How to use MPC + CoreAVC to play .MKV files?

[darklight1138]

I use CoreAVC for HD vids since my old netbook otherwise couldn't handle it. My Media Player Classic with codecs can play most MKV files until you get into HD territory. which is why I use CoreAVC.

I can get Media Player Classic to play HD .MP4 files using MPC + CoreAVC.

But using MPC + CoreAVC it will NOT play .MKV files. I probably could extract the MP4 files from the MKV containers but I have waaaay too many MKV files. So I'd like a solution for MPC as google did not help.

VLC doesn't play HD .MKV files very well at all so that isn't an option.

I imagine it might have something to do with the Haali splitter? I reinstalled CoreAVC and selected HAALI in the install options but that MESSED EVERYTHING up. MKV files would display a weird static image while even MP4s wouldn't display video at all. Took a lot to fix that!

So, in short, is there a way to use CoreAVC with MPC -- or any media player -- so that I can watch HD .MKV files on my netbook?

Thanks for any help! I am homebound so any help so I can watch movies is immensely helpful!

[El Heggunte]

Haali Splitter is dead, replace it with LAV Splitter.

CoreAVC is dead, replace it with LAV Video.

Problem solved.

[AllisOne]

Haali Splitter is dead, replace it with LAV Splitter.

CoreAVC is dead, replace it with LAV Video.

Problem solved.

I think MPC is pretty dead too

First try portable versions of MPC-HC or MPC-BE for example. Use betas - they usually are OK.
MPC-HC uses LAV Filters (splitter, audio and video decoder) as internal codecs. So you don't need any external ones. You might change video renderer in video settings. Some of them are more CPU hungry than others. If it works, uninstall other codecs and clean registry. You might check if you have the newest drivers for your graphic card for your operating system.

PS. Use MediaInfo (or MediaInfoXP for WinXP) to see what decoders are inside your .mkv videos.

Posting some info about your netbook and the system could help too.

[jagabo]

Enable the Matroska source filter in MPC.

[darklight1138]

Thanks for the quick replies! I do really appreciate it!

@El Heggunte

My MPC is up to date, so I assume the LAV components are up to date as well.

The reason I use CoreAVC is because my Netbook with an Atom 1.6ghz processor and 1024 x 600 res is not powerful enough to handle 1280 x 720 vid content. My media players alone won't handle some video files I have. With CoreAVC I was able to play a lot of files that exceed my resolution.

Unless those are different from what MPC comes with? Sorry, I don't know as much as I'd like about codecs and stuff.


@AllisOne

My netbook is a 3 or 4 years old. Atom 1.6ghz w/ 2GB ram. Intel 800 GMA graphics chip, which is pretty awful 1024x600 resolution.

Here is some info from MediaInfo about one of my files (I have about a dozen more like this one that I need to be able to play):

Video
ID : 1
Format : HEVC
Format/Info : High Efficiency Video Coding
Format profile : Main@L3.1@Main
Codec ID : V_MPEGH/ISO/HEVC
Duration : 52mn 50s
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits

Not sure if that helps. MPC, VLC and BSPlayer won't handle it. It's my PC's hardware though, I know.


@jagabo

I didn't see a setting from Matroska in my MPC settings. Here is a screenshot of my settings:

[jagabo]

I didn't see a setting from Matroska in my MPC settings. Here is a screenshot of my settings:

That's odd. I have old versions of MPC and recent versions of MPCHC and they all have Matroska source filters. Exactly what version are you using? 32 bit or 64 bit?

Also, disable MPC(HC)'s internal h.264 decoder to use an external decoder.

[darklight1138]

About Media Player Classic:

MPC-HC (Nightly)
----------------

Build information:
Version: 1.7.9.181 (b107b95) (develop)
Compiler: MSVC 2013 Update 5 (SSE)
Build date: Oct 5 2015

LAV Filters:
LAV Splitter: 0.66.0.25
LAV Video: 0.66.0.25
LAV Audio: 0.66.0.25
FFmpeg compiler: MinGW-w64 GCC 5.2.0


I think I might have figured out the problem. My files are something called H.265, which is I suppose the "successor" to H.264. CoreAVC just doesn't support this file type, so I might be completely out of luck unless I can find a different video format or somehow convert it to a less demanding file type. Or get a much faster computer which isn't going to happen.

Oh well

Thanks anyway, guys! I appreciate it.

[anana]

Just check the HEVC (H.265)

[jagabo]

If your computer has problems keeping up with h.264 (aka AVC) it's really going to have problems with h.265 (aka HEVC).

[AllisOne]

Yes, HEVC/H.265 is a new codec and it needs much more power (than your processor probably has). Try to tick HEVC as anana advised. I'm not sure why you have so little to choose from in Internal Filters. Maybe it's because of limitations of Atom processor and its graphics card?

Last thing you can try is to use Strongene/Lentoid HEVC decoder ( http://xhevc.com/en/downloads/downloadCenter.jsp ) . It is the most efficient one (lowest level of CPU use) for HEVC decoding, at least for me. Put the codec folder in Program Files, register the codecs with bat file (it has updated flv and mp4 splitter/demultiplexer too). Then go MPC-HC Options - External Filters, click Add Filter , choose Lentoid HEVC Filter, set priority to Prefer, confirm and OK. Restart MPC-HC just in case.

[johns0]

Coreavc isn't dead,never had to install lav filters ever,i can play any video files without them.

[darklight1138]

Yes, HEVC/H.265 is a new codec and it needs much more power (than your processor probably has). Try to tick HEVC as anana advised. I'm not sure why you have so little to choose from in Internal Filters. Maybe it's because of limitations of Atom processor and its graphics card?

Last thing you can try is to use Strongene/Lentoid HEVC decoder ( http://xhevc.com/en/downloads/downloadCenter.jsp ) . It is the most efficient one (lowest level of CPU use) for HEVC decoding, at least for me. Put the codec folder in Program Files, register the codecs with bat file (it has updated flv and mp4 splitter/demultiplexer too). Then go MPC-HC Options - External Filters, click Add Filter , choose Lentoid HEVC Filter, set priority to Prefer, confirm and OK. Restart MPC-HC just in case.

YES!!

You did it! That fixed it perfectly! Seems there's a slight audio sync issue but that can be easily fixed.

Thank you a million times!!! I appreciate it!

[AllisOne]

Great! You're welcome. I can't see what operating system you have, but as I mentioned before you can additionally try to change a video renderer your MPC-HC uses (Playback - Output - DirectShow Video). The newer OS you have the bigger choice of renderers you get. It may lower the CPU usage and fix the audio/video sync issue. For example I've noticed that on my quite powerful laptop with PotPlayer/Win7 Pro x64 the lowest usage of CPU for HEVC etc I get not with the native for Win7 - EVR Custom Preset, but with VMR 9 Renderless. I might lose a few features of the first one, but I don't need them at the moment.