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[rogueblue]

Is there any difference in which codec pack I use for MC?
Are there any advantages or disadvantages?

[JimH]

There is another recent thread here on this.

[Alex B]

Is there any difference in which codec pack I use for MC?
Are there any advantages or disadvantages?

CCCP is supposed to be easy to use. Basically you should be able to install it and forget it. It contains the essentials in a preconfigured package. Naturally you can go and tweak the FFDShow playback options to suite your preferences, but no deeper knowledge of the individual compenents is needed.

I have never actually installed K-Lite, but by looking at its specs, it seems to be intended for users who really understand how the DirectShow system works.

I would recommend installing CCCP and only trying single individual filters from the K-Lite package in case some file format would not play correctly with just CCCP installed.

Here is another, lightweight, filter pack that allows easily installing and removing single additional filters:
http://www.degeelebosch.nl/corone/   (DirectShow FilterPack 3.12)

There is another recent thread here on this.

Maybe you could merge these threads? (I'll search for the other thread...)
Edit: I actually found several more or less related threads, but they were not specifically about K-Lite vs CCCP, so maybe it is better to not touch this one.

[rogueblue]

CCCP is supposed to be easy to use. Basically you should be able to install it and forget it. It contains the essentials in a preconfigured package. Naturally you can go and tweak the FFDShow playback options to suite your preferences, but no deeper knowledge of the individual compenents is needed.

I have never actually installed K-Lite, but by looking at its specs, it seems to be intended for users who really understand how the DirectShow system works.

I would recommend installing CCCP and only trying single individual filters from the K-Lite package in case some file format would not play correctly with just CCCP installed.

Here is another, lightweight, filter pack that allows easily installing and removing single additional filters:
http://www.degeelebosch.nl/corone/   (DirectShow FilterPack 3.12)


Maybe you could merge these threads? (I'll search for the other thread...)
Edit: I actually found several more or less related threads, but they were not specifically about K-Lite vs CCCP, so maybe it is better to not touch this one.

Thanks Alex

Maybe because I've installed the K-Lite Pack and know pretty much ZERO about settings, that I'm having problems with my fullscreen viewing ... a thread i started recently ... http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=47862.0

Only thing is, if I install the CCCP , I still wouldn't know what I should or shouldn't install from the K-lite, as you had suggested ...

I would recommend installing CCCP and only trying single individual filters from the K-Lite package in case some file format would not play correctly with just CCCP installed.

If I don't know, should I rather just leave it altogether, or could you suggest any filters from K-Lite that I should add that are eccential, but which aren't included in CCCP?

[Alex B]

I read quickly through the thread you linked. Your problem appears to be quite unique and difficult to resolve.

Personally, I would uninstall all previously installed DS filters and reset all MC playback settings to the defaults (a full uninstall with "remove registry settings" may be requiered for that if you have severely tweaked the DS playback settings.)

Then I would install only CCCP (for usual video file formats, like Xvid AVI ) and in addition the DScaler5 MPEG2 video decoder and AC3 audio decoder filters for DVD video playback. On my simpler system (an XP laptop) the latter two get used automatically without any additional tweaking and DVD playback works fine without changing any playback settings inside MC. The DScaler and AC3 filters are included in the "Full" K-Lite package (download the latest version). My HTPC has a very tweaked configuration which is changing all the time and it would not be useful to describe it here.

However, what works for me may not work on your PC. For instance, the full K-Lite package contains several MPEG2 decoders that you can try. In any case you should always first uninstall any installed additional filters and only after that try new filters.

EDIT

Here's my filter graph as reported by MC during DVD Video disc playback:

Filter Graph Info:

    Filter 'Default DirectSound Device'
        CLSID: {79376820-07D0-11CF-A24D-0020AFD79767}
        Host: C:\WINDOWS\system32\quartz.dll
        Input Pin 'Audio Input pin (rendered)'
            Connected to pin 'Out' of filter 'AC3Filter'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Audio  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_PCM, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx

    Filter 'Video Renderer'
        CLSID: {70E102B0-5556-11CE-97C0-00AA0055595A}
        Host: C:\WINDOWS\system32\quartz.dll
        Input Pin 'Input'
            Connected to pin 'Output' of filter 'Overlay Mixer'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_Overlay, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo

    Filter 'AC3Filter'
        CLSID: {A753A1EC-973E-4718-AF8E-A3F554D45C44}
        Host: C:\Soft\AC3Filter\ac3filter.ax
        Input Pin 'In'
            Connected to pin 'AC3' of filter 'DVD Navigator'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_DOLBY_AC3, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx
        Output Pin 'Out'
            Connected to pin 'Audio Input pin (rendered)' of filter 'Default DirectSound Device'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Audio  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_PCM, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx

    Filter 'Overlay Mixer'
        CLSID: {CD8743A1-3736-11D0-9E69-00C04FD7C15B}
        Host: C:\WINDOWS\system32\qdvd.dll
        Input Pin 'Input0'
            Connected to pin 'Video Out' of filter 'DScaler Mpeg2 Video Decoder'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_YUY2, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo2
        Input Pin 'Input2'
            Connected to pin 'XForm Out' of filter 'Line 21 Decoder'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_RGB32, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo
        Input Pin 'Input3'
        Output Pin 'Output'
            Connected to pin 'Input' of filter 'Video Renderer'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_Overlay, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo

