MPCHC & MKA

[seekermeister]

I had this player working with mka videos previously, but somehow I guess that I uninstalled the player (memory hole). I installed it again, but now when I try to play a mkv file, MPCHC just displays a black screen, as shown in the screenshot below.

I have nosed around in the options and enabled everything that I found related to mka, but nothing helped. Any ideas on how to fix the problem?

 

[seekermeister]

When checking in the file manager, I found that all of the mkv files no longer displayed the VLC logo, as they had previously. Yet when I checked in file associations, it still says that VLC is the program associated with the file type. I also went to VLC's option to set defaults and made sure that mkv was included, and saved the configuration...still no change in the file type icons. When I double click a mkv file, it does play properly in VLC, but not MPCHC. What is going on?

 

[mitchell65]

Try uninstalling MPCHC and reinstalling. Make sure to uninstall any left over registry entries before reinstalling. Also have you installed any codec packs recently?

 

[seekermeister]

No, I don't think that I have ever installed a codec on W7. However, it appears that your suggestion to uninstall MPCHC fixed the problem. At least now all of the video files have VLC icons again. I wanted to experiment with MPCHC some, because a lot of my videos have sporadic fits when an area of the film becomes blocky for a short time. The curious part is that if I replay the exact same portion of the video, it will play normally without any blockyness. It would seem that if the video files were not right, that the problem would be consistent. It's not a big problem, but one that I would like to eliminate.

 

[mitchell65]

Check with your graphics card manufacturer's website for the latest drivers!

 

[seekermeister]

I have the latest driver installed, but I really doubt that this has anything to do with video drivers. I have a hunch that the problem is either internal to VLC or perhaps I need to install some codec pack...not sure.

 

[mitchell65]

I see you have uninstalled MPCHC but did you reinstall it? Make sure when you do so that you have all the file association options unchecked and then it wont be the default player for any files. When you have done this right click on one of your MKV files and click "Open with". Choose the MPCHC. If that doesn't appear in the list then hit "Choose Default Program" and if necessary click "Browse" and navigate to the "mpc-hc64.exe [This will be in the Program Files folder not Program Files (x86)]
Make sure the "Always use this program etc" box is UNCHECKED!
See how your files perform in this!

 

[seekermeister]

Actually, that is exactly what I did when I last installed it, but on the off chance that either I did something by mistake, or the installation went awry, I will try it again and see what happens.

 

[seekermeister]

Reinstalling MPCHC didn't help, it was exactly as before. But after installing both the x86 and x64 Shark007 codec packs, MPCHC now works as it should. I can't say the same for Media Center or WMP though. WMP doesn't matter much, because I never use it, but Media Center does, because I had intended to use it so that I could use a remote control. Any thoughts in that directions?

 

[mitchell65]

Sorry I have no idea about remote controls. There's a lot of advice on types of R/C's on the web though as i just Googled it and loads came up!

 

[seekermeister]

I wasn't really asking about remotes, because I had already explored that topic recently. It was more about finding a player that worked well in all facets...including remote control. I've posted a question on the Movie Collectorz Forum in this regards, so maybe they can help me...fingers crossed!

 

[mitchell65]

I thought the problem was with MPCHC and that is now resolved. At one time you said VLC worked properly then you said you thought the problem was internal to VLC? Now you mention Windows Media Centre! You don't say what is wrong with that. Can you enlighten me?

 

[seekermeister]

Sorry, but the situation keeps changing, and you need a scorecard to keep up. MPCHC now works, VLC has always worked, WMP only works with non mkv files, like MPCHC did before and MCE seems to work, but with a lot of snags. Out of all of these...or some other player that I haven't tried, I want one that works consistently, without snags and also provides for remote control. MCE is the only one that I know of that is supposed to work with remote, but I think that there are others also. The point is to brush away all players that don't do all of the things that I want, and find one that does.

For simply playing a video at my desktop, either VLC or MPCHC are sufficient, but for my other rig (HTPC) I require something that I can lay back and relax while watching...that means remote and a player controlled by remote, plus one that will properly display art covers, so that I can see what I'm doing from a distance.

 

[mitchell65]

When you say MCE do you mean Windows Media Centre? If so what are "Lots of snags"? I have never used Windows Media Centre but I have just set it up to work with my video clips (They are all ones that I produce on any one of three camcorders) and they work perfectly. I understand that any number of remotes will work with the program especially Microsoft units! I haven't found the need to install any 3rd party codecs.
Would it bepossible for you to upload one of you problem files to a host so that I can download it and try to replicate your problems?

 

[seekermeister]

Yes, MCE = Windows Media Center. The snags that I'm referring to are that many of the videos either freeze or stutter, somewhat like they did in MPCHC and still do in WMP. The videos that are problems in either MCE or WMP works just fine in either VLC or MPCHC, but I need them to work in MCE , since that is what Movie Collectorz has a plugin for, making it possible to control things remotely.

While going through the Movie Collectorz settings, I did see something about using PowerDVD or Total Theater as the viewer, but I haven't had time to experiment with that yet. Hopefully, that may provide a solution.

 

[Shark007]

seekermeister, when using the Shark007 codecs on 64bit operating systems you also need to install the x64Components addon for Media Center to function correctly with all of your media files.

 

[seekermeister]

Thanks, but I do have both the x32 codec and the x64 add on installed. It definitely helped with VLC and MPCHC, but not with WMP or MCE.

 

[Shark007]

If you have current releases (279/283) I have improved the [x] SUGGESTED settings

If choosing that checkbox in both Settings Applications, it should greatly improve your playback experience.

If you have disabled UAC, you may never get Media Center to work properly.
Also know, if re-instating UAC to default, my software needs to be re-installed while UAC is active.

 

[seekermeister]

If you have disabled UAC, you may never get Media Center to work properly

This is probably the problem them, because I definitely have disabled UAC, and intend to keep it that way. If I reenabled UAC long enough to reinstall the codec, would it work okay after UAC was disabled again?

 

[Shark007]

yes. you can disable UAC after installing/setting up the codecs
uninstall all codecs
reboot after re-enabling UAC
re-install the codecs - select the suggested settings checkboxes