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I set up a Win10 box recently and was kind of stunned to find that the built-in Media Player is now b0rked to the extent that it can't play media. Practically a
by mrec 6y ago
I set up a Win10 box recently and was kind of stunned to find that the built-in Media Player is now b0rked to the extent that it can't play media. Practically any media. Even with codec packs installed it won't play any of my hundreds of h264 DVD rips, it won't play the few WMVs I still have kicking around, it won't even play bloody MP3s. I think I found one weird-codec MP4 and a couple of ancient AVIs it deigned to accept, but that was it.
Or I can spend 30 seconds installing VLC and be 100% confident that it'll handle anything I throw at it. If I could fit a Lascaux cave wall into a USB port it'd play it.
Congrats to everyone involved in making this software. The world would be a sadder and more frustrating place without it.
- tombert 6y agoI have not run Windows in any serious capacity in about 12 years, but I don't remember Windows Media Player being that bad, and I thought that Windows now had a license to H264 built in, so I'm actually a bit surprised that a rip wouldn't work. Any idea what the issue was?
- mrec 6y agoNo idea. I'd been using Win 7 before that where Media Player mostly managed fine (probably with codec packs). VLC had audio glitching issues on that box but doesn't on the new one, so I quickly lost patience with trying to debug MP. Diagostics and codec help links are utterly useless.
- vitorgrs 6y agoAre you sure you didn't tried Windows 10 N? It's a specific version for Europe, it comes without codecs.
- mrec 6y agoGood question, but pretty sure. Settings > System > About > Windows Specifications just shows generic "Windows 10 Pro" as the edition. Also, AFAICT the N edition doesn't have Media Player at all, it doesn't just gut the codecs.
- vitorgrs 6y agoYeah, just found it weird because Windows does have x264 codec, and obviously mp3 since ages.
- rconti 6y agoI built a win7 HTPC about 6 or 7 years ago after not having used windows in AGES, and it blew my mind how awful it was finding codecs. Learning to avoid spyware and viruses really does require practice, and when you haven't spent the past decade visiting sketchy download sites, you really lose an eye for what's what. I still recoil at the thought of being told "no, that's a container, not a codec!" TBH, I'm still surprised at how awful some video stuff is. I've actually had about 5 false starts trying to make Plex work, and I'm trying it again (yeah, I never learn). Now the codecs and transcoding and stuff works on modern hardware, but it simply refuses to index content that you don't rename to please the master. It's absolutely insane. Software designed to make your life harder, not easier. There's a reason I just point Kodi to a NAS share. (speaking of awful configs.... but at least it plays!)
- acct776 6y agoI'd tell you to check out Emby, but if ya can't figure out Plex... Related: Sonarr, CouchPotato, etc
- notretarded 6y agoThat's not something to boast about, if software is complicated to set up that is a show of poor documentation and reflects solely on the Devs..
- MayeulC 6y agoI would tell you both to check out Jellyfin, the Free Software continuation of Emby. https://jellyfin.org/ https://jellyfin.org/
- rconti 6y agoThanks for the insult.
- noisem4ker 6y agoTalking about codecs and splitters, LAV Filters covers pretty much everything. It packs libavcodec and libavformat as DirectShow filters. https://github.com/Nevcairiel/LAVFilters https://github.com/Nevcairiel/LAVFilters Before that, there was FFDShow. Things weren't as mature nor complete back then, though.
- asciident 6y agoSoftware that lasts over 10 years should be celebrated. Software that is still just as relevant after 20 years is extraordinary. If VideoLAN were a startup, it'd be a unicorn. VLC (and ffmpeg) are nearly singlehandedly keeping the world's media accessible. Otherwise, video would probably be a walled garden (subscribe to Adobe Cloud, share to Youtube, etc.).
- Bakary 6y ago>If VideoLAN were a startup, it'd be a unicorn. Isn't VLC useful precisely because the interests of the devs and users are aligned? If it were a startup, they would have had to ruin it to continue
- M2Ys4U 6y ago>If VideoLAN were a startup, it'd be a unicorn. If it were a startup it would have been run in to the ground by VCs in the name of growth-or-die.
- HenryBemis 6y agoI remember 'back in the day' anytime I would set up a friends PC I would go and download the latest version of "K-Lite Codec Pack Mega". And one day a friend told me about VLC and it changed my life (from a media-player standpoint). Thank you VLC!!
- kreeben 6y agoBut don't pick the latest Codec Mega Pack for there are bugs. Pick the version that you read on a forum works almost perfectly. It's the one prior to the one that's prior to the absolutely newest one. THAT one! Also download your preferred MKV codec, because it's not included in the mega pack. Because it's not a codec. VLC, you saved most of my sanity. Whatever was left. Thank you.
- ethbr0 6y agoLet's be honest here about our youths (or current lives): if we weren't consuming media compressed by hand tuned, artisanal release groups, things probably wouldn't be as hard. To use a firearms metaphor -- when you're looking for the performance optimizations of wildcat rounds, don't expect to be able to buy at Walmart.
- Moru 6y agoHave you tried playing a plain normal Blueray on windows without VLC?
- thaumasiotes 6y ago> Or I can spend 30 seconds installing VLC and be 100% confident that it'll handle anything I throw at it. I have a bunch of video files that VLC used to play with no problems. But it can't anymore. I use mpv now.
- mrec 6y agoReally? What format were they in?
- acct776 6y agoAwful story without that detail.
- thaumasiotes 6y agoWhy? What would knowing the format contribute?
- drdeadringer 6y agoI gave up using anything other than VLC long before you did. [I'm not trying to play a trump card here, I'm saying you had a lot more patience on this than I did]. What did me in was realizing the insanity of installing the "Gordian Knot Codec Pack" (or whatever it was called back then) every time I refreshed my OS ... and hoping it would work. That did work for a little while until the traffic cone finally opened my eyes and I never looked back.
- ConceptJunkie 6y ago25 years ago, or so, Microsoft introduced the Windows Media Player, and it was impressive, because before that you needed a different player for every format. WMP went through a number of mutations, some better, some worse, but for the last 10 years or so, I've found it to be pretty useless. It fails on the most common formats, like you've described. Sometimes it's hard to find something it _will_ play. VLC is my media player of choice. It. Just. Works.
- birdman3131 6y agoWent to play a mkv file and it wanted me to pay $1.99 for a codec. I had and prefer vlc but I'm also lazy. Unless given a reason I was not gonna switch my default program. That was reason enough.
- dagw 6y agoset up a Win10 box recently and was kind of stunned to find that the built-in Media Player is now b0rked to the extent that it can't play media. Weird. I've basically ended up only using the Win10 default media player since it handles basically everything I throw at it with at least as good performance as VLC, even on a pretty low power Surface Pro.