    Filter 'Line 21 Decoder'
        CLSID: {6E8D4A20-310C-11D0-B79A-00AA003767A7}
        Host: C:\WINDOWS\system32\qdvd.dll
        Input Pin 'XForm In'
            Connected to pin '~CC' of filter 'DScaler Mpeg2 Video Decoder'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_AUXLine21Data  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_Line21_GOPPacket, Format type TIME_FORMAT_NONE
        Output Pin 'XForm Out'
            Connected to pin 'Input2' of filter 'Overlay Mixer'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_RGB32, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo

    Filter 'DScaler Mpeg2 Video Decoder'
        CLSID: {F8904F1F-0371-4471-8866-90E6281ABDB6}
        Host: C:\Soft\DScaler5\MpegVideo.dll
        Input Pin 'Video In'
            Connected to pin 'Video' of filter 'DVD Navigator'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG2_VIDEO, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO
        Input Pin 'SubPicture'
            Connected to pin 'SubPicture' of filter 'DVD Navigator'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_DVD_SUBPICTURE, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO
        Output Pin 'Video Out'
            Connected to pin 'Input0' of filter 'Overlay Mixer'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_Video  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_YUY2, Format type FORMAT_VideoInfo2
        Output Pin '~CC'
            Connected to pin 'XForm In' of filter 'Line 21 Decoder'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_AUXLine21Data  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_Line21_GOPPacket, Format type TIME_FORMAT_NONE

    Filter 'DVD Navigator'
        CLSID: {9B8C4620-2C1A-11D0-8493-00A02438AD48}
        Host: C:\WINDOWS\system32\qdvd.dll
        Output Pin 'Video'
            Connected to pin 'Video In' of filter 'DScaler Mpeg2 Video Decoder'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_MPEG2_VIDEO, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO
        Output Pin 'AC3'
            Connected to pin 'In' of filter 'AC3Filter'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_DOLBY_AC3, Format type FORMAT_WaveFormatEx
        Output Pin 'SubPicture'
            Connected to pin 'SubPicture' of filter 'DScaler Mpeg2 Video Decoder'
            Major type MEDIATYPE_DVD_ENCRYPTED_PACK  Sub type MEDIASUBTYPE_DVD_SUBPICTURE, Format type FORMAT_MPEG2_VIDEO

Apparently only the Microsoft's default "qdvd.dll" and "quartz.dll", DScaler5, and AC3Filter filters are needed for successful DVD video disc playback.

[glynor]

Then I would install only CCCP (for usual video file formats, like Xvid AVI ) and in addition the DScaler5 MPEG2 video decoder and AC3 audio decoder filters for DVD video playback.

Good advice.  Alex pretty much summed up my opinion on the two but here's a very stripped down and basic explanation:

A) If you don't want to get in and tweak settings (and you don't really know what you're doing) but you just want it to work:  CCCP (and DScaler5 is a very good DVD decoder, I'd opt out of AC3Filter because FFDSHOW handles that stuff fine unless you get fancy and AC3Filter can be flaky on some systems).

B) If you know exactly what filters you want, and you're going to go in and manually set a bunch of FFDSHOW and other filter settings anyway: K-Lite Basic or Standard.  (Because it doesn't preset a bunch of options it is just an easy shortcut to get updated versions of a bunch of filters you're going to want anyway).

C) And lastly, you should never use, unless you are using your computer to create/encode video and you absolutely know exactly what codecs you need (and more importantly which you don't need): K-Lite Full Edition.

[Alex B]

Now I have actually once started the K-Lite Full installer. Looks like glynor is correct, I didn't want to continue with installing it. Even when I selected the custom option and unticked all tick boxes it said it would need over 12 MB of space. In addition, I couldn't see the "advertised" DScaler5 filter in the list.

It is better to download DScaler5 directly from sourceforge:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/deinterlace/DScaler5008.exe?download

Regarding to AC3/DTS audio decoding I like the available options in AC3Filter better than the CCCP/FFDShow's audio decoding options, but FFDShow should work as well.

If someone wants to try AC3Filter it is available on the official site: www.ac3filter.net

[glynor]

Regarding to AC3/DTS audio decoding I like the available options in AC3Filter better than the CCCP/FFDShow's audio decoding options, but FFDShow should work as well.

If someone wants to try AC3Filter it is available on the official site: www.ac3filter.net

Agreed, mostly (FFDSHOW does have many of the same options, they're just harder to find and use).  I just think that is more of an advanced usage case.  No need for the average Joe with his regular desktop PC setup to go there, and AC3Filter has some real issues on some machines (especially the older pre-1.0 builds which are still all too common to see floating around).  I have one machine that will bluescreen instantly by just playing an AVI with AC3 audio if AC3Filter is even installed (including relatively newer 1.x builds, though it has been a few months since I tested it).  It doesn't like some integrated audio hardware at all, but that's not really what they're designing for at all.

If you are using an external DTS or Dolby Digital decoding hardware box in your receiver, and feeding it un-decoded digital audio from your PC, then AC3Filter might be exactly what you need.  If you are using your sound card's regular analog outputs, FFDSHOW included with CCCP should be perfectly fine.