MPEG video won't play

H

htpc_user

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jun 27, 2008
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I have never ran into this issue until recently and now I've ran into it twice. Several weeks ago I reinstalled XP on my son's PC. It had been on there for a while before I ever tried playing any videos. The first time I tried I was trying to play an HD recording made on my HTPC; the video started playing and then froze. I was trying to play in Media Center (2005). Then I tried to play it in WMP; same result. I tried in PowerDVD Ultra; same result. Finally, I installed Total Media Theater, and the file played fine. That's the only program I can get to play a video (an HD video any way; SD recordings play fine).

I recently did a clean install on my HTPC with Vista. After I got everything installed, I'm getting the same result. The recordings made on the prior installation will start and then freeze. After I reinstalled SageTV, the recordings play fine in Sage (which is what I used to record them), but won't play in anything outside of Sage. I don't understand. I've installed countless times and never had simple mpeg playback to fail. This is driving me nuts because there is no reasonable explanation as to why this is happening. One thought is that maybe these files, which exist on a USB hard drive, have gone corrupt...but that wouldn't make sense given that they play fine in SageTV and TMT (on my son's).
 
The only player you will ever need is MPC-HC, and it seems like it is the only one you haven't tried.

Uninstall all other codecs, they will just get in the way. If worse comes to worse and MPC-HC's internal filters don't play it, install ffdshow-mt. That will do it.
 
I tried MPC HC on my son's PC, and it wouldn't play the files either. Why would it be a codec issue? I've always done installs like this. Install OS; install PowerDVD (so that I can use the mpeg decoder for DVD and mpeg use); run set up on MCE 2005 (if it's my son's PC)...then everything plays. Why isn't it working now?
 
Its probably down to a not quite standard MPEG1 codec that was used to encode the videos.
This means you need to find a codec that can decompress your videos correctly.
Give ffdhsow a shot, its fantastic for decompressing nearly everything.
You can uninstall it if not successful.

I use ffdshow for most of my video playback needs.
 
Just found out that my main PC is also doing this if I try to play a file from my HTPC. That also rules out my thinking that it is an ATI driver issue. The other 2 PC's I had trying playing with were using Radeons. My main PC uses an 8800GTS. BTW, my main PC has FFDshow. This is crazy.
 
Try CCC? I've run into issues where I had to install CCC (Combined Community Codec) pack, and ffdshow.

Also, try VLC Media player, it will play just about everything. Also can try WMP Classic, comes with CCC.
 
dhahlen said:
Also can try WMP Classic, comes with CCC.
Click to expand...

No, it doesn't.


Ignoring the fact that this could very well be a driver issue, MPC-HC + ffdshow will pretty much play anything on the planet.

Is the video MPEG-1 or MPEG-2?

IIRC, MPEG-1 and 2 are not enabled by default in ffdshow, and it takes just a couple mouse clicks to enable it.

If this was my machine, I would uninstall every player and codec that has ever been installed and start fresh.

MPC-HC and ffdshow-mt, enable MPEG1/2 decoding and you should be set. That doesn't work, roll back or update video drivers.

VLC is crap, don't touch it.
 
Before reading the last 2 posts I tried both VLC and MPC HC (I already had both on my main PC). Both players played the file I was trying just fine. As far as uninstalling stuff...this problem is spread across 3 machines; my HTPC, my main PC, and my son's PC. The files I'm trying to play are recorded MPEG-TS files (that's what ATSC recordings are called, right?). Any of the recordings that were made from satellite through the S-video input will play in any player on any PC. It's just the HD files that are giving me problems. But it hasn't always been like this. On my son's PC, I used to have PowerDVD Ultra installed and I used the Cyberlink decoder as his default decoder for MCE. It would play anything fine. I recently reinstalled Windows on his PC, and that's when I noticed this problem on his PC. I did the same thing as always. Then I recently reinstalled Windows on my HTPC, this time using Vista instead of XP, and I noticed this problem on this machine. With my main PC, I had never really tried playing much recorded stuff. I tried it now just to see what it was doing and found the problem there too. The one common thing among the 3 PC's is that I have PowerDVD Ultra 9 on each one. The common thing between my son's previous installation and my previous installation of my HTPC, was that neither of those had PowerDVD Ultra 9; I used 7 on both of those. I just wonder if 9 is causing some kind of problem.
 
criccio said:
No, it doesn't.

VLC is crap, don't touch it.
Click to expand...

Yes, it does. DOwnload and install it, see for yourself.

While I prefer WMPC, VLC is still a great video player. While we can argue our opinions all day, it can still be useful.

Maybe the wiki on mpeg-ts will help you, it suggests these players:

* Combined Community Codec Pack [11]
* GOM Player
* Haenlein-Software DVR Studio
* Squared 5 MPEG Streamclip [12]
* VideoReDo [13]
* VobEdit [14]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG_transport_stream

I never liked the power DVD suite, too flashy for me to like. Either way, I'll keep an eye on the thread. YOu can try rolling back to a previous version, but not sure if it will help.
 
dhahlen said:
Yes, it does. DOwnload and install it, see for yourself.
Click to expand...

lol.. I have been using MPC-HC (its not called windows media player classic btw) for years now, and it most definitely doesn't come with any nOOb codec packs.
 
criccio said:
lol.. I have been using MPC-HC (its not called windows media player classic btw) for years now, and it most definitely doesn't come with any nOOb codec packs.
Click to expand...

Look into CCC pack you would see it contains:

* CoreWavPack
* ffdshow-tryouts (custom build)
* Gabest's FLV Splitter
* Gabest's MPV (MPEG-2) Decoder
* Haali Media Splitter
* Media Player Classic Home Cinema (optional)
* VSFilter
* Zoom Player (optional)


What you call MPC-HC, I call WMPC, maybe my mistake but being that it was based off the media player classic design, I felt it was an adequate title.. To avoid confusion, the Media PLayer Class I referred to with CCC, is in fact MPC-HC.

I'm sure I've been using it just as long, I started with ffdshow, then used a combination of ffdshow and ccc, and never had any media issues.

The OP's problem seems to be with Power DVD, htpc_user, any progress?
 
O god I took what you said as if you download MPC-HC you get CCC.

Why on earth are you using codec packs in the first place? They are designed for people who don't know what codec's they need. MPC-HC on its own will play anything out there. MPC and MPC-HC are NOT the same thing. The only place to get MPC-HC up-to-date is here: http://www.xvidvideo.ru/content/category/1/1/2/
 
criccio said:
Why on earth are you using codec packs in the first place? They are designed for people who don't know what codec's they need.
Click to expand...

This is true; they really are designed for people who just want to install one thing and (hopefully) play any video file they want without really knowing what they're installing.

But some codec packs can be useful to more knowledgeable users. I use CCCP as well, but choose only to install the three filters I need out of the six they package. It's a convenient way to get them all in one place, and it has the added benefit of having a central control panel to configure all the included filters.

MPC-HC will play just about anything on its own using its internal filters though, so using it is actually better for new people than installing a codec pack.
 
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