Codec or VLC?

[TS-56336]

Hello guys,

I'm having a bit of a trouble playing HD encoded files (MP4, MKV, H264) using VLC Media Player. Whenever I play a video using VLC, it makes a file looked like it's damaged or something. But when I use Windows Media Player, it seems to be okay.

For example, I play a .mp4 video with VLC and WMP

VLC Media Player 2.0.2

Windows Media Player

I don't have any trouble with AVIs using both media apps. I tried downloading different codecs but it doesn't seem to fix the problem. And I even downloaded a latest version of VLC.

What seems to be the problem here? It's been one and a half month since this happened, but I thought it was just codecs or something.

 

[LNCPapa]

I would try uninstalling VLC and selecting the option "Delete preferences and cache" and then installing 2.0.3 to see if that makes any difference. I haven't had that type of issue with VLC before but remember that VLCs codecs are self-contained except for a few.

 

[TS-56336]

No good, LNC.

I downloaded 2.0.3 as you recommended, but nothing changed. I even deleted preferences and cache for a clean install. In addition, I didn't even bothered messing with the video settings there, except the sound.

Any chance I could try other free video players besides VLC?

 

[mike1959]

Hi, I have had very good playback results with this one; it's free and all the codecs seem to be included.
http://www.freesmith.com/free-video-player.html
~~

 

[bobcat]

Indeed, as stated above, VLC comes with codecs incorporated, so it’s unlikely they’d be missing.

You don’t give your system specs, especially your graphics/video card. VLC has been getting heavier over time, while the H.264 HD codec is very demanding on resources. So, in the absence of other info, my guess is that the problem is hardware related. This could also explain why lighter media players work more smoothly.

 

[TS-56336]

Hi, I have had very good playback results with this one; it's free and all the codecs seem to be included.
http://www.freesmith.com/free-video-player.html
~~
View attachment 73525

Will check out the link, mike1959. Thanks! I might just try this one.

 

[TS-56336]

Indeed, as stated above, VLC comes with codecs incorporated, so it’s unlikely they’d be missing.

You don’t give your system specs, especially your graphics/video card. VLC has been getting heavier over time, while the H.264 HD codec is very demanding on resources. So, in the absence of other info, my guess is that the problem is hardware related. This could also explain why lighter media players work more smoothly.

Here's my specs, bobcat

[LEFT]CPU:[/LEFT]
[LEFT]AMD Phenom X2 555 Black Edition 3.2 Ghz (Unlocked)[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Motherboard, Memory:[/LEFT]
[LEFT]ASRock 890GX Extreme3 (AM3/AM3+)[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Graphics:[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6790 1GB GDDR5[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Storage:[/LEFT]
[LEFT]2tb WDC Caviar Black (WD2002FAEX) 64mb SATA dual processor[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Case, cooling:[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Thermaltake Speedo Advance[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Operating System:[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit[/LEFT]

I doubt it's my graphic card that's causing this. It's only been six months since I bought my video card.

But you got a point there. Maybe it's the hard drive. I have had a problem with my HDD before; video files seemed to deteriorate like the images above and applications take time to load running from diff. partitions. But I still can't confirm whether the culprit is the HDD or not.

Or perhaps I should make a clean install of Windows. Hmm, I got plenty of work to do, no ample time to do so.

 

[Rabbit01]

I'd suggest trying the latest version from here: http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/win32/?C=M;O=D

Uninstall what you've got and unzip the latest into a folder. I have version 2.1.0 from 20120211 on my work laptop and it runs fine. Might be a newer version on my desktop, I don't recall. It has corrected issues I encountered w/ the playback of 10-bit mkv files.

One thing to note is the nightlies aren't the official version, so sometimes they don't work too well. I've had newer versions not working at all and reverted to older nighlies.

 

[SNGX1275]

Try Media Player Classic Home Cinema.

 

[Rabbit01]

Try Media Player Classic Home Cinema.

Yes, that too. And it works well out of the box. No need for additional codec & etc., not for me anyway.

http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/

 

[bobcat]

There are many alternative media players you can install, but here we are trying to investigate the problem with VLC without interfering with the rest of your system.

From your description, your hardware seems in order, unless of course there’s a defect somewhere. I also think the VLC version, if reasonably recent, should not make any difference because H.264 has been around for a while. What we can do is try to isolate VLC from being influenced by the rest of your system.

So here’s an easy test you can do that won’t leave any traces in your registry nor affect the rest of your system in any way. For this, download this portable version of VLC and unzip it in a folder. There’s no installation involved, just run the executable in the folder.

VLC portable

Since it’s truly portable, it only writes in its own folder and does not make any registry entries. So, if you don’t want to keep it after you’re finished, simply delete the folder and it’s gone, nothing left behind. But you may find it useful for carrying around, as it will also run from a memory stick.

By being totally self-contained, this version minimizes influences from the rest of your system while testing VLC.

 

[cliffordcooley]

But you got a point there. Maybe it's the hard drive.

Highly doubtful, if the media file plays fine in one player and not the other. If the HDD was the issue, you would have problems no matter which player you used.

 

[TS-56336]

Highly doubtful, if the media file plays fine in one player and not the other. If the HDD was the issue, you would have problems no matter which player you used.

So I've heard. It's just happened a long time ago it made me seek my hardware vendor to resolve this kind of problem.

 

[TS-56336]

I'd suggest trying the latest version from here: http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/win32/?C=M;O=D

Uninstall what you've got and unzip the latest into a folder. I have version 2.1.0 from 20120211 on my work laptop and it runs fine. Might be a newer version on my desktop, I don't recall. It has corrected issues I encountered w/ the playback of 10-bit mkv files.

One thing to note is the nightlies aren't the official version, so sometimes they don't work too well. I've had newer versions not working at all and reverted to older nighlies.

Yes! Finally, it worked. (y)




I downloaded the 7z'd VLC 2.0.4, and everything seem to work fine now (MKV, H.264, MP4). Was surprised with the size upon extracting, though. The 2.0.4 is 100 mb. Nevertheless, it worked.

So the problem was both VLC and its codec after all. Thanks, Rabbit 01.

 

[TS-56336]

Try Media Player Classic Home Cinema.

Thanks for suggesting MPC for me. This made me switch with VLC because I have had errors with this player before. But I didn't install K-Lite Codec to avoid interfering with VLC, and MPC is included on K-Lite.

I first tried Rabbit01's post and it works fine now. He posted a link that includes previous version of VLC that needs to be extracted after downloading.

So thanks again, SNGX1275.

 

[TS-56336]

There are many alternative media players you can install, but here we are trying to investigate the problem with VLC without interfering with the rest of your system.

From your description, your hardware seems in order, unless of course there’s a defect somewhere. I also think the VLC version, if reasonably recent, should not make any difference because H.264 has been around for a while. What we can do is try to isolate VLC from being influenced by the rest of your system.

So here’s an easy test you can do that won’t leave any traces in your registry nor affect the rest of your system in any way. For this, download this portable version of VLC and unzip it in a folder. There’s no installation involved, just run the executable in the folder.

VLC portable

Since it’s truly portable, it only writes in its own folder and does not make any registry entries. So, if you don’t want to keep it after you’re finished, simply delete the folder and it’s gone, nothing left behind. But you may find it useful for carrying around, as it will also run from a memory stick.

By being totally self-contained, this version minimizes influences from the rest of your system while testing VLC.

Thanks for suggesting VLC portable. I was thinking of trying this one first. But perhaps this make a good alternative if VLC fails again. I downloaded this one just in case.

Thank you, bobcat!

 

[Rabbit01]

You're welcome. Glad it worked out.