How to get M4V files to play in Windows
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How to get M4V files to play in Windows
Hi guys,
I love the simplicity of this program, the fact that it does anamorphic encodes and includes chapter markings, the quality to speed ratio.. it's all fantastic. But I am finding myself with a bit of trouble trying to play the files under Windows XP.
I can play them using VLC 0.8.6d (although I do have to manually select the audio track to hear anything) but cannot play them using any kind of DirectShow media player (ie. Media Player Classic).
I have the latest FFDSHOW (actually I've tried a bunch of the later builds) but Media Player Classic (6.4.9.0) refuses to play the generated M4V files at all.
I can play other H264 media (in MKV containers) using the same player and codecs, so I assume it's a container issue.
So I installed the latest QuickTime binaries hoping that might help, but I still get the same result.
If anyone out there is experiencing the same issues I would love to hear from you. I don't really want to use VLC as a media player.
Oh, I also tried muxing into an MKV container using mkvmerge.. and while it 'played' in MPC, the video decode was FUBAR (wierd errors and artifacts everywhere) and it juttered during playback although CPU usage was negligable and the aspect ratio was lost.
Please help! Would love to finally have a usable DVD->AVC/AAC solution.
I love the simplicity of this program, the fact that it does anamorphic encodes and includes chapter markings, the quality to speed ratio.. it's all fantastic. But I am finding myself with a bit of trouble trying to play the files under Windows XP.
I can play them using VLC 0.8.6d (although I do have to manually select the audio track to hear anything) but cannot play them using any kind of DirectShow media player (ie. Media Player Classic).
I have the latest FFDSHOW (actually I've tried a bunch of the later builds) but Media Player Classic (6.4.9.0) refuses to play the generated M4V files at all.
I can play other H264 media (in MKV containers) using the same player and codecs, so I assume it's a container issue.
So I installed the latest QuickTime binaries hoping that might help, but I still get the same result.
If anyone out there is experiencing the same issues I would love to hear from you. I don't really want to use VLC as a media player.
Oh, I also tried muxing into an MKV container using mkvmerge.. and while it 'played' in MPC, the video decode was FUBAR (wierd errors and artifacts everywhere) and it juttered during playback although CPU usage was negligable and the aspect ratio was lost.
Please help! Would love to finally have a usable DVD->AVC/AAC solution.
nah its not the h264 decoder.. the cpu is a decent core 2, theres no difference whether its coreavc or ffdshow in terms of speed here.daman123x wrote:**i could be wrong about this***
the best solution i have tested is the coreavc package (coreavc.com). ffdshow skipped around on my h264 files, coreavc plays them VERY nicely. definitely depends on your computer speed
well i installed coreavc but it made no difference. like i said its not decoding h264 thats the problem - its reading the m4v files that handbrake produces.fuzz! wrote:nah its not the h264 decoder.. the cpu is a decent core 2, theres no difference whether its coreavc or ffdshow in terms of speed here.daman123x wrote:**i could be wrong about this***
the best solution i have tested is the coreavc package (coreavc.com). ffdshow skipped around on my h264 files, coreavc plays them VERY nicely. definitely depends on your computer speed
okay, got a small encode here
this tiny encode seems to work better than the others (700mb). windows media player can play it, media player classic gets audio (still no video) and vlc plays fine as usual. but i wouldnt have thought size has got anything to do with it.
this tiny encode seems to work better than the others (700mb). windows media player can play it, media player classic gets audio (still no video) and vlc plays fine as usual. but i wouldnt have thought size has got anything to do with it.
okay i've narrowed down the problem to media player classic.. when windows media player decodes em it's using ffdshow for video and audio - so theres nothing wrong there. its just purely a problem with media player classic being unable to understand the files.
i noticed that windows media player hooks into the 'haali media splitter' which mpc doesn't. i tried adding this to the 'external filters' section of mpc with no luck. do you know of a way to force the use of this splitter?
i noticed that windows media player hooks into the 'haali media splitter' which mpc doesn't. i tried adding this to the 'external filters' section of mpc with no luck. do you know of a way to force the use of this splitter?
damn.. tried that (disabled everything) and still no video. have tried on 2 computers at home and the computer at work too! None of them will play these files properly.daman123x wrote:disable mpc's internal decoders. other than that, what wmp does mpc does, they will both use the directshow splitter, then your codecs will fight for priority there
I'm starting to think nobody uses handbrake in conjunction with media player classic. (which is hard to swallow because it's such a popular player)
It's also an ungodly hack from hell. Quite frankly, I'm surprised it works at all. I rank it right up there with the multitude of "c0D3c p4Ks!!!" the l33t crowd uses (and constantly has problems as a result, though most aren't clueful enough to realize why).fuzz! wrote:I'm starting to think nobody uses handbrake in conjunction with media player classic. (which is hard to swallow because it's such a popular player)
No disrespect intended to you personally - just making a generic observation. MPC has been outclassed by VLC for ages (and by mplayer for even longer).
