VMC/WMP11/Graphedit - No x264 Codec - MPC Standalone Filters Installed

So I recently built an uber cheap HTPC. I realize that I may be stuck re-encoding much of my non-DXVA compliant 1080p movies, however I have a quite a few new ones (Sunshine, The Ruins ) that are correctly coded and work in MPC-HC with DXVA.

Here are the specs:
ECS Goal3+ V1.1C Motherboard
Asus HD 3450 PCI-E
1GB DDR-400 Kingston Value Ram
160GB WD Caviar 7200rpm Drive
Vista Ultimate 64bit/32bit ( I've tried both )


After a fresh install, I install all necessary drivers ( Cat 8.7, Sound, Lan ) and then restart. I then register the 4 codecs I've been told over and over to use, (Mpeg2DecFilter, MPCVideoDec, and the two MatroskaSplitter/Muxer ) in the correct 32bit/64bit form. Now, after registering these, I reset and I load up graphedit to see what streams it can do. It fails and says that the media type is in an unsupported format. I then installed AC3filter to decode the audio streams. Now when I load up graphedit it still says one or more streams are of an unsupported format, but now shows the nodes with the AC3 filter doing the filtering and the Splitter doing its work.

I've tried the registry tweak that is out, that is supposed to register the mkv format with the VMC/WM11 players, which does allow those players to TRY to play the file. However they of course fail because, as in graphedit, no directshow video decoder is being selected. I've tried raising the merit using radlight, from just normal+1 all the way up to preferred+255, all to no avail.

Regardless of what I've done, I've never been able to get graphedit or any of the WM11/VMC combinations to actually select the proper MPC directshow filter I've installed.

However, when I use MPC-HC with the correct settings and run files that are properly encoded for DXVA, it works flawlessly. I get perfect when using the EVR renderer ( but not the EVR Cust., it gives me a +-16 jitter ). My end goal is to have VMC play all the HD files I have the same way that MPC-HC does, and then I'll re-encode all bad files.

Can anyone offer some guidance as to why these players/graphedit refuse to use the directshow MPC codec?

Also, for giggles I downloaded Pdvd7.3 Ultra Deluxe and used the cyberlink h.264 codec and graphedit properly selected it as the video codec for mkv. However, the cpu usage was higher then with the MPC codec, but DXVA was working. I tried it on VMC and it bluescreened me. After the reset, every video failed and caused the player to crash (VMC/WM11) but MPC-HC still worked. I've uninstalled the CL h.264 codec since then and also reformatted.

I've also given coreAVC a shot, and graphedit/WM11/VMC all failed to select its codec for video decoding.

Any help on this issue would be great. Its far less then elegant for me to use MPC-HC as my main media player on my HTPC. I do now see the folly in thinking DXVA would work on all videos, and now realize an extra 150 for a core2duo would have served me well.

I will give that a shot. I assume the site you are asking about is the matroska.org website. The MatroskaSplitteron that site is much older then the one up for download at the MPC-HC sourceforge side, but its definitely worth a shot to see if it fixes my problem. The perfect result would be to have MediaPortal or VMC able to play mkv/wmv/avi/mp4 x264 encoded files with dxva, and any improper 1080p encoded files I can re-encode.

Also, there has been a lot of info I've read that said the Haalie Media Splitter didn't work properly with the DXVA. Has this been proven to be false and the issue lies with L4.1 and reference frames? Or should I stay away from Haali and use the Matroska Splitter?

Ahhh! Ricabullah you rock man! I've been busting my head learning the in's and out's of all the codecs, filters, renderers, incompatibilities and all along it's been because graphedit wasn't able to select the MPC Decoder? Ugh... I will definitely give this a shot, I'm sure it'll work fine in Vista 32bit.

However, on my non HTPC ( My own quad core box ) I have vista 64bit. When I register MPC Video Dec, it doesn't show up in radlight filtermanager 1.6. Let me guess it's another bug with RL Filter Manager and Graphedit?

Eitherway, it appears the following steps should work:

1.) Install Vista 32bit on HTPC

2.) Install Latest Drivers for all hardware

3.) Install Haali Media Splitter, and untick all options??

4.) Install AC3Filter

5.) Copy MPCVideoDec.ax into System32 folder, regsvr32 the file.

6.) Load graphedit that you linked me to above, load the codec, go to properties, select h264, apply. Quit out of graphedit.

At this point, all directshow based filters should properly select the MPCVideoDec and if they don't it's just a matter of making sure the player isn't overriding it. I will be using Media Portal, so hopefully the MPCVideoDec will show up in the drop down for the h264 decoder within its config page.

One last note/question. Is there any reason I should use Cyberlink's powerdvd 8 ultra h264 codec over the MPCVideoDec (assuming I have it and can select between the two)?? Also, I would install ffdshow tryout and of course untick VC1 and h264, just so I get proper divx/xvid playback.

Thanks again, I really appreciate the insight.

EDIT::: Do I need to download the latest Microsoft SDK to get this version of graphedit to work? Thanks

Thanks for the information. This has shed some new light on the matter for me.

I think the run as admin on the command prompt is a step I missed and may help out. My new parts don't arrive until Friday, but I'll try this out on my gaming pc in the mean time. It's a nice way for me to check vista 64 compatibility. I've been using Vista 64 for over a year now, and to be honest, I love it.

