[accelieda]

Been downloading a load of torrent videos and every single one of them has a different bloody codec, what is the point of having 50 different video codecs and 90 different audio codecs when none of them are better than the others?

[EjPWyPm4]

I've found that you only really need a few codec packs to get all of the important ones.

see if this download fixes your issues. Includes many of the codecs you'd need. It'll also play Matroska files too.

Or you can download VLC player.

http://www.cccp-project.net/

[accelieda]

That's the thing though, to be able to play every video or audio file on the internet, you need 4 different media players and 5 codec packs. From now on, if the video or audio file doesn't work with Media Player, the best video and audio player available, then it's not worth the download. Thankyou for the link though, i've already got two codec packs already and neither of them play .mkv files, see if the cccp one does.

[Caregrasy]

I've found that using Media Player Classic and ffdshow I can play every video I've ever downloaded.

[mensforyouthis]

VLC or Media Player Classic cover just about every format.

[EjPWyPm4]

I've found that using Media Player Classic and ffdshow I can play every video I've ever downloaded.

fddshow is included in the CCCP pack.

I only use WMP 11 and haven't really found a format I can't play yet. Just a matter of getting the right codec packs. I use Real Alternative, and Quicktime alternative to play them with WMP.

[accelieda]

Fantastic, cccp did it's job, thankyou FruityOne .

videos work in media player but not in media centre, any ideas?

[satthackacibe]

VLC or Media Player Classic cover just about every format.

Exactly.

All you need is a good codec pack (All in one codecs for XP and Vista codec pack for Vista) and then have a great all round player like MPC.

[SkeniaInhilla]

ffdshow is all you need

[Lunims]

I just use mplayer. Probably the best media player I've layed my hands on. There's no buggy GUI, it's all in keyboard commands so media keys are completely unnecessary, it plays everything, even broken avi files, mkv and dual audio plus subtitles is no prob. The only setback I can see is if you want to play dual audio or subtitled flicks you have to use a commandline since there is no GUI. http://mplayerhq.hu[thumbup]

[Liskaspexia]

VLC player FTW!

VLC is a reasonably powerful piece of software. Looks simple... but you can set it up as a server to multicast Video/TV over a network or have it as a server to stream media over the internet.

I had all the computers at work displaying digital TV through VLC.

[arreskslarlig]

Really the only codec that's needed is h264! It beats EVERYTHING in quality without increased bit rate, it handles high def great, it can stream, and with a third party decoder (AVC something or another) it'll play fine up to 720p on a four year old computer! Kill off wmv and xvid/divx like we've done with real media; h264 is king. You could keep .mkv along as a container for it for dual audio and sub support and stuff, but I actually think .mp4 can handle that kind of stuff.

[Liskaspexia]

I wouldn't brag about h264 CPU usage. Divx is much better for HD if you have a low spec PC. Like my 1700+ media PC.

[accelieda]

Had too download vlc player, which i didn't want to do , too play all the mkv tracks as no matter what codec i got, media player refused to play them [thumbdown].

[Liskaspexia]

Had too download vlc player, which i didn't want to do , too play all the mkv tracks as no matter what codec i got, media player refused to play them [thumbdown].

Don't know why you're anti VLC. I know it's not the be all and end all of media players. It looks basic, but you can configure it a fair bit to behave well and look good.

[arreskslarlig]

I wouldn't brag about h264 CPU usage. Divx is much better for HD if you have a low spec PC. Like my 1700+ media PC.

With the 3rd party windows decoder I could play most 720p files on my XP1800 (1.53Ghz) computer! It's really great and low bit rates still look good. I think I could handle peaks if like 3mbits which with two pass encoding gave perfect looking 1280x720 files. Divx did well, but not as much quality for the same bit rate.

[Liskaspexia]

I never said anything about the quality of the image. I just find HD divx to be less taxing on the CPU.

[CHEAPPoem]

Don't know why you're anti VLC. I know it's not the be all and end all of media players. It looks basic, but you can configure it a fair bit to behave well and look good.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/skins.php - I've never bothered as I don't see the point, but if people are put off by the looks / interface then skining could be an option. Think there's a wmp clone...

[accelieda]

Don't know why you're anti VLC. I know it's not the be all and end all of media players. It looks basic, but you can configure it a fair bit to behave well and look good.

I'm not really anti-vlc, i've just done a full format install on my system so wanted to not clutter my computer with lots of different programs i'll never need so was hoping to get away with just one media player.