GOM and VLC players

[emagius]

I have both the GOM and VLC players I have my default player set to GOM. I have just downloaded 16 wmv's GOM won't play them it says I don't have the codec. I click the update codec link and it says it can't be found. However VLC does play the files. But here's my question, I have downloaded wmv's before and GOM has played them fine. Why won't these play in the GOM now? I have also went back and opened other wmv's that I have and GOM plays those fine. I'm really confused why it plays some wmv's and won't play others. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Baldrick]

Maybe another video/audio codec in the wmv, like vc-1 video codec that gom might not support. Open the wmv in MediaInfo and see what it says under video and audio codec.

[poisondeathray]

There are several different types of wmv

I suspect the ones that play are wmv3, the ones that don't are wvc1

You can use mediainfo to determine more information on the files

EDIT: Baldrick beat me to it

[cyberjackal]

There is 5 different wmv-codecs.

AFAIK both GOM and VLC isnt DirectShow based but instead are using their own built in (non-standard) stuff so they can be expected to behave a bit oddly.

I strongly recommend using a proper DirectShow based player such as MPC-HC or Zoom Player and install the filters you need for playback. That way you can make it play back whatever YOU want and not what it currently feels like supporting and you also has the ability to tweak the filter chain to make the playback smoother and add the needed filters for proper video post processing.

[emagius]

Maybe another video/audio codec in the wmv, like vc-1 video codec that gom might not support. Open the wmv in MediaInfo and see what it says under video and audio codec.

I'll check it out. Hope it find something that I'm having issue with.

[emagius]

There is 5 different wmv-codecs.

AFAIK both GOM and VLC isnt DirectShow based but instead are using their own built in (non-standard) stuff so they can be expected to behave a bit oddly.

I strongly recommend using a proper DirectShow based player such as MPC-HC or Zoom Player and install the filters you need for playback. That way you can make it play back whatever YOU want and not what it currently feels like supporting and you also has the ability to tweak the filter chain to make the playback smoother and add the needed filters for proper video post processing.

I had the Zoom Player for about a month and then every time I tried to play a file I got a message that wanted me to buy the player. I was under the assumption that it was free, but I guess not.

Also thank all of you for your input, much appreciated. Kinda still confused what to do though. I wish the GOM Player would work, to me it gives a better picture quality than VLC (maybe it is, but that's what I think.)

[cyberjackal]

There is 5 different wmv-codecs.

AFAIK both GOM and VLC isnt DirectShow based but instead are using their own built in (non-standard) stuff so they can be expected to behave a bit oddly.

I strongly recommend using a proper DirectShow based player such as MPC-HC or Zoom Player and install the filters you need for playback. That way you can make it play back whatever YOU want and not what it currently feels like supporting and you also has the ability to tweak the filter chain to make the playback smoother and add the needed filters for proper video post processing.

I had the Zoom Player for about a month and then every time I tried to play a file I got a message that wanted me to buy the player. I was under the assumption that it was free, but I guess not.

Also thank all of you for your input, much appreciated. Kinda still confused what to do though. I wish the GOM Player would work, to me it gives a better picture quality than VLC (maybe it is, but that's what I think.)

Both VLC and GOM gives you extremely mediocre quality and uses more than twice the processing power of a properly configured Direct Show based player. The latest version of Zoom Player isn't free, but the 4.x branch is and it's available for download from almost anywhere.

I wrote this about a year ago and its fairly outdated, but should give a hint about what direct show filters you need to install to make Direct Show

players behave as expected:


MPEG-1 (.mpg/.mpeg): Many of the oldest videos are compressed with MPEG-1. Windows already has a codec for that so it will work out of the box.

MPEG-2(.mpg): For this you will need one MPEG-2 splitter and one decoder. All DVD software installs both those for you. If you don't have any DVD

playback software you can simply install the Gabest MPEG Splitter and Gabest MPEG Video Decoder. You can find those on inmatrix.com under Plugins.

Windows Media Video (.wmv): Windows Media Player 9 and later comes bundled with codecs for this one. If you havn't got it, get it from microsoft.com

MPEG-4 in avi, "DivX" (.avi): Install ffdshow to decode these. Use google to find the newest version. The first link usually goes to an old version.

h.264, "Ipod video" (.m4v): Don't let the name deceive you! Quality-wise these are much better than both the wmv and DivX videos. Ffdshow can take care of the decoding of these videos as well, but you will also need to install Haali's Media Splitter. It also goes under the name of MatroskaSplitter. Easy one to find on google.

h.264, "QuickTime HD" (.mov): Huge file sizes but extremely good quality (compared to the other videos). Use quicktime alternative to decode these.

Sorenson in flash (.flv): The infamous flash video format used by the webcam videos. You need (a recent copy of) ffdshow as well as a Flash Video Splitter. There is a great one on inmatrix.com under plugins. Just make sure you get the one labeled "Flash Video" and not only "Flash". Another way to play flash videos is to use this stand alone player: http://www.wimpyplayer.com/products/wimpy_standalone_flv_player.html
It runs on both Windows and Mac.

Also, if you got a slower computer and wants to play hd files you need to install CoreAVC and go into ffdshows settings and disable decoding of h.264/AVC.

I also strongly recommend you to install Haalis media splitter: http://haali.cs.msu.ru/mkv/ (top right corner.)
Make it parse every type of file it can.

Then, I also recommend using MPC-HC as a player. Its small, easy and does the job. http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=170561

It however needs some tweaking to perform its best. When open, press o and select internal filters. Uncheck avi, matroska and mpeg ps/ts/pva under Source filters. You may also uncheck one or more of the Transform filters depending on if you want to use the ones built into MPC-HC or the Direct Show ones you installed separately. Most of the times more or less all of them work but ffdshow can also be used to decode a majority of the formats and it usually does a far greater job. If you choose to use ffdshow instead of the built in ones you get the option to use ffdshows post processing that can be quite powerful.

Also, while in MPC-HCs options, go to the Output tab and select what renderer you wishes to use. EVR and Haalis gives the best picture and Overlay Mixer is the fastest one (but gives quite bad quality video). I usually use WMR9 as its quite fast and still gives a fair picture. If you got tearing problems (a horizontal bands in the picture when the camera pans) check the "Direct 3D Fullscreen" box. You will loose all GUI controls and will be forced to use the keyboard to navigate (Ctrl+C aborts playback) but playback will be much smoother.

If you want subtitle support you also need directvobsub: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/DirectVobSub.htm

---------------------------

I really need to type that up properly and add some more explanations (and there is a load of stuff I haven't even begun to talk about) but it's a good start that hopefully will make you be able to playback at least some 99% of what you can find here.

[emagius]

cyberjackal,

I took your advice and tried MPC-HC and it worked great. The picture quality was exceptional. I'm very happy with that player. I'm going to try the tweaking that you have suggested. Thanks for all the information. I'm booking this page for future reference. Thanks for taking the time to explain everything. I'm going to get the other player you mentioned and try your ideas out. Great explanation of what to do.

Again thanks for your time and help.

[emagius]

Just did all the options you suggested in MPC-HC and everything is working great.
Thanks for all the help.