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[famu97]

I've converted one of my daughters DVD movies to mp4 to test her being able to play them back on the netbook we got her.  I played back the mp4 file using default automatic video playback settings in MC running under her account, which is only a regular user (non admin) account on Win 7 Pro.  When I click play - mc immediately tries to download & install FDShow.exe even though it's already installed.  It does this every time I click play because it's prompting me with the UAC prompt to elevate privileges to be able to install it.  I also get cpu instruction error msg,"The NTVDM has encountered an illegal instruction".  this msg then has some random looking numbers and says"... chose close to terminate program the application"  .  This error msg appears after the UAC prompts are complete & it appears to complete the install FFDShow.exe again. QuickTime is already installed.   

Also I noticed that playback is stuttering on the netbook & the CPU is running at like 70% when using FFDShow decoder.  When I select the QuickTime vid decoder, it still has high cpu utilization.  Seemed high to me.  When I play the same mp4 file in QuickTime the cpu load is a little lower at 60% but still seems high.  another thing I also notice is that I can't skip through the video to different times.  when I select a different point in the video file it just starts over again. 

Now here's the really strange part. I then selected use the Windows Media MP4 vid decoder and it works great.  CPU load is only like 30% when playing back using the Windows Media MP4 decoder and  I found that I'm now able to jump and skimp to different times in the video without it just starting over. 

Is this a bug or is this normal behavior?  Which MP4 video decoder is suppose to be the best for MP4 video playback w/Media Center?

[Yaobing]

If FFDShow has been properly installed on the computer, MC would not try installing it.  Maybe it was MP4Splitter MC was trying to install?  MP4Splitter is needed to play mp4 files.

On a computer logged in as a non-administrator, elevation of privilages is required in order to register the MP4 splitter filter.  You must provide an administrator account info in order to proceed.  You should allow it to finish the registration.

The playback quality problem most likely is caused by wrong filters being used in playback.  This should not happen if you let MC download and install needed components.  Once it is done, it should not require you to do it again.

[Yaobing]

Which MP4 video decoder is suppose to be the best for MP4 video playback w/Media Center?

Mp4 is a container.  It can contain many different video formats.  It is therefore not possible to have a straight answer.  In general, FFDShow would be a good choice as it is capable of decoding many codecs.

More important, and easier to answer, is what splitter filter to use.  There are two free filters to choose from: Haali Media Splitter and (Gabest) Mp4 Splitter.

[famu97]

Mp4 is a container.  It can contain many different video formats.  It is therefore not possible to have a straight answer.  In general, FFDShow would be a good choice as it is capable of decoding many codecs.

More important, and easier to answer, is what splitter filter to use.  There are two free filters to choose from: Haali Media Splitter and (Gabest) Mp4 Splitter.

1. Well this mp4 file is created as a straight rip from a DVD-ROM movie and so DVD is based on the mpeg2 video format but MP4 is based on H.264, so there's some video codec conversion occurring when it's converted from mpeg2 to mp4 (based on H.264).
2.  I guess I can try both of those mp4 splitter filters to see which one gives me better playback performance of the mp4 file.  Right now The Windows Media mp4 decoder is working perfect so unless those other splitter filters give me better performance I'll stick with it.  I just hate that these other options cause errors in the program.

I don't think that answered my questions as to why it's trying to re-install FFDShow.exe every time I try to play the mp4 file even though it's already installed.  I have screen shots that it's actually trying to install FFDShow.exe .  It doesn't behave that way when I'm logged into the netbook as myself with admin rights... unless it's re-installing FFDShow.exe in the background since I already have admin rights? 

Also the question as to what is that error cpu instruction error is after it tries to install FFDSHow.exe again?

Any comments on those lingering questions?

[Yaobing]

1. Well this mp4 file is created as a straight rip from a DVD-ROM movie and so DVD is based on the mpeg2 video format but MP4 is based on H.264, so there's some video codec conversion occurring when it's converted from mpeg2 to mp4 (based on H.264).

FFDShow handle H.264 well.  However there is a better decoder, CoreAVC.  It uses significantly less CPU power than FFDShow.  But it will cost you a few dollars.

2.  I guess I can try both of those mp4 splitter filters to see which one gives me better playback performance of the mp4 file.  Right now The Windows Media mp4 decoder is working perfect so unless those other splitter filters give me better performance I'll stick with it.  I just hate that these other options cause errors in the program.

If your Haali Media Splitter was installed as part of CCCP, you need to know that the version that comes with 2009-09-09 Version of CCCP is not good.  It's MP4 support is badly broken.

I don't think that answered my questions as to why it's trying to re-install FFDShow.exe every time I try to play the mp4 file even though it's already installed.  I have screen shots that it's actually trying to install FFDShow.exe .  It doesn't behave that way when I'm logged into the netbook as myself with admin rights... unless it's re-installing FFDShow.exe in the background since I already have admin rights?  

Also the question as to what is that error cpu instruction error is after it tries to install FFDSHow.exe again?

Any comments on those lingering questions?

I do not know why MC keeps trying to install FFDShow.  What I was saying was MC would not do it if FFDShow was properly installed.  So I am guessing your FFDShow installation was not completed properly.  Maybe that error message was from FFDShow installation.  You can try to manually download and install FFDShow.  The build that we tested and found to be good is this one

By the way, I tested on my computer by logging in as a regular user.  I uninstalled FFDShow and Mp4splitter before switching to regular account.  When playing an mp4 MC downloaded both and installed them properly, after I gave it permission by typing in my administrator password.

Subsequently mp4 plays without any issue.