Freeze videos with VLC and Potplayer

[ramaflore]

Hi,

I can't view any video without freezing from the beginning till the end neither with VLC neither with Potplayer.

With Potplayer I got the following message:

Flash.ocx is missing.

I don't really know if this file is responsible of my freezing experience.
I downloaded from the net this file and I copied to the folder c:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\

I also tried to register flash.ocx but I got the following error 0X8000405

But still have the same error message when playing a video with Potplayer.

Any help would be welcome here, thanks.

[Hoser Rob]

Any video ... not just flv's ... is unplayable? I'd probably run malware scans, with more than one program.

I'd also uninstall flash player, download a proper version, then reinstall. You should get a 'remove' option when installing again. Do that.

[hello_hello]

MPC-HC should decode flv files without the need for additional codecs. Same with VLC. Is it just flv files and are you sure the flv files in question are good and not corrupted in any way? It seems odd two different players can't play the same files, assuming both should be able to play them without a problem.

[ramaflore]

Hoser Rob,

I was talking about wmv files, not flv. Yes, at the end, I got this message with flash.ocx missing. This one, has been fixed.

By chance, Potplayer come back. I have only a little freeze when playing a few wmv files.

I also noticed that if I forward the video, it takes 1 or 2 sec to display the image, (with only wmv files). How to fix this ?

With VLC, all seems to be normal for now, by chance as I didn't make any change.

I noticed a little freeze when playing wmv video at the beginning, I can watch the pixels. What can I do for this ?

[ramaflore]

Are you sure that MPC-HC no need codecs to play flv, mov,ram, mpeg, mpg, avi, divx,... ??

I remembered that previous version, needed it.
Is the latest version, integrated with firefox browser like VLC ??

MPC-HC should decode flv files without the need for additional codecs. Same with VLC. Is it just flv files and are you sure the flv files in question are good and not corrupted in any way? It seems odd two different players can't play the same files, assuming both should be able to play them without a problem.

[Hoser Rob]

Are you sure that MPC-HC no need codecs to play flv, mov,ram, mpeg, mpg, avi, divx,... ??

For a program that claims not to need them they sure seem to want to install them ... it's certainly not the only program out there that does this .

Re. the flash.ocx or whatever it's called issue. I don't care if installing that file fixed that problem ... and I use 'fixed' very loosely ... it shouldn't do that with wmv files.

FWIW .wmv files downloaded from the net are a notorious source of viruses. Many people won't touch them with a 10 foot pole.

Even if they're not loaded with viruses they often don't play properly. I don't know exactly why, but they're probably badly encoded by crap software.

I would still run some serious malware scans, and uninstall and reinstall flash player.

[hello_hello]

Are you sure that MPC-HC no need codecs to play flv, mov,ram, mpeg, mpg, avi, divx,... ??

flv - yes (only had a few on my drive to try, but they played)
mov - yes (only had two on my drive to try, but they played)
ram - yes (well it has a realmedia transform filter but I don't have any ram files)
mpeg - yes
mpg - yes
avi- yes
divx - yes

Also mkv, mp4, wmv, DVDs and a bunch of audio types.

It's probably come along way since you last used it. MPC-HC also supports DXVA decoding for h264, VC1, WMV3, and MPEG-2, although I'd assume that's dependent on your video card. I can vouch for h264 at least....

Is the latest version, integrated with firefox browser like VLC ??

That sounds fairly ghastly.... what does "integrated" mean exactly? If it's something like using VLC to play video within a Firefox browser window.... I'm really not a fan of that sort of thing.

[hello_hello]

For a program that claims not to need them they sure seem to want to install them ... it's certainly not the only program out there that does this

You're probably confusing needing to use something with wanting to use it. I generally use MPC-HC to do it's own video decoding while using ffdshow to decode the audio. No I don't need to, but yes I do. ffdsow lets me use a very configurable EQ and run winamp audio plugins. I use a compressor plugin at night so I'm not constantly turning the volume up and down. Works much better than the usual 'on the fly" normalization.

You might be confusing cause and effect a little. People who prefer external filters/renderers/splitters are probably also more likely to use MPC-HC to run them because it will, they're not necessarily installing them because MPC-HC won't work without them.

Try using external filters with VLC. It has a setting, or at least it did, to tell it to use external codecs, which might as well not have been there for all the difference it didn't make.

[jagabo]

And having the ability to use DirectShow filters means you aren't stuck with only what the player supports.

[ramaflore]

You said: "and I use 'fixed' very loosely ..."

