~~NOTICE~~ THIS NO LONGER WORKS. JUST GO AND USE VLC ~~NOTICE~~

So If you have Installed / Upgraded to Windows 10 lately you may have noticed something missing if you use the HEVC codec. That is Micro$oft now charges you $0.99 (£0.75) to download it and use it. Now you could just go and download a codec pack or VLC but if you want to use the inbuilt app well you just have to fork over the small amount of cash for the codec... or do you?

There is infact a free version of this codec on the M$ store that isn't indexed and can't be found searching the store that is intended for device manufacturers. Simply click the link below and install and you're done. No checks no need to pay even a penny.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/hevc-video-extensions-from-device-manufacturer/9n4wgh0z6vhq?ocid=AID2000142_aff_7593_1243925&tduid=(ir__02rflafsmkkfr3k2kk0sohzixu2xjdfqa6zwikxi00)(7593)(1243925)(je6NUbpObpQ-uL4uIKqHwliA9qY_wtd37A)()&ranMID=24542&ranEAID=je6NUbpObpQ&