How do I: Recognize bad a/v codecs in Vista, and remove them?

[neomaine]

I've downloaded codesniper and another tool (forgot which one) to at least be able to list out the codecs. However, neither of them have a delete function that seems to work with Vista. Vista, unlike 2000/XP does not conveniently provide a list via the 'sound, video, game controllers' in device manager. In fact, if you know of a way/where to list them I'd appreciate that too.

My symptoms:
- All videos play fine in WMP-11.
- Able to post a thumbnail to my 360 used as a media extender, but get an error saying unable to play the video and I should restart MCE or restart the computer.
- Gspot reports that a codec is broken and that directshow has crashed.
- Tons of video/audio codes, via different tools, list as 'broken' or 'invalid'. Still can't find a tool to actually delete the broken/bad codecs.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Vista, unlike 2000/XP does not conveniently provide a list via the 'sound, video, game controllers' in device manager.

Bear in mind that this method only shows Video for Windows codecs. It doesn't list DirectShow codecs.....

[neomaine]

Well, my basic problem is that though MCE through my 360 show thumbnails OK, which tells me it can use the codecs, I get errors when trying to play the video. I would think that MCE would use Directshow. Maybe that is the disconnect between being a to play a video on the PC and being able to stream it to the 360.

Anybody have a inside scoop that can give me a high level view on the relationship between VFW and Directshow codecs? And as a bonus, how this all relates to Media Center?