Best Codec Pack for Windows 7

[AngelProcesser]

There seems to be some wide disagreement within the replies here about whether anyone even needs any codec packs in W7 WMC and also "if" one should install or use one. I can also clearly note that too many people think that this is an answer to unrelated playback issues. I see no explanations here for the lay man on what codecs are or why they would ever be needed.

Doesn't the use of 'file association' and 'allowing codecs to be downloaded automatically' cure most codec related issues, noting that WMP12 (and therefore WMC) natively supports the mostly widely found formats?:

File types supported by Windows Media Center

If you are experiencing playback issues with W7 MC, I suggest reviewing the W7 help pages first:

Windows 7 Help & How-to - Microsoft Windows

Additionally, I note that using hardware designed for at least MS Directx 9.0C (many older video cards and sounds card do not) will cure more playback issues that any codec pack will solve.

Of course, local laws related to proprietary files formats, the use of encrypted files, licensing and copyrights should also be reviewed carefully before proceeding to install so called third party fixes.

 

[Shark007]

I'd recommend the Shark007 pack before you find that all the reghacks
and filename changes leave you in need of yet another formatted partition. Your choice of player is irrelevent. Use MPC-HC or the NoHoldsBarred player. As long as it can use DirectShow, it will use the Shark codecs.

It is the only safe option that is FULLY configurable for the plethora of formats available across the internet. It will revert all changes made by the installer AND through the settings application upon uninstall and completely set your system back to a preinstallation environment if that is your wish.

NOTE: uninstalls must be performed using the UNINSTALL button provided on the Help TAB of the Settings Application. Other means of uninstall are disabled, on purpose.

 

[AngelProcesser]

NOTE: uninstalls must be performed using the UNINSTALL button provided on the Help TAB of the Settings Application. Other means of uninstall are disabled, on purpose.

Why is it necessary to uninstall an application properly designed for Windows in such a manner?

 

[Shark007]

Why is it necessary to uninstall an application properly designed for Windows in such a manner?

The conventional uninstaller would ony remove what it installed.

There is no way to tell the builtin uninstaller that the settings application is capable of modifying several aspects of your system (registry and files) that are not touched during the installation and during uninstall these modifications need to be reverted because my settings interface goes wayyyyy beyond the conventional and to be able to set your system back to a pre-installation environment it was nessasary for me to build my own uninstaller.

 

[AngelProcesser]

Again, it's my choice, and my advice, but I would not install an application where "There is no way to tell the builtin uninstaller that the settings application is capable of modifying several aspects of your system (registry and files)".

I also suggest that it is more correct to add "known to me as designed" to this quote between no and way.

Can your un/installer verify how your application, when installed alongside other applications, will behave on all hardware as a result?

Does your application keep track of all other versions of all other software installed?

Can your application's uninstaller verify that no other application has also modified these reg keys?

If not, what could the 'unintended' results be?

 

[Shark007]

Again, it's my choice, and my advice, but I would not install an application where "There is no way to tell the builtin uninstaller that the settings application is capable of modifying several aspects of your system (registry and files)".

I also suggest that it is more correct to add "known to me as designed" to this quote between no and way.

Can your un/installer verify how your application, when installed alongside other applications, will behave on all hardware as a result?

Does your application keep track of all other versions of all other software installed?

Can your application's uninstaller verify that no other application has also modified these reg keys?

If not, what could the 'unintended' results be?

when my software is removed, it reverts your system to a pre-installation environment.

end of story.

FYI: I have exercised my right to retain my sanity and have added you to the forum provided, ignore list. This is posted for informational purposes only so that you will understand why i am no longer responding to you.

 

[AngelProcesser]

"when my software is removed, it reverts your system to a pre-installation environment" is my point, it has no idea what has happened in between install and removal.

 

[Orpheous]

Thank you Shark007 for youe awesome codec pack, it works very well and fills the gaps that MS has nicely

 

[Shark007]

you're welcome.

It is always nice to hear from someone capable of appreciating quality software
that does exactly what it was designed to do.

 

[TheSchaft]

Thank you Shark007 for youe awesome codec pack, it works very well and fills the gaps that MS has nicely

I second the thanks.