What do you mean by that ?

I recently make a deep scan and all downloads are previously scanned by my Antivirus. Moreover, I re-scan manually every file before opening.

Do you have an idea about the pixel I can see at the beginning of the video ? I'm awaiting about a tecnical reply, thanks

[ramaflore]

Yes, I was talking about MPC as a media player within Firefox, in order to replace VLC.

I will try MPC on my laptop. I like it because it's a light media player.

I needed it to play Tv streaming online.

Is the latest version, integrated with firefox browser like VLC ??

That sounds fairly ghastly.... what does "integrated" mean exactly? If it's something like using VLC to play video within a Firefox browser window.... I'm really not a fan of that sort of thing.

[ramaflore]

Hello,

I've just installed MPC and it works very well for all videos, except for mov videos. I encounter a few freeze during the playing. I tried also to change the output to DirectX 9, but it doesn't change anything. How can I fix these freeze with mov files ?

[jagabo]

Hello,

I've just installed MPC and it works very well for all videos, except for mov videos. I encounter a few freeze during the playing.

Try changing the MOV source filter and/or whatever codec is being used to decode:

File -> Options -> Internal Filters -> Source Filters
File -> Options -> Internal Filters -> Transform Filters

You have to exit and restart MPCHC for the changes to take effect.

While the video is playing right click on the window and hover over Filters. That will show you what filters are in use. Select each of the filters and see if there are any settings you can change.

[ramaflore]

Source filters and Transform filters, all boxes are checked.

I don't know which ones to disable, I'm confused. I disabled MS-MPEG4 and Xvid-MPEG4 filters but with no changes.

I don't see Mov filter.

I select a few filters on 'Filters' (right click). The only filter that I have 'Apply' not grewed out are:

MPC Video Decoder (I tried with this one and nothing change)


The others filters are in grewed out.

Example of the video I'm watching:

Video properties :
Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 1280x720 29.97fps [Apple Video Media Handler - MPEG4 Video (H264)]
Audio: AAC 48000Hz stereo 128kbps [Apple Sound Media Handler - MPEG-4 Audio]

[hello_hello]

If you disable both the H264 / AVC "Transform" filters, that should get MPC-HC to use a DirectShow codec to decode H264 video, regardless of the type of file it's in (MKV/MP4MOV etc). If you have no DirectShow H264 decoder installed (ffdshow for example) you'll probably get no video.

If you untick the MP4/MOV "Source" filter, that'll allow MPC-HC to use a system media splitter for those file types (I assume Windows has one?), but it'll still decode H264 video itself if the H264 transform filters are enabled etc.

You can try disabling just the MP4/MOV Source filter, or the H264 Transform filters, or some combination. Restart MPC-HC each time you enable/disable one.

The H264 / AVC (DXVA) Transform filter is the one which lets MPC-HC use your video card for H264 decoding. If you disable it, but leave the H264 / AVC (FFmpeg) Transform filter enabled, MPC-HC will still decode H264 video itself, but it'll use your CPU instead of the video card (when you first start playing a video, DXVA is displayed in the status bar if it's being used for decoding). With both disabled it uses DirectShow.

Do you have a lot of mov files? Personally I know almost nothing about them or whether they can be problematic, but on the odd occasion I come across one I open it with MKVMergeGUI and resave it as an MKV. Or you could try using YAMB to resave them as MP4s.

That about all I can suggest as I play MOV files almost never. Do the same MOV files play okay using VLC or some other player? If you re-mux a MOV file as an MKV or MP4 it'll be interesting to see if any playback problems go away.

[ramaflore]

With MP4/MOV "Source" filter and H264 / AVC "Transform" filters disabled, I got less freezes, but not yet fixed, but I can consider much better.

With H264 / AVC (FFmpeg) Transform filter enabled, I don't have images, only sound.

I don't have ffdshow installed on my laptop.

Yes, I have about 50 mov files.

No problem with Potplayer to watch mov files. With VLC, I will try it on tomorrow.

[ramaflore]

I confirm that I have no problems with mov files under Potplayer and VLC.

This freezing only concerned MPC.

[hello_hello]

Unfortunately I can't really be of any further help. Maybe MOV file support in MPC-HC isn't all that great.... or maybe there's a reason why you're having a problem to which I'm completely ignorant, given I never play MOV files.

[buzniak]

Recently I've had this issue where potplayer would kind of freeze/lag the video, when i move the mouse the video would catch up to the audio. Its never happened to me before until now, nothing has changed software or hardware wise.