I just haven't been able to get the MPCVideoDec to show up in radlight filtermanager. I bet that has something to do with me not hitting f8 before I boot into windows to allow unsigned drivers, or more importantly, run-as-admin on the command prompt. I'll report back tonight or tomorrow on whether or not I get the codec to register and report properly in filter manager and graph studio.

One last thing I don't fully understand how windows handles: So there is a MPCVideoDec which is x64, however there I use a 32bit haali media splitter, and a 32bit directshow based player (wmp11, media portal, vmc, etc). Does windows properly handle this or is it expecting that if it has a 32bit player requesting a splitter, it has to be 32bit, and the splitter has to have a 32bit decoder.

Or can you do 32bit player -> 32bit splitter -> 64bit decoder (mpcvideodec.ax). The reason I ask is I can't register a 32bit decoder in 64bit windows, but 32bit ac3filter works fine and so does the haali splitter. I think I just answered my own question =P, But I'll check to be sure.

Well I got home and tried running as admin and registering the MPCVideoDec.ax file. I reset my pc, check radlight , no sign of the MPCVideoDec in whole list of Video Decoders under directshow. Same thing when using graphstudio.exe. No matter what I've done it won't show up in the list


Found a thread with 2 users using x64 vista and having the same issue. I have a feeling this is not just me but fairly widespread. I tried f8 on boot, disable driver signature enforcement... still no go.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...1035600&page=2

Yeah the haali does seem to work fine. A lot of the forums that one comes across would leave you to believe haali + dxva = no go, but thats false. I tried to register the 32bit MPCVideoDec.ax in Vista 64 and it failed with the error complaining it was not 64bit. I guess MPCVideoDec + Vista64 = fail, for now.

However I did install the cyberlink pdvd 8 ultra codecs, ticked h264 accel in pdvd and also in the properties page for the codecs with graphstudio. I tried a bunch of compliant videos and the cpu utilization was 0-3% ( 3.6ghz quad core, but still, very low ). I even tried a 18GB proper l4.1 dxva encode of transformers and ran it through the hard scenes. All worked fine.

I'd rather use open source codecs, but pdvd will work for vista64 in the meantime.

Wait a second, you're on Vista 64 and you were able to register the 32bit MPCVideoDec.ax ??????????? It tells me that the file is not able to be registered because its not 64bit... I'm confused?

There is a standalone 64bit Mkv splitter available on the standalone filters link at sourceforge for MPC-HC. Problem is, I used it and the MPCVideoDec.ax, reg'ed them all, and MPCVideoDec still wouldn't show up in graphstudio or radlight. I swear there is something wrong with that MPCVideoDec.ax 64bit filter. And the 32bit Haali splitter splits properly for me, however I couldn't get the standalone MPC-HC MKV splitters to work..

I think at this point in time its best to stick with vista 32bit for a HTPC, but I'm sticking 64bit regardless for my gaming pc. Just hope someone can make a working 64bit filter/splitter, until then I'm sticking with Media Portal and cyberlink h264/haali.

Ok so I can confirm that if you unregister the 64bit MPCVideoDec and then register the 32bit one, it works and, as far as I can tell, accelerates my videos in any 32bit directshow filter and is also selectable from the x264 menu for Media Portal. Good to know.. Can't tell if cyberlink is any better then the MPC codec. I'll try to find some way to test that objectively.

I've got a 18GB DXVA Rip of Transformers. I ran the scene in the beginning where the first transformer attacks the military base, during that scene with cyberlink or with mpc video codec, I avg 10.8% cpu utilization ( 3.6ghz quad core ). The scene averages 18mbit and hits as high as 40mbit. Both codecs seem to have the same utilization, although ....to my eyes ( completely an opinion ) the cyberlink codec seems sharper. It could be the placebo effect though..

I just check the utilization of MPC-HC during that same scene. It runs .85% cpu utilization... WMP11 runs at 1.11% What gives? If wmp11 runs at 1.11% i'd expect the same from Media portal ( 32bit program, directshow, should use same codecs by default )... hmmm

Ok, I've done some more investigations on this issue I'm currently having with the cpu usage being high in Media Portal but not WMP11 (32bit) or MPC-HC... I looked at what graphstudio was selecting as the renderer.. It was choosing VMR, which in vista provides no DXVA support I believe. When I let graphstudio playback that scene, sure enough, it was 10% utilization. I then put the EVR renderer in, connected it, played the scene.. Under 1% utilization in the same scene.

SOOOO How do I change the merit of the EVR renderer? WMP11 uses it obviously, but MediaPortal does not use it. Is there a way to change the merit, as radlight fails and so does graphstudio. If not, is there a way to force a directshow player like media portal to use EVR?

Thanks for helping me narrow these things down guys.

Well I figured out how to enable it from within the MP Configuration. It works, HA is on, but I get skippy playback on some scenes and also blocky decoding on scenes verified to work with HA and EVR in WMP11 and MPC-HC. I'm assuming this has to do with MP not handling EVR correctly. Would you agree with that?

Well I'm fairly certain the stuttering I got was due to a MP error in handling EVR in Vista 64. I've got my Vista 32 HTPC up and running. When I get home from work I'll get it all setup and see how MP handles EVR and verify that DXVA works. It's the ATI 780G chipset so I'll have a nice opportunity to try ati vs nvidia on this issue as my main gaming pc is still an 8800gt (waiting for the ATI 4870x2's to come out )