I used to use another codec pack but I switched to Shark's and haven't looked back.

P.S. - There's a "Donate" link on his site - hint, hint.

 

[Orpheous]

you're welcome.

It is always nice to hear from someone capable of appreciating quality software
that does exactly what it was designed to do.

I'd urge anyone who is looking for an all in one solution to missing codec issues to also install Shark007's W7 codec pack.
I'd also like to add that you should never just read one person's opinion when it comes to software, always do your homework first.

 

[AngelProcesser]

I find only a few responses from Microsoft on this issue on Windows 7 forums on Technet, not exactly an endorsement of codec packs, etc. (third party fixes):

Windows 7 Media player 12

Quote:
...Please Note: The third-party products discussed here are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft. We make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.

Hope this helps!

Sean Zhu - MSFT

Unable to set media center as default player.

Quote:
...have you installed any third party codec package or player? If so, the default autoplay settings can be changed. I suggest you temporarily remove those third party player and go to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\AutoPlay and choose "Reset all defaults", press "Save". Then, you can restart the computer and see the result.
Sean Zhu - MSFT

Before you even consider a third party fix for WMP or WMC in Windows 7 ensure that your hardware is capable, configured properly and that all of your installed drivers are the latest. New drivers are being released each day for W7 so check often.

Also note that these third party fixes are not required for playback of the most common media types and furthermore third party fixes can cause additional issues in playback that can become difficult to troubleshoot. Windows 7 has added support for additional media formats not previously available in the default setup. Please consult your hardware providers and Microsoft support directly for any playback issues in W7 before attempting so called third party fixes.

 

[Orpheous]

I find only a few responses from Microsoft on this issue on Windows 7 forums on Technet, not exactly an endorsement of codec packs, etc. (third party fixes):

Windows 7 Media player 12

Quote:
...Please Note: The third-party products discussed here are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft. We make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.

Hope this helps!

Sean Zhu - MSFT

Unable to set media center as default player.

Quote:
...have you installed any third party codec package or player? If so, the default autoplay settings can be changed. I suggest you temporarily remove those third party player and go to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\AutoPlay and choose "Reset all defaults", press "Save". Then, you can restart the computer and see the result.
Sean Zhu - MSFT

Before you even consider a third party fix for WMP or WMC in Windows 7 ensure that your hardware is capable, configured properly and that all of your installed drivers are the latest. New drivers are being released each day for W7 so check often

On Quote 1:
This was part of a post written by a Microsoft MVP (Sean Zhu), who was actually recommending Shark007's codec pack. He included the disclaimer to release MS from liability.
This was the users response to Sean's recommendation:
Response:
"Sean Zu thank you so much for answering my question, just wish to confirm the link you sent shark007. works like a dream, thank you."

On Quote 2:
The OP on that thread had an issue with DVD's autoplaying in WMP and not WMC. Sean asked if the OP had installed any additional codec packs, the OP replied a month later stating that he hadn't.
Response:
Hi Sean, I apologize for the late response. Thank you for responding for the issue, I have not installed any third party codec, as windows 7 does have many codecs. I have tried the autoplay option, however media center is not an option there.

Nothing in either of those posts points to anything remotely negative about Shark007's codec pack.

 

[whs]

Best is to get no Codec pack (and I know shark will disagree). I have had too much trouble with them in the past. Windows7 is already very good with codecs and VLC is even better. When I step on one that both cannot handle, I use Format Factory ( Format Factory - Free media file format converter ) to convert them to something more common.

 

[AngelProcesser]

@Orpheus, with the lack of attention to my complete post, I find your reply at best pure argument for arguments sake. Please respond to my whole post.

