MPC-HC puzzle

[terrypin]

Any users of MPC Home Cinema have any idea about this ambiguous reporting of video size please? It's the same with all my 1920 x 1080 AVIs. Or is there some subtle distinction I'm missing? It doesn't appear in other programs or in MediInfo or GSpot - all of those show the correct size of 1920p x 1080 (AR=16:9).

And so far all of them play OK elswhere (MPC, VLC, WMP, etc, but not in MPCHC. A related issue or something else?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[El Heggunte]

First, check whether your OUTDATED version of MPC-HC uses the built-in filters OR external splitters and decoders.

Yes, often the built-in filters are more problematic and "buggier".

[Island_Dweller]

VERY OUTDATED

Your version was released on November 30 2008. Grab the latest stable build or if you're adventurous, the latest nightly.

[jagabo]

This is related to your other post about mod16 frame sizes and Super. Some old h.264 decoders needed mod16 frame sizes. To accommodate that a 1080 line high screen (mod8) is padded with 8 lines of black to make it 1088 internally).

[terrypin]

Thanks jagabo. I've now installed the latest version of MPC-HC (1.6.5.6366) as recommended and it still won't play the file. Do you know why MPC-HC alone is unable to do so please? If I've followed you broadly (I don't really understand '1080 line high screen (mod8)'), then MPC-HC has cleverly padded the file to make its width divisible by 16. Yet after opening, it sits there saying Playing with nothing happening. No message, no progress bar.

That 260 KB example is at https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/Typewriter-2.avi

Edit: Sorted! See my reply to davexnet.

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

Re my other post about Super, I'm still unclear about the developer's stated restriction, i.e. that both W and H must be mod 16 (not just mod 8). I'm technically out of my depth here, but my own tentative conclusion from tests so far is that it seems to be true if the ffmpeg option (the default?) is enabled, but not true if DirectShow Decode is set instead. In the latter case I've successfully converted several 1920 x 1080 files, which are not mod 16.





--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[terrypin]

First, check whether your OUTDATED version of MPC-HC uses the built-in filters OR external splitters and decoders.

Yes, often the built-in filters are more problematic and "buggier".

Thanks, but can you help me determine that please? This is what I see in Options (in the latest version):



What should I try changing?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[davexnet]

Try uninstalling an updating to the new version.
Many fixes and improvements. Otherwise, the transform filters on the right tell the story.
If they're checked, mpc-hc is doing the decoding Vs. some directshow filter you may have installed in the system.

[terrypin]

Thanks Dave, that fixed it! I thought my last test was with the latest version, but I'd forgotten to re-associate it!

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[jagabo]

Try disabling MPCHC's internal "h.264/AVC (DXVA)" decoder. Exit and restart for the change to take effect. Your sample file plays fine with MPCHC-64 here. Using MPCHC's internal h.264 decoder (CPU or DXVA). It also works in MPCHC using ffdshow's and Microsoft's h.264 decoders. It plays fine in 32 bit MPC, VLC, PotPlayer, KMPlayer, SMPlayer, and WMP. The problem is likely in your source filter or display filter.

While a video is playing in MPCHC you can right click on the window and hover over Filters to see what filters are being used to play the video. You can select any of them to see more information about the filter.

"Mod N" means an integer multiple of N. 1088 / 16 = 68 so it's mod 16. 1080 / 16 = 67.5 so it's not mod 16. It's mod 8 -- 1080 / 8 = 135. All MPEG family codecs start by breaking the frame down into 16x16 pixel blocks. In the old days that meant the frame had to be an integer multiple of 16 on both dimensions. Later MPEG family codecs were able to handle non mod 16 frame sizes by padding the frame internally to a mod 16 size but only outputting the actual frame size.

[terrypin]

Thanks jagabo. You must have just missed my last post, only 5 mins before yours. As you see I was mistaken earlier about the MPCHC version I'd used. The latest version happily now plays the file OK.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK