Potplayer Generic: Current issues, development, bugs

[avreader1]

@AllisOne
Thank you for your effort and the detailed answer and the links.

What I understand from the Polish forum is that PotPlayer uses a certificate to validate itself to an external server. If you don't have an Internet connection, or somehow the external server is blocked by the firewall, PotPlayer will take a longer time to load, because it cannot talk to the certificate server. However, if you do have an Internet connection and you turn off the firewall, PotPlayer shouldn't have any problem.

In my case, with a 300/20 Internet connection working fine and turning off the firewall I get the following loading times. I am using a laptop with a 2.8 GHz i7 quad core processor, wired to the Gigabyte local network and a netbook with an AMD 1.0 GHz dual core processor connected wifi to the network:

I'm loading the same wmv 720p video from the local disk and from the USB 3.0 4 TB HDD connected to the USB 3.0 port on the router:

Laptop:
PotPlayer loads video stored locally in 3 sec
PotPlayer loads video stored on the network in 55 sec!!
MPC-BE loads video stored locally instantaneously
MPC-BE loads video stored on the network in 8 sec
WMP loads video stored locally instantaneously
WMP loads video stored on the network in 3 sec

Netbook:
PotPlayer loads video stored locally in 8 sec
PopPlayer loads video stored on the network in 66 sec!!
MPC-BE loads video stored locally in 3 sec
MPC-BE loads video stored on the network in 15 sec
WMP loads video stored locally in 3 sec
WMP loads video stored on the network in 6 sec

Evidently, it's a big difference between an Intel i7 2.8 GHz quad core processor and an AMD 1.0 GHz dual core processor. There is also a big difference between a Gigabyte Ethernet connection and a wifi n connection.

All my five computers run currently different versions of Windows 10, all installed from scratch at the end of October. A netbook and a Windows tablet run Windows 10 Pro 32-bit, another netbook runs Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit and the desktop and the laptop run Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit LTSB. On all five computers, PotPlayer behaves like in the examples above, varying only by processor power and network connection. Before Windows 10, I had Windows 7 Ultimate on the netbooks (32 bit on one 64 bit on the other), Windows 8.1 32-bit OEM on the tablet, Windows 8 64-bit OEM on the laptop and Windows 8.1 Enterprise 64-bit on the desktop. PotPlayer was loading videos as bad with those OSes as it loads with Windows 10.

I really don't think there is anything related to certificates (since I turned off the firewall) and my Internet connection is very fast. I'm strongly leaning toward a bad bug in PotPlayer.

Thank you again for your answer!

[Vokol]

@avreader1

Try this one to exclude issues with your installed version http://vokol.deviantart.com/art/PotPlayer-Mini-Portable-428187430
Make sure you also try the included 32-Bit version, since 64-Bit is notoriously troublesome.

I remember some time ago PotPlayer started really slow for me, turned out to be a language file issue. Potplayer didn't update the language file when updating the program. Not sure if they have fixed it now because I always update by extracting the installer and replace the old files with new ones manually.

[Baldrick]

Reading through this thread I discovered that even the reputable forum Super Moderator Baldrick had the same problem, with PotPlayer being slow loading files. He states he wasn't able to find a solution. Which makes me wonder, if the developer is aware that his wonderful, sophisticated player becomes just a piece of garbage, not worth wasting hard disk space, because of this bug. I understand he does not speak English, but still, there should be some way to make him aware of this major PotPlayer shortcoming.

I found a solution. I changed Video Renderer.

[avreader1]

@Baldrick
So, which video renderer are you using? I've tried all video renderers available in PotPlayer (and MPC-BE) long before I switched to Windows 10, but it doesn't help (in my case) with the loading times. In my experience, the video renderer makes a very big difference on computers with very slow processors. My MSI Wind netbook with a single core Intel Atom processor of 1.6 GHz is incapable to play 720p with WMP, VLC and other players. With PotPlayer, using the EVR custom renderer, it plays 720p without dropping any frames and it's even playing 1080p at 16-17 fps.

My problem is that I store most of my multimedia files on the 4 TB USB 3.0 external HDD connected to the USB 3.0 port on the Gigabyte router and on a 4 TB NAS. With locally stored multimedia files, I can live with a 2-3 seconds loading time in PotPlayer (compared to instantaneously in MPC-BE or WMP). When it takes almost a minute or more to load a file from a network location (NAS or router HDD), PotPlayer cannot even be considered.

So, what renderer are you using and do you load multimedia files from network locations similar to those I've mentioned above? I'm saying "similar" because loading files from other Windows computers (not Samba servers), works FAR better.

[avreader1]

@Vokol
Thank you for the link to the portable versions. I've tried both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions, but still VERY long loading times, similar to those I get using the latest beta or stable versions. I'm talking of course about playing files from network locations offered by Samba servers. As I mentioned above, in my reply for Baldrick, I can easily live with 2-3 seconds loading time for files stored locally or on other Windows computers.

[AllisOne]

The delay may be caused, as we can see here: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/366319-PotPlayer-Very-Slow-to-Open-Video-Files by graphics drivers too.

[avreader1]

@AllisOne
Thank you again for your comment! I've mentioned in my first post, the only "solution" found by Googling was to update the graphics drivers, but it did not work for me. Also, I have five different brands and models of computers with five different graphic drivers. What are the chances these graphics drivers are all bad? Windows 10 automatically updates hardware drivers, unless you manually turn that feature off. I had to do it on the tablet, because the new Windows 10 drivers don't work with any of the two cameras, so I had to keep the Windows 8.1 drivers.

As far as I'm concerned, the problem is with PotPlayer, PARTICULARLY with loading files in Windows Explorer, when they are located on Linux Samba servers. As proved by my tests with other players (MPC-BE and WMP), only PotPlayer is dramatically affected by this kind of network location. PotPlayer is slower with loading files from local HDD or other Windows computers as well, but not as much as to be unusable. I think the developer should look into this. I'm not the only one who stores his/her files on NAS or router HDDs. There must be many others out there. It's a pity such an advanced and excellent media player has something broken in its engine which makes it worthless for this kind of network locations.

[sheppaul]

No problem here. I'm using windows 10 and synology nas.

ps. Nothing will happen here anyway. I have other weird problem after upgrading to windows 10 which is not related with potplayer.

[avreader1]

@sheppaul
Wow, so there is hope! First thing that comes to mind is that Synology, which is kind of the creme in NAS world, uses more advanced Samba server software, better capable of communicating with Windows. I have a Seagate NAS and their Samba software is kind of average. The Trendnet TEW812DRU router I have, has a pretty lame Samba server. Anyway, when you have time, can you test how many seconds it takes PotPlayer to start playing a 720p wmv or mp4 video 300-400 MB in size, encoded at around 8000 kbs? Of course, the file needs to be located on your Synology NAS and to be loaded by double clicking on it in Windows Explorer, while PotPlayer is the default video player.

Personally I found Windows 10 to be superior to all previous versions of Windows. I have to qualify that by saying the free upgrade process offered by Microsoft needs to be avoided by all means. Upgrading from an older OS to Win 10 inherits most of the problems you had in the old OS and adds new ones specific to Windows 10 (hardware incompatibility and other stuff). However, if you wipe off the HDD, do a fresh install from scratch, turn off the telemetry and all the other spying features, disable Windows Defender on slower computers and replace it with free Panda, and apply several other optional tweaks, you will be delighted with Windows 10.

[Baldrick]

@Baldrick
So, which video renderer are you using? I've tried all video renderers available in PotPlayer (and MPC-BE) long before I switched to Windows 10, but it doesn't help (in my case) with the loading times. In my experience, the video renderer makes a very big difference on computers with very slow processors. My MSI Wind netbook with a single core Intel Atom processor of 1.6 GHz is incapable to play 720p with WMP, VLC and other players. With PotPlayer, using the EVR custom renderer, it plays 720p without dropping any frames and it's even playing 1080p at 16-17 fps.

My problem is that I store most of my multimedia files on the 4 TB USB 3.0 external HDD connected to the USB 3.0 port on the Gigabyte router and on a 4 TB NAS. With locally stored multimedia files, I can live with a 2-3 seconds loading time in PotPlayer (compared to instantaneously in MPC-BE or WMP). When it takes almost a minute or more to load a file from a network location (NAS or router HDD), PotPlayer cannot even be considered.

So, what renderer are you using and do you load multimedia files from network locations similar to those I've mentioned above? I'm saying "similar" because loading files from other Windows computers (not Samba servers), works FAR better.

It's Auto select, EVR Custom and Built-in direct3d9 renderer that causes the slow loading for me. The rest works fine. I guess it's my graphic drivers that causes the problems.

[sheppaul]

Yeah, I've exactly followed the path like you mentioned. Reformatted and reinstalled all my three systems (notebook, htpc, main desktop). The unsolved issue is the computers on a same local network (shared folders) are not identified well among each other systems. I think this is an issue of windows 10 or lan driver (or maybe router?). Don't know why but there are many people having a same problem on the net. I should make it recognize manually via windows built-in troubleshooting procedure. Once recoginized, it works well but not always recognized.

Otherwise, the samba network from Synology is well recognized from all my systems. Loading speed is almost the same as the one from local hdds. It works pretty well with my HTPC which is rather old now (6 years, athlon x2 250). I've tried files over 15GB mkv, 800MB wmv and 4GB mp4 on NAS.

[Assirra]

Greetings

I am a long time user of potplayer and i had a question.

When you use album art when playing audio it never fills the screen passed a certain resolution.
An example here https://forum.videohelp.com/images/imgfiles/IQCxO2r.png
This is a full desktop resolution image just to make sure that it is not to small.
Slideshow does work but that doesn't use the folder images otherwise i would use that.


Anyone happen to know what it causes and if it is fixable? Sometimes i just want to full screen my music with a nice image while doing something else.

[avreader1]

@sheppaul
Sorry, I needed four days to drive from LA to Miami and I could not answer earlier.

I don't know what you mean by "the computers on the local network are not identified well". If you mean they are not listed under Network in Windows Explorer, I had the same problem. I solved it by adding a 32-bit DWORD with a value of hex 20 (32 decimal), named DisabledComponents in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Tcpip6\Parameters. It seems Windows 10 prefers IPv6 most of the time and adding that DWORD with a value of hex 20, forces IPv4 to be preferred, without disabling IPv6. I don't know if it will fix your problem.

With my tablet, no matter what I did, I couldn't access the default hidden shares (C$, ADMIN$, IPC$) from other computers. I had to partially fix it by creating a new hidden share for C:\. System files and folders are not available through this share. I suspect though this has to do with the particular All-In-One Windows 10 I've installed from. I had to keep it though because any other iso I've tried, my cameras won`t work.

Coming back to PotPlayer. I'm still strongly convinced PP has something broken in its engine for loading files FROM WINDOWS EXPLORER. It is slower to load even from local HDDs, compared with MPC-BE and WMP and it really sucks from network locations, particularly Linux locations available through Samba servers. The fact that you don't seem to have a problem with your Synology NAS is just the exception which verifies the rule. The NAS processor is probably more powerful and the Samba server better written, than what I have on my Trendnet router or Seagate NAS. This does not count, because other players (MPC-BE and WMP) perform reasonably well with exactly the same hardware on which Potplayer is not usable (for this particular task).

[avreader1]

@sheppaul
Oh, the HTPC is good enough. All HTPCs I know are running Linux, so it accesses the files on the Linux NAS directly, not through the Samba server.

[mzso]

So the feature to enque files dropped on the main window was removed with the addition of the selector, right?
At least it gets purged for me with the selector disabled.

[sheppaul]

Coming back to PotPlayer. I'm still strongly convinced PP has something broken in its engine for loading files FROM WINDOWS EXPLORER. It is slower to load even from local HDDs, compared with MPC-BE and WMP and it really sucks from network locations, particularly Linux locations available through Samba servers.

Hmm, actually I don't see much differences while loading a file from local hdds too. The situation seems like abnormal for some reason.

[avreader1]

@sheppaul

Laptop:
PotPlayer loads video stored locally in 3 sec
PotPlayer loads video stored on the network in 55 sec!!
MPC-BE loads video stored locally instantaneously
MPC-BE loads video stored on the network in 8 sec
WMP loads video stored locally instantaneously
WMP loads video stored on the network in 3 sec

Netbook:
PotPlayer loads video stored locally in 8 sec
PopPlayer loads video stored on the network in 66 sec!!
MPC-BE loads video stored locally in 3 sec
MPC-BE loads video stored on the network in 15 sec
WMP loads video stored locally in 3 sec
WMP loads video stored on the network in 6 sec

Above I posted again the loading times for PotPlayer, MPC-BE and WMP on two VERY different computers, connected differently to the network. I have three other dissimilar computers. ALL three players behave the same on the other computers, differing ONLY by processor power and network connection. They behaved similarly before Windows 10, on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1.

What are your loading times? I've used for testing the same 355 MB 720p wmv file encoded at 8000 kbs.

[sheppaul]

Within a second.


If you're using a default skin, you'll see there is a loading circle.

Potplayer loads about a 20GB file almost instantly from local hdds before making it a complete circle.


I did it after clean booting.

[avreader1]

@sheppaul
WOW! I'm speechless! Can you tell what kind of processor you have in this computer? And what kind of HDD? Is it 5400 rmp, 7200 rpm, 10000 rpm or SSD?

[sheppaul]

I'm using the 3rd generation i3570K with 128GB SSD for Windows 10. Of course, Potplayer is on SSD. Data HDD is 7200 rpm.


I've been periodically testing various media players & encoding tools for my own use but using potplayer almost exclusively. The loading speed of potplayer is not that bad comparing to others like VLC, SMPlayer, MPC-BE/HC, KMPlayer, BOMI, Zoom Player and etc. I'm just wondering why your loading speed is like that slow. If I were you, I would give up to use potplayer.

[gzagorov]

Sorry, found the answer...

[Attack]

How can I get rid of this so I never have to see it again?

https://forum.videohelp.com/images/imgfiles/qqqWcnT.png

It is just one of the worst features. The beginning of the end of this player.

It pops up constantly when I move my mouse into view. I want it gone, erased, forever.

[Budman1]

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/372914-How-do-you-get-rid-of-this-screen-on-PotPlayer

Change your skin to a default one or a previous one.

[Budman1]

DELETE.... Computer transmission repeat glitch

[Attack]

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/372914-How-do-you-get-rid-of-this-screen-on-PotPlayer

Change your skin to a default one or a previous one.

Default skin, that in itself doesn't solve the issue, this comment however gives a great step by step. It's too bad the dev included this cancer.

> I'm not 100% sure, but not all skins display that window correctly, so you need to switch to default one. Then you should see tabs 'Program' and 'Playlist'. Click blue arrow in 'Program' to detach the window from main program and after that you can close it with x. Additionally you can delete 'Html' folder in PotPlayer catalogue in Program Files. Nevertheless, the folder will be recreated after next update.

[Budman1]

Thats why the link to the step by step was included.

[tuco76]

Got rid of that shitty screen [while keeping BlackBoxVFD skin] by toggling a "Broadcast" [and possibly "Default Open"] selection/setting.

Occured few weeks ago on previous x64 version, can't tell more exactly anymore.

[mzso]

Hi!

Did anyone try the android version of potplayer? It seems to be legit since it's also from the Kakao Corporation.

Is there an English version though, or can I set it to english? I couldn't try it because it was in Korean only.

[tuco76]

Nope, but thanks the head ups, that's interesting news !

BTW according to your advise, I keep color settings on "Direct Conversion" , IIRC otherwise a fair piece of color information gets lost.

If that's so, is there an easy explanation why this setting is (still) labeled as "not recommended" ?

[mzso]

Nope, but thanks the head ups, that's interesting news !

BTW according to your advise, I keep color settings on "Direct Conversion" , IIRC otherwise a fair piece of color information gets lost.

If that's so, is there an easy explanation why this setting is (still) labeled as "not recommended" ?

But that wasn't on this forum, right?

Anyway, they always recommend using their stuff and how they think it's best. Ignoring the buggyness and the quality drawbacks.

Anyway I use an external filter for most decoding (LAV filters) and have the Potplayer video processing filter so quality is not compromised. I only enable it for the rare occasion I want some processing effect.