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[benn600]

1) While I have 3 or more commercial DVD packages that came with various DVD players & burners, I greatly prefer using VLC's included decoder.  Now in VLC, DVDs play without trouble.  In Media Center, for some very strange reason, I see video and can use the menu, but no audio plays.  Is there something I must do?  I have found that installing one of the commercial packages fixes Media Center but then I'm plagued with associations being taken over and I always have to restore them.  VLC is my default opener for double clicking files for everything.

2) If I right click a DVD (VIDEO_TS) and try to locate it, I get the following error:
The file "\\Server\Book1\Video\DVD Music\*DVD Title*\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.dvd" does not exist.
( OK )
Could locating be changed (for DVDs) to open either inside the VIDEO_TS folder or one step behind it?  That would be great.

WOW: I just clicked a menu item and suddenly, audio is playing!  I have no idea how to explain that!  So upon starting a DVD, no audio plays.  But on this particular DVD, after clicking a menu item, audio starts playing!

[Yaobing]

1) While I have 3 or more commercial DVD packages that came with various DVD players & burners, I greatly prefer using VLC's included decoder.  Now in VLC, DVDs play without trouble.  In Media Center, for some very strange reason, I see video and can use the menu, but no audio plays.  Is there something I must do?  I have found that installing one of the commercial packages fixes Media Center but then I'm plagued with associations being taken over and I always have to restore them.  VLC is my default opener for double clicking files for everything.


WOW: I just clicked a menu item and suddenly, audio is playing!  I have no idea how to explain that!  So upon starting a DVD, no audio plays.  But on this particular DVD, after clicking a menu item, audio starts playing!

Did you try selecting an audio decoder?

[benn600]

It's strange.  Some DVDs play audio while others do not.  This particular one plays audio during the movie but the menu (which I know has audio) doesn't play any audio.  I did look at the audio decoders available and neither of them (2) make any difference so I left it on automatic selection.

Addition: does anyone else use only Video Lan for their DVD decoding software?  As I said, I have the commercial packages but dislike them because they take over associations and system settings.  I also notice an additional taskbar item: Media Center DVD Player...  This presents a black box in the upper left of my monitor.  Is there a way to disable this?  Perhaps it is a side effect of Video Lan?

[glynor]

It's strange.  Some DVDs play audio while others do not.  This particular one plays audio during the movie but the menu (which I know has audio) doesn't play any audio.  I did look at the audio decoders available and neither of them (2) make any difference so I left it on automatic selection.

I've seen this exact scenario before with some DVD Audio Decoders (older WinDVD ones and FFDSHOW for example).  CCCP fixes it if installed and set with highest priority for me.

What DVD Decoders are you using?  VLC is a player, not a decoder (it has filters built in but they aren't DirectShow compatible AFAIK), so how you are using VLC isn't very clear.  It could be that you don't have any appropriate DirectShow filters installed...

[benn600]

Well, I am not sure.  Just like when you install Cyberlink DVD Player, DVD playing just starts working in other applications like Windows Media Player & Media Center.  Video Lan includes a ton of codecs and one of those can decode DVDs.  Before installing VLC, nothing can play DVDs--just like before installing Cyberlink.  Once I install VLC, VLC can play DVDs fine and other programs can, too, but not MC.

[Mike Noe]

When you go to Options/Playback/DVD Playback Settings, do you have an audio decoder selected and do you see an audio decoder in the filter list (graph)?

[benn600]

Hmm, when I try to open DVD playback settings, I get an error saying no valid DVD volume could be located.  What does everyone else do?  I don't want the overpowering commercial packages and I'm sure others are like me.

[Osho]

I greatly prefer using VLC's included decoder.

Do you see any improvement in picture quality while using VLC's decoder?

Osho

[glynor]

What does everyone else do?  I don't want the overpowering commercial packages and I'm sure others are like me.

CCCP

[benn600]

With VLC, the picture quality is amazing.  You all have to know how amazing VLC is!  Everyone downloads it!  They get like millions and millions of downloads.  I always use it as my default player.  When I double click a file, I like VLC.  I don't want something like MC opening a double clicked file.  I want MC to manage my official media.

So what you're suggesting is a complete codec pack?  That sounds like a great option.  I'll be honest--I don't care where my DVD playback ability comes from and VLC or any other DVD player codecs do just fine.  I just want video & audio to work and perhaps some deinterlacing.

