x264 windows media player 11

[nesman242]

I have an episode of weeds (weeds.301.720p.hdtv.x264.mkv) im trying to play it in windows media player 11 on xp pro, i have tried various versions of ffdshow, which is all i need, or so im told by a million posts ive read) and i get nothing?, with some of the versions of ffdshow ive used, gspot will read them and say ffdshow can play and plays it in its little window, and some versions fail when testing???

any ideas, i dont really want to get a player just for these file types??

thanks

[poisondeathray]

I think you have to configure ffdshow to play x264/AVC files.

I use K-lite Mega Codec pack (which contains ffdshow), and I have to select "ffdshow video configuration" from the start menu, and under x264/AVC the default is "disabled." Just change this to "libavcodec" and press "apply."

[nesman242]

ive done that with every version of ffdshow, and it does nothing, but it never has a spot for x264 just h264, dont know if that matters

[redwudz]

Windows media player is not often a good choice for formats like H264. I would try VLC Media Player instead. If it can't play it, it may be a badly done or really out of 'normal' specs for a H264 encode. VLC has the advantage that it will play most anything and it's one player that's good to have 'in the wings' for odd formats that you don't want to install a codec for as it has it's own codecs.

BTW, K-Lite has a very long history of causing more problems than it cures,

EDIT: I changed it. Thanks, Ai Haibara. H264's the format and X264 is the encoder program. But I would still recommend VLC over WMP for playback.

[Ai Haibara]

As far as I know, h264's the format, x264 is one of the most-used encoders to create h264 video. I don't know when the two names became 'interchangable,' so to speak.

[maxpower2078]

I think you have to configure ffdshow to play x264/AVC files.

I use K-lite Mega Codec pack (which contains ffdshow), and I have to select "ffdshow video configuration" from the start menu, and under x264/AVC the default is "disabled." Just change this to "libavcodec" and press "apply."

I have been strugling getting this to work as well. I have been using VLC in the meantime, but I want to be able to play the files within Media Center.

I have the haali splitter and ffdshow installed with the h.264/avc set to libavcodec, but still get nothing when I try to play the files in media player or any player other than VLC for that matter. It even locks up the computer sometimes trying to access it.

Here is my setup

Core 2 Duo
2 GB ram
Geforce 8800 GTS 640MB with purevideo installed
Latest Power DVD installed too
haali splitter and ffdshow

very limited on other codecs installed, I believe I have xvid, but that is about it as I am trying to keep it not so complicated or install too much such as one of the codec packs.

[Baldrick]

I have no problem playing h264 using ffdshow and haali media splitter using WMP 10.

Are you using a newer build of ffdshow and latest haali media splitter?
What exactly happens in wmp? no video and no audio? locks up computer doesn't sound good.
What version of wmp? Are you using windows xp or vista media center edition?

[Krispy Kritter]

Most people seem to have better luck with CoreAVC instead of FFDshow, especially with multiple core processors.

[maxpower2078]

I have no problem playing h264 using ffdshow and haali media splitter using WMP 10.

Are you using a newer build of ffdshow and latest haali media splitter?
What exactly happens in wmp? no video and no audio? locks up computer doesn't sound good.
What version of wmp? Are you using windows xp or vista media center edition?

actually that may be a good point, I am always hesitant to upgrade the media player as I don't trust Microsoft all that much, so I think I have the standard version that comes with MCE 2005 which I think is v9 if I am not mistaken.

What happens is absolutly nothing, empty black screen, time does not move on the file, no audio, nothing, no messages or anything, just kinda frustrating.

Also, I have the lastest releases as of a few days ago from both ffdshow and haali splitter.

Another little tidbit is that the shell or info when you hightlight the files from within windows lists the correct information (h264/avc video and ac3 audio) so that makes me think that haali is working or whatever is gathering that info.

Also, there seems to be a theory that the nvidia pure video codec can process h264/avc codec on the video processor. I belive this is for the 8500/8600 series and since I have the 8800 (which is a whole lot more money) I guess I am out of luck.