Samsung HD video won't play in VLC, but will in Win 7 WMP... why?

[wild_fan]

First off, I'd like to say hello to everyone here; I've been an avid user of this website, and this forum, for a long time now, and I've found many helpful tips and suggestions over the years, without even having to ask! However, I've recently come up with something that has me completely stumped, and I've had to register an account for the sole purpose of asking for help. Here's my situation;


I have a desktop PC that I'm trying to upgrade enough that I can watch the HD video files my Samsung SC-HMX20C camcorder produces. My PC specs should be in my profile, and I've found a link to a 1080p clip from this same model online for reference; http://stadium.weblogsinc.com/engadget/videos/Samsung_Garden_Clip.MP4
As you'll see from my profile, the video card I just upgraded is an XFX Radeon 4650 AGP model with 1GB of RAM. With stock, unmodified installs of the latest versions of Media Player Classic or VLC, these clips will not play at all; they freeze after less than 1 second. However, opening them up in Windows Media Player allows them to play smoothly in full screen. I'm so confused!

After doing some reading here on the board, I found that it might help to enable multiple threads with the proper filters, and I am quite sure I've done this correctly, with the info I found in this thread; https://forum.videohelp.com/topic376859.html Unfortunately, I've either done it incorrectly (possible, but I've triple-checked everything), or it's not helping, as I still have the issue.

If there's anything else to try, I'd greatly appreciate your help, as I can't afford to buy a new, more capable PC, what with my finances in the shape they're in. In addition, I realize many of you will simply say, "just use WMP, then!", but it's such a horrible media player, compared to VLC or MPC; those latter two are much more versatile, and I'm having a tough time trying to understand why the better media players can't play these clips... at any rate, if you have any suggestions (that don't include spending anymore money!), I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

[Baldrick]

Try latest MPCHC.


edit: I'm now playing the sample above in mpchc and it works fine. It also works in latest VLC without problems. I'm also using Win 7.

[jagabo]

I had no problem playing the sample MP4 file with MPCHC or VLC. But the file may not be DXVA compliant (hardware h.264 decoding) so try changing the output module and h.264 decoder settings (disable the H264/AVC (DXVA) decoder in MPCHC).

[wild_fan]

@Baldrick - I just took a look at your PC specs - you have a much more capable machine than mine, so it's no surprise you should be able to play it!

Mine is a lowly 2.8 Ghz P4 with 2 gigs of RAM (as I alluded to in my "Computer Details")... which is why I'm so confused. If my machine isn't powerful enough to play it, how am I able to do just that, but ONLY with Windows Media Player? If that POS can play it, I would think the other more versatile players should be able to as well.

Oh, and I'm an idiot for not mentioning this in my earlier post; I am in fact using the latest version of MPC Home Cinema. @jagabo - I'll try the DXVA settings you suggested this weekend (I'm on my laptop right now.) Thanks for the tip.