 

[AngelProcesser]

FYI: Here is the list of DirectShow Filters obtained by running DxDiag on my W7 x64 install using no third party fixes:

DirectShow Filters:

WMAudio Decoder DMO,0x00800800,1,1,WMADMOD.DLL,6.01.7000.0000

WMAPro over S/PDIF DMO,0x00600800,1,1,WMADMOD.DLL,6.01.7000.0000

WMSpeech Decoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,WMSPDMOD.DLL,6.01.7000.0000

MP3 Decoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,mp3dmod.dll,6.01.7000.0000

Mpeg4s Decoder DMO,0x00800001,1,1,mp4sdecd.dll,6.01.7000.0000

WMV Screen decoder DMO,0x00600800,1,1,wmvsdecd.dll,6.01.7000.0000

WMVideo Decoder DMO,0x00800001,1,1,wmvdecod.dll,6.01.7000.0000

Mpeg43 Decoder DMO,0x00800001,1,1,mp43decd.dll,6.01.7000.0000

Mpeg4 Decoder DMO,0x00800001,1,1,mpg4decd.dll,6.01.7000.0000

MainConcept (MCE) MPEG Encoder,0x00200000,2,1,mceesmpeg.ax,1.02.3374.0000

DV Muxer,0x00400000,0,0,qdv.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Color Space Converter,0x00400001,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

WM ASF Reader,0x00400000,0,0,qasf.dll,12.00.7000.7000

Audio Source,0x00200000,0,1,wmprevu.dll,10.00.0000.3809

Screen Capture filter,0x00200000,0,1,wmpsrcwp.dll,12.00.7000.7000

AVI Splitter,0x00600000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

VGA 16 Color Ditherer,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

SBE2MediaTypeProfile,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder,0x005fffff,2,4,msmpeg2vdec.dll,6.01.6944.0000

AC3 Parser Filter,0x00600000,1,1,mpg2splt.ax,6.06.7000.0000

StreamBufferSink,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Microsoft TV Captions Decoder,0x00200001,1,0,MSTVCapn.dll,6.01.7000.0000

MJPEG Decompressor,0x00600000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

CBVA DMO wrapper filter,0x00200000,1,1,cbva.dll,6.01.7000.0000

MPEG-I Stream Splitter,0x00600000,1,2,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

SAMI (CC) Parser,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

VBI Codec,0x00600000,1,4,VBICodec.ax,6.06.7000.0000

MPEG-2 Splitter,0x005fffff,1,0,mpg2splt.ax,6.06.7000.0000

Closed Captions Analysis Filter,0x00200000,2,5,cca.dll,6.06.7000.0000

SBE2FileScan,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Encoder,0x00200000,1,1,msmpeg2enc.dll,6.01.7000.0000

Internal Script Command Renderer,0x00800001,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

MPEG Audio Decoder,0x03680001,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

DV Splitter,0x00600000,1,2,qdv.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Video Mixing Renderer 9,0x00200000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Disk Record Queue,0x00200000,1,1,wmedque.dll,10.00.0000.3809

Microsoft MPEG-2 Encoder,0x00200000,2,1,msmpeg2enc.dll,6.01.7000.0000

Color Converter,0x00200000,1,1,declrds.ax,10.00.0000.3809

ACM Wrapper,0x00600000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Video Renderer,0x00800001,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

MPEG-2 Video Stream Analyzer,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Line 21 Decoder,0x00600000,1,1,,

Video Port Manager,0x00600000,2,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Video Renderer,0x00400000,1,0,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

VPS Decoder,0x00200000,0,0,WSTPager.ax,6.06.7000.0000

WM ASF Writer,0x00400000,0,0,qasf.dll,12.00.7000.7000

VBI Surface Allocator,0x00600000,1,1,vbisurf.ax,6.01.7000.0000

File writer,0x00200000,1,0,qcap.dll,6.06.7000.0000

iTV Data Sink,0x00600000,1,0,itvdata.dll,6.06.7000.0000

iTV Data Capture filter,0x00600000,1,1,itvdata.dll,6.06.7000.0000

DVD Navigator,0x00200000,0,3,qdvd.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Microsoft TV Subtitles Decoder,0x00200001,1,0,MSTVCapn.dll,6.01.7000.0000

Overlay Mixer2,0x00200000,1,1,,

RDP DShow Redirection Filter,0xffffffff,1,0,DShowRdpFilter.dll,

Microsoft MPEG-2 Audio Encoder,0x00200000,1,1,msmpeg2enc.dll,6.01.7000.0000

WST Pager,0x00200000,1,1,WSTPager.ax,6.06.7000.0000

MPEG-2 Demultiplexer,0x00600000,1,1,mpg2splt.ax,6.06.7000.0000

DV Video Decoder,0x00800000,1,1,qdv.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Screen Capture filter,0x00200000,0,1,wmesrcwp.dll,10.00.0000.3809

