Windows 7 completely locking out Ffdshow

Streeteh

Streeteh

Streeteh

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Just installed windows 7 today, i'm really impressed with it as a whole except for this one issue. Basically any app that requires ffdshow will not use it despite it being installed resulting in transcoding/playback not occuring. Apps that have their own decoders embedded within (VLC, PS3mediaserver etc) work absolutely fine so it's something to do with ffdshow not functioning correctly.

Some reading around has led me to find other people with the same issues but no one has a solution. It's a bit of a pain really as all my favorite media apps relied on ffdshow and now they're useless.
 
avi etc is fine. It's solely .mkv container files that i'm having issues with as they require ffdshow with some media players.

If there's no solution could you guys recommend some decent players with embedded decoders? VLC is a bit pants really, the picture keeps breaking up randomly with some files.
 
I've found this as well - regardless of internal app settings or merit priorities, third-party decoders are effectively neutered where the Win7 native equivalent is present, which is a major PITA as Microsoft's own built-in codec often chokes and stutters on high-bitrate HD MKVs

MPC Homecinema is the one and only app I've found so far that seems smart enough to outwit Windows 7 - if you set ffdshow as a preferred external decoder it will use it. :)
 
Rudeboy said:
I've been using "Sharks Win7 Codec" and add-on "Win7 x64 components"

Works fine for me.
Click to expand...
The Matroska splitters used in the Shark007 codec pack work, but Win7 will still try to force apps to use its own actual decoder.

I gather MS have gone on record as saying that they *won't* prevent the use of third-party decoders, so hopefully this will be fixed before the full release...
 
As it seems like this is just a RC issue (as said above, MS have stated this is not the way things will be forever) i'll just stick with MPC Homecinema, i prefer BSPlayer so it's a shame i just can't get it working but i always knew there would be teething issues with Win7 so i'll just have to deal.

Fortunately i've got PS3MediaServer for all my transcoding needs which has embedded decoders so i'm not missing out on anything.
 
I installed the Win7 RC this morning to give it a go. MKV files using FFDShow is possible ... I used the instructions from here which involved installing Haali Media Splitter and the latest ffdshow-tryout and runing a couple of reg files from the link to tell win7 to use ffdshow.

You may find that installing these and runnning the files as per the instructions may allow other applications to use ffdshow too.

(this also meant that I could enable subtitle support in the ffdshow settings too and have them display in WMP).
 
the.m said:
Using Win 7 Ultimate and standard it plays all my divx files
Click to expand...

As i say, it's mkv container files that i'm having issues with. Windows has native support for divx so being forced to use its built in decoder isn't an issue, when it lacks support for the file (h.264) and you need to use an external decoder but it won't let you, it's rather frustrating.

I think the only easy solution is to just use either MPC and force it to use ffdshow or use applications with embedded decoders such as VLC and PS3MediaServer for now. Hopefully MS will address the issue soon.

[EDIT] Cheers for the tip memyselfandi, i'll have a look but it's still not an ideal solution due to being a bit of a run around and me being incredibly lazy. As i say i just hope MS resolve the issue before win7 is released as i think it's a big improvement over vista aside from this one glaring issue.
 
Last edited:
Streeteh said:
SORTED IT!

Turned out i needed to install matroska splitter, this basically whips windows into submission and allows ffdshow to run freely. In order to get all my mkvs running i uninstalled all codecs then installed:
Click to expand...
Are you sure your preferred app is actually using ffdshow, and not just the Haali splitter + MS codec?

You could check it out by enabling postprocessing in ffdshow configuration (you may need to run it as administrator to get the settings to stick), and see if it has any effect.

You could also try playing an, ahem, legally purchased 1080p BluRay MKV rip and see if it plays back without issues...
 
CaptainCrash said:
Are you sure your preferred app is actually using ffdshow, and not just the Haali splitter + MS codec?

You could check it out by enabling postprocessing in ffdshow configuration (you may need to run it as administrator to get the settings to stick), and see if it has any effect.

You could also try playing an, ahem, legally purchased 1080p BluRay MKV rip and see if it plays back without issues...
Click to expand...

Good point. I did the above (set it to grey scale decoding) and it did play in grey scale so i can only assume ffdshow is indeed being used. This applied to both BSPlayer and TVersity so it appears installing the Halli splitter basically just makes ffdshow 'work' in 7. Up until that point ffdshow just wouldn't launch when i tried to play a media file that needed it, now it appears as an icon in the task bar.
 
The problem i am having is i like to watch anime on my dvd player so i decode it with TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress and burn it to dvdrw but when i try to decode mkv files tmpgenc just closes down or says file not supported. It never did this on the earler versions of windows 7 or and vista and xp. Any ideas folks.
 
Well that's the problem i was having with all apps that required external decoders for mkv, as i say installing ffdshow and haali separately fixed it, the links to these files can be found in one of my posts above.

If that doesn't help, try convertXtoDVD, works perfectly in W7.
 
The only one you need is Shark007's Win7 codecs. Installs without any hassle and the dev kept in mind any possible conflicts.
 
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