How To Play High Bitrate MKV Files Flawlessly In 32Bit Win7MC RC!

By hurtz777
in The Fast Ring (Insider Previews)

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hurtz777

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I have finally found a way to play high bitrate MKV files as well as all other major video and audio formats in Win7MC RC without "Media Center Not Responding" errors that were caused from various codec packs including Shark's codec pack, and the fact that WinMC by default uses the built in H264 decoder by default which cause the jerkiness of high bitrate MKV files. The link to instructions below tells you how to override two registry entries that will allow FFDSHOW to be your default H264 decoder without renaming files and without installing bloated codec packs. I have tested this method on 4 different 32bit Win7MC RC and have had flawless high bitrate and all other format playback with no media center crashes or errors. Please try this method and post here on your results!

1.) Download and install the latest stable FFDSHOW tryout from here

2.) Download and install the latest stable Haali-Matroka splitter from here

3.) Download and rename .txt to .reg and run regedit file to register MKV files in Win7MC by right clicking the following link and selecting "Save Link As" from here

4.) Go to the following website that tells you how to edit the registry and tell Win7MC to use FFDSHOW as your default H264 Decoder instead of the crappy MS one by clicking here

5.) Reboot PC and enjoy flawless MKV playback using FFDSHOW which is without a doubt the best software based H264 decoder! By the way this method is fully reversible and still uses MS MPEG2 decoder for Live TV and LiveTV playback as well as MS H264 decoder for HD .MOV files from digital cameras and camcorders.

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hurtz777

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The MPC-HC H264 DXVA Decoder works very well with compliant MKV, but it can also cause jerkiness and frame issues with non compliant and even some compliant MKV files. That is why I would still recommend FFDSHOW paired up with a Core2Duo 2.5Ghz or high CPU to handle even the highest bitrate MKV files via software playback.

The tips found in the following article, will probably work on Win7 as well:

http://www.guru3d.com/news/gpu-accelerate-...-graphics-card/

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Due to hardware acceleration provided by the built in video formats, I find that although my machine can decode MKV files easily, when I use my media center remote to skip forwards or backwards there is sometimes up to 5 seconds of lag whilst the video catches the audio up. When I do the same with HD files encoded as AVI or WMV, they skip forwards and backwards smoothly.

I use the latest versions of all codecs provided with the Vista Codec Pack, so they are always current. Despite Matroska being an open format, it is strange that hardware acceleration of its playback isn't 100%

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