Rodney
no offense taken..rhester wrote:It's also an ungodly hack from hell. Quite frankly, I'm surprised it works at all. I rank it right up there with the multitude of "c0D3c p4Ks!!!" the l33t crowd uses (and constantly has problems as a result, though most aren't clueful enough to realize why).
No disrespect intended to you personally - just making a generic observation. MPC has been outclassed by VLC for ages (and by mplayer for even longer).
Rodney
i know mpc has it's warts. (it's completely useless for dvd playback for example). but it does have some really nice features that i've incorporated into my htpc remote control.
the numpad keys are great - i wish that every player had them. if you're not familiar with em it goes something like this:
8 (up) stretches vertical
2 (down) shrinks vertical
6 (right) stretches horizontal
4 (left) shrinks horiz
9 (up-left) expands whole pic
1 (down-right) shrinks whole pic
5 (center) resets these adjustments
very intuitive, easy to use, every remote has a numpad on it, lots of vids out there are out of aspect or badly encoded - or you can just use them to zoom a little bit on 4:3 content using widescreen monitor. (or even zoom a little on 2.35:1 to get a bit bigger image)
the +/1 keys inc/dec audio delay.. which is also handy for fubar'd encodes (very rare usage here but still nice to have it)
totally off topic rant there, but that's one of the reasons i want to use MPC.. god i wish it was still being developed.
and.. as far as i'm concerned FFDSHOW is the one and only codec pack..
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Don't know anything about code quality of MPC vs. VLC or MPlayer, just wanted to drop in my quite limited experience. I just used HandBrake to convert my first movie -- my Wizard of Oz DVD -- using all default settings. Fired up MPC and it had no problem with the M4V whatsoever. Based on the comments in this forum I grabbed a copy of VLC (0.8.6d for Windows), but right out of the box it choked in grand fashion -- got no video, badly broken audio, and then it GPFed.rhester wrote:MPC has been outclassed by VLC for agesfuzz! wrote:I'm starting to think nobody uses handbrake in conjunction with media player classic.
I've been using MPC to play DVDs for a couple of years. Why's it usless?rhester wrote:(it's completely useless for dvd playback for example)
CJ
So have I.. but..NCJECulver wrote:I've been using MPC to play DVDs for a couple of years. Why's it usless?
CJ
It can't fast forward/rewind DVD properly.. it just stutters and jumps all over the place even if the DVD is stored on a hard drive.
It doesn't support arrow/enter keys for menu navigation.
The mouse menu navigation is completely fubar.. you just have to click randomly around the screen hoping to find where it thinks the 'play' button is.
So, perhaps 'useless' is an overly harsh criticism, but it can be frustrating to use.
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- Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2007 12:46 am
[quote="fuzz!"]It can't fast forward/rewind DVD properly.. it just stutters and jumps[\quote]
Interesting. I haven't had that experience. However, my usage patterns are somewhat different. I generally use the scroll bar and alt-arrow keys (jump forward/back 10 secs) to navigate, rather than FF/RW. But I did just try throwing a couple of DVDs at MPC -- one disc and one ISO. Both FFed smoothly enough.
Having said that, however, MPC doesn't RW or single-step backward for me at all, and that can be kind of annoying at times.
[quote="fuzz!"]It doesn't support arrow/enter keys for menu navigation.[\quote]
Hey, you're right. Never tried. I've just always used the mouse.
[quote="fuzz!"]The mouse menu navigation is completely fubar.. you just have to click randomly around the screen hoping to find where it thinks the 'play' button is.[\quote]
Hmm, haven 't noticed that myself. Thanks for the feedback.
CJ
Interesting. I haven't had that experience. However, my usage patterns are somewhat different. I generally use the scroll bar and alt-arrow keys (jump forward/back 10 secs) to navigate, rather than FF/RW. But I did just try throwing a couple of DVDs at MPC -- one disc and one ISO. Both FFed smoothly enough.
Having said that, however, MPC doesn't RW or single-step backward for me at all, and that can be kind of annoying at times.
[quote="fuzz!"]It doesn't support arrow/enter keys for menu navigation.[\quote]
Hey, you're right. Never tried. I've just always used the mouse.
[quote="fuzz!"]The mouse menu navigation is completely fubar.. you just have to click randomly around the screen hoping to find where it thinks the 'play' button is.[\quote]
Hmm, haven 't noticed that myself. Thanks for the feedback.
CJ