A couple more basic questions - Media Player Classic Home Cinema

[True Colors]

I have a Dell PC at home and also a small laptop(an Asus netbook). I installed the Media Player Classic Home Cinema on both computers. Both of them have Windows XP with service pack 3.

A couple of questions.......

First of all........ when I install MPC-HC on my Dell PC it entered itself into the Windows XP registry just fine. That is, when I right click on a video file on my computer then Windows XP recognizes that MPC-HC is a video player and it asks me if I would like to use it to open the video file. Very simple.

However, when I try to use MPC-HC on my netbook it does not work as well. It seems like the Windows XP registry does not recognize MPC-HC as being an installed video player. It always forces me to open MPC-HC first and then after it is open I can tell it to go retrieve a video file. Is there some reason why Windows XP on my netbook does not automatically associate video files with the MPC-HC?

Second question.........

I have some video files of movies that are in english. But there are a few scenes where people are speaking in a foreign language. Is there an easy way to get the MPC-HC to show the subtitles? I have SRT files but I do not know what to do with them.

Thanks!!

TC

[redwudz]

Software player programs are usually added into Windows Explorer's context menu during install, then when you R click on a file, it's associated with that player and you should see it there to 'Play with..'. MPC-HC is a .exe program and may not work that way. At least I couldn't get it to list in the menus. If it lists in your 'All Programs' folder, then you may be able to get it to list in the context menus. There's probably a way to do it, but I haven't found it so far. I have the same problem with MPC-HC and my netbook.

For the subs, create a folder named after the video, then put the video in there along with the .srt subs and your player should find them. Make sure the files are named the same, as in 'movie.avi' and 'movie.srt'. You may need to enable subs in the software player also.

[jagabo]

From MPCHC try:

1) View -> Options -> Player -> Formats... enable the Explorer Context Menu options.

2) View -> Options -> Playback -> Output... in the DirectShow Video box try the options with with 2 asterisks. You have to exit MPCHC and restart it for changes to take effect.

[True Colors]

Thanks for the info. I have not had a chance to test the first issue yet but I did implement the solution for the 2nd issue and it worked great. It is amazing how simple things seem once you actually know what you are doing.

While we are at it, perhaps you could help me with question 3........

I have downloaded some videos from youtube. I download these as mp4 files. My MPC-HC will play some of these mp4 files but not others. I am assuming that there is some reason for this? Perhaps youtube uses a different encoder now or something?

In any case....... how can I get my MPC-HC to play all of these mp4 files?

Thank you so much.

TC

[jagabo]

Youtube has used many different codecs over the years. You can just enable all the internal Transform Filters (codecs) in MPCHC (View -> Options -> Internal Filters -> Transform Filters...). Or you can use MediaInfo to examine the files that don't play to see which codecs are used, then enable those in MPCHC, or download and install those particular codecs. My guess is you need to enable the h.264/AVC decoder in MPCHC.

[True Colors]

How do I add extra codecs to MPC-HC? Is there any type of all inclusive bundle I could use?

I did a google search and found this site. It claims to have "codec packs" for free......

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Media_Player_Classic.htm

Should I download one of these codec packs? Would that allow my MPC-HC to play everything?

If so, how do I integrate it with MPC-HC? I do not know how to add new codecs.

Many thanks,

TC

[guns1inger]

The only good codec pack is the one you don't install.

MPC HC will use it's own codecs for what it can. You should install only the coedcs you need to play back specific videos. Use Mediainfo to determine what you need if something won't play, then install just that codec. If this is mainly for playback, you could instal FFDShow, which will give you playback on most codecs without running the risks involved in codec packs.

[DarrellS]

Don't install any codec packs.

I used to have a few FLV files that would not play in MPC-HC but after installing KMplayer and making it default player for FLV files (to try and get FLV thumbnails to show up which they did not), I can now play all my FLV files in MPC-HC. All I can figure is that KMplayer installed a splitter needed to open the certain FLV files that would not play.

I was using FLVplayer to view FLV files but did like the way I could seek with MPC-HC. Now I can do that with KMplayer. I use MPC-HC for everything else.

They could've avoided the problem by putting the FLV files in an MKV container instead of an FLV container and then we could all view FLV thumbnails.