime
Xvid
Matroska splitter

Avoid FFDSHOW if at all possible. Utter trash, that thing. Sure, it does everything... but it does it all poorly.
Click to expand...

No, it's great. It's very stable and is the fastest MPEG-4 ASP decoder available. Maybe you used it back in like 2002 when it sucked. I have used it since then. Great stuff. Your advice is VERY out of date. w1retap, on the other hand, wants people to install more than they need, but not K-lite bad.
 
FFDshow is very CPU intensive processing, but it actually does a better job. If you run it in conjunction with Media Player Classic, it works out to pretty much be the best solution.
 
w1retap said:
FFDshow is very CPU intensive processing, but it actually does a better job. If you run it in conjunction with Media Player Classic, it works out to pretty much be the best solution.
Click to expand...

It's more CPU intensive than CoreAVC for MPEG-4 AVC, yes. It's faster for ASP. I'd recommend CoreAVC if it were free.
 
Well, thats because CoreAVC cuts some corners when it comes to decoding.
Click to expand...

It sure does and is probably one of the reasons for its speed boost. As the newest build of ffdshow has CABAC threaded, i will probably swap over to it pretty soon. Heres an example, its taken from a 720p encode with most of the scene cropped out, just to highlight the section where the problem is. Bad cropping and the fact the resolution and frame isnt exactly the same on both, is down to me rushing it a little, but the effect is there to see and normally lasts a few seconds until the next scene change.

Heres a frame from a encode using FFDShow

ffdshowfi1.png


Same using COREAVC

coreavcni4.png
 
That is very rare though where you get what appears to be a corrupt frame. I've only run across it once or twice in my dozens of hours of movie viewing using CoreAVC. It looks like you have a bad encode more than anything.
 
in anything ive encoded in the last month (mostly from DVD) it doesnt appear to show up. In my HD encodes, it happens in almost every one i have, most times its only once or twice per movie and sometimes only flashes up for 2-3 seconds.

With Nero/FFDShow/PowerDVD the bugs never appear, although decoding performance isnt as good.
 
It all depends on how you are doing the encodes. I've ran across a few bad encodes that did what you took a screenshot of. If it is a good encode, it won't do that. That appears to be a corrupt frame that came from a bad read. Also, depending on the encoder you use, each decoder will handle it differently. Some might drop the corrupt frame, and some might play it.
 
Whilst it definetely could be a bad error, the fact that all the other directshow filters i have play the frame perfectly still makes me believe its a coreavc issue. The fact that its been brought up before on doom9 forums with examples showing almost the same thing, makes me believe that. Still for now, its the fastest software decoder available.
 
sorry to hijack but I also can't play certain files in WMC. (Vista 64)

I am having problem with Xvid. I have FFshow, CCCP, XVid, DivX, and something called Media Control, but it still won't play Xvid. I can play it fine with VLC.

Any suggestions?
 
If your using the 64bit version of MCE, i "think" you need to have 64bit versions of there directshowfilters, there available as ive used them before........i could be talking out my ass, but i think thats the case
 
I'm using Vista x64 on my main PC and all the 32-bit stuff works just fine.
 
I haven' gotten the videos to play successfully in VMCE. I must suck at something.
 
Ive used the 64bit driver package available here in the past (now i just roll it myself). It worked great for MCE. Theres the 32 bit and 64bit versions so make sure you get both.

http://shark007.testbox.dk

I'm using Vista x64 on my main PC and all the 32-bit stuff works just fine.
Click to expand...

In media player or MCE? Media player reverts to the 32bit version all the time, so the 32bit codecs playfine (at least mine does)

MCE is definetely 64bit in vistax64 and im pretty sure it requires 64bit directshowfilters. Ive tested it before and was 99% this was the case.
 
Well, I'm actually using Vista Ultimate x64. I thought it would be the same, but maybe not.
 
Im using Vista Ultimate x64 as well. If i load a video in windows media player/vlc it will load the 32bit version and the 32bit directshow filters work correctly. You can load MP in 64bit, but it defaults to 32bit for compatibility. There is a cmdline code you can use to always default it to 64bit however.

If you load MCE then its 64bit (you can see it in taskmanager) and it needs 64bit direct show filters and splitters before your videos will play (obviously WMV/MPEG is already included).

To test it (i have no 64bit directshowfilters installed), i setup a video in MCE with AVC encoding, it wouldnt play at all, but played perfectly in WMP (32bit not 64bit). I then installed the 64bit drivers from the package above and it played perfectly. Using google and search will also show you that for video playback in MCE64Bit you need to have the appropriate 64bit media splitters and 64bit directshowfitlers.
 
I have the 64-bit codecs, and whatnot, and my video's aren't registering in VMCE anymore.
 
Its possible that either

1. The files are already in your media library or have been previously deleted from there and told not to readd

2. That VMCE isnt loading the extensions for that file in.

If its a filetype thats been showing in VMCE before, then open up your media library in WMP and make sure thats its showing up. Tell it to research the appropriate folder and make sure the option "add files previously deleted from the library" is ticked.

If its the file extension not getting picked up (you can try this by simply changing the extension to WMV/AVI or something that it does pickup) then you can add this using a registry command
 
so what's the registry that needs to change for vmce to recognize other format (mkv, xvid, etc.) ?? I would like to know.
 
Ok, I'll change the file extentions when I get home.

I want to know more about the registry edits for VMCE.
 
I havent had time to look at the registry settings to see which one actually makes it appear in MCE, so ive simply included the 2 files (MP4 and MKV) that i use on my MCE's when i first set them up.

Simply open the file and it should prompt you to add the details to your registry automatically. Theres nothing malicious in there and as there just txt files you can open them in notepad first. Its also likely that these will default your player for such files to WMP, instead of say VLC/MPClassic as i normally use these on new installs with only WMP installed. After adding to the registry your files may appear in MCE immediately or might require a reboot.

Note these will only make the file types appear in MCE and will not allow playback of such files unless you have the necessary codecs installed to do that.

http://85.17.60.21/mce-reg.zip
 
Well, I'm confused now.

I have a bunch of xvid, avi, mpg, and other files. They play just fine in windows media player, the only thing I've downloaded are the normal windows updates, and ffdshow.

They also play in Video Lan Player.

They show up in windows media center, but when I go to play one it says "cannot play file. You must install one or more codecs in order to play this file."

Completely backwards from what you guys are talking about right now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top