Addition: Why does the CCCP wiki talk about it being so great for anime playback.  Lol.  I don't watch anime.

[thenoob1]

Try that codec pack:

k lite

I use the mega version....works stable:

http://www.codecguide.com/

[glynor]

So what you're suggesting is a complete codec pack?  That sounds like a great option.  I'll be honest--I don't care where my DVD playback ability comes from and VLC or any other DVD player codecs do just fine.  I just want video & audio to work and perhaps some deinterlacing.

Addition: Why does the CCCP wiki talk about it being so great for anime playback.  Lol.  I don't watch anime.

CCCP and VLC use the same playback code in the back-end, so quality should be identical for the two.  CCCP provides DirectShow playback filters for all the things that VLC has built-in (they both use code from the FFMPEG and Gabest's projects).  It comes with full DVD playback support out of the box.

As far as the anime stuff... That's the "scene" that CCCP was designed for.  Anime users encounter all sorts of odd file types, and need very good support for multiple audio and video tracks, subtitles, and all the other "advanced" media container features.  CCCP has subsequently grown much beyond the Anime "scene" and it is now the official codec set for Matroska files (MKV).

Try that codec pack:

k lite

I use the mega version....works stable:

http://www.codecguide.com/

K-Lite's Standard codec pack is also a good choice.  It is mostly identical to CCCP except that it includes:

GSpot Codec Information Appliance
Gabest's FLV Splitter (for Flash video)

And it doesn't include:

Gabest's MPEG Decoder (needed for DVD playback)
ZoomPlayer
(and a few other small details)

As I mentioned though, K-Lite Standard does not include "good" support for DVD playback out of the box.  I believe it uses FFDSHOW for DVD playback, but FFDSHOW's DVD playback handling is broken in current builds.

However, the K-Lite FULL Pack is quite dangerous to install.  It installs a whole pile of stuff that you don't need (including a bunch of things that fight with each other and can cause conflicts).  I would strongly urge you not to use the Full (aka Mega) K-Lite codec pack, or the similar ACE Codec Pack.  I don't even really understand the motivation for them to build such a pack.  Why would you ever need five different MPEG 1/2 decoders, three Indeo decoders, and about a million demuxers which all do the same exact thing??

All in all, CCCP is quite stable and good.  It includes what you need for the vast majority of playback types out-of-the-box, but doesn't include a bunch of "dreck" extras that aren't needed.  It certainly is NOT perfect (Haali, I'm looking at you), but it works for most things quite well.

[Mithrandir]

Hi,


Why not give the Nvidia pure video decoder a try.  It does audio and video (mpeg2-which should be what you need for DVD's) and they offer a 30 day trial.  PQ is first rate with this decoder.  I use it with both sagetv and zoom with great results.  You can check it out here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/dvd_decoder.html

HTH

M.

[glynor]

If you're pleased with all of your other solutions, and CCCP doesn't work for you for some reason, then the nVidia PureVideo decoder is a good option.  It works well and doesn't install a bunch of crap.

The downside is of course it isn't free.  CCCP is.

[thenoob1]

I´m not sure about the k lite but I´ve mega pack installed without problem....No "fighting" between the programs, no crashes. But it gives you a lot:

For example recording xvid with ogg or Ac3 sound or any other video codec including the video codec from vorbis.

You also can play .rm files or any quicktimefiles or rmvb files.

The aac quicktime doesn´t block the nero aac and vice versa. ...... cccp did that.

S my recommend to k lite mega --> better than k lite standard etc. , but it´s only my mind and maybe gylnor has much more experience

[benn600]

So should I install CCCP and then VLC?  I must have VLC on every computer.  Does it matter the order?  Probably not.

So they share the same codecs but CCCP will include the DirectShow filters that I need?  VLC includes them basically for itself only (or none at all and works around not having them)?

[glynor]

So should I install CCCP and then VLC?  I must have VLC on every computer.  Does it matter the order?  Probably not.

Doesn't matter.  If VLC is already installed just leave it.  While they share code, they won't affect one another.

So they share the same codecs but CCCP will include the DirectShow filters that I need?  VLC includes them basically for itself only (or none at all and works around not having them)?

Right.  VLC, because it is built to be cross platform, doesn't use DirectShow codecs or filters (which is part of DirectX and is Microsoft only, of course).  It has instead it's own home-built system, and it's own codecs and filters built in.  While internally they share code from the FFMPEG project (which is where FFDSHOW is built from), they are completely different animals.