SampleGrabber,0x00200000,1,1,qedit.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Null Renderer,0x00200000,1,0,qedit.dll,6.06.7000.0000

MPEG-2 Sections and Tables,0x005fffff,1,0,Mpeg2Data.ax,6.06.7000.0000

Microsoft AC3 Encoder,0x00200000,1,1,msac3enc.dll,6.01.7000.0000

StreamBufferSource,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Smart Tee,0x00200000,1,2,qcap.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Overlay Mixer,0x00200000,0,0,,

AVI Decompressor,0x00600000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

NetBridge,0x00200000,2,0,netbridge.dll,6.01.7000.0000

AVI/WAV File Source,0x00400000,0,2,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Wave Parser,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

MIDI Parser,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Multi-file Parser,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

File stream renderer,0x00400000,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Video Source,0x00200000,0,1,wmprevu.dll,10.00.0000.3809

Microsoft DTV-DVD Audio Decoder,0x005fffff,1,1,msmpeg2adec.dll,6.01.6938.0000

StreamBufferSink2,0x00200000,0,0,sbe.dll,6.06.7000.0000

AVI Mux,0x00200000,1,0,qcap.dll,6.06.7000.0000

Line 21 Decoder 2,0x00600002,1,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

File Source (Async.),0x00400000,0,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

File Source (URL),0x00400000,0,1,quartz.dll,6.06.7000.0000

 

[Orpheous]

@Orpheus, with the lack of attention to my complete post, I find your reply at best pure argument for arguments sake. Please respond to my whole post.

I believe that I paid your post much more attention than it deserved. Your response appeared to be nothing more than an attempt to relate some totally unrelated posts on another forum to a post here requesting suggestions for a codec pack. The only "issue" regarding codec packs was one that you had inferred, and was not raised by other members on this thread.
Shark007 has produced an excellent package, which is used by thousands of people who don't have any problems with it, and he also provides support on his website for those who may have slight issues. I strongly dislike seeing people being defamed for absolutely no reason whatsoever, and that is what you have attempted to do here in this thread by misquoting information that is unrelated to the product that we were discussing.
If you want to solely use Microsoft software, that's your prerogative, but please understand that not everyone subscribes to your train of thought. Although W7 is an excellent product, it has it's limitations as no OS can do everything for everybody.
I find one of the main joys of using Windows 7 is experiencing and discovering new features, functions, and compatible software that empowers me to perform tasks. I appreciate the help and advice that I receive here, and try to give back to the sevenforums community by helping others, which is what I believe the majority of others are here for. I also believe that Shark007 is a prime example of someone who likes to help others in overcoming the limitations of bundled MS software.

 

[AngelProcesser]

Thousands, huh? How many people do you think have already installed W7? Thousands? How about many millions. I am not trying to defame anyone or anything but am simply suggesting people try alternative measures before what I consider extreme measures, unsupported third party software.

I might also add that some people might consider that I have been defamed here. I appreciate free speech and appreciate your comments, though I strongly disagree that a codec pack solves all issues. I have noticed very few dissenting opinions to mine.

 

[bandika2000]

One question

I have a question to Mr. Shark007:

I have a few movie files in *.MKV format under Win 7 ult. 64-bit.
My favorite player is PowerDVD

Is that possible somehow to play these files with PowerDVD ???

Please give me the most simple solutions to play these files, but with the possibility to have chance to set the speakers.
I mean, if I use Windows media player 64-bit or other software, I can't set the speakers output mode to: Dolby Pro Logic IIx, or True Theater Surround, like in PowerDVD.
P.S. I don't like KMPlayer or BSPlayer I prefer PowerDVD

 

[reghakr]

Shark007
I would try your pack of codes , but you package them in a way that I cannot see the contents.

I want to know what files are installing and what version they are i use Universal Extractor to unpack .the files so I know whats inside them..

Could you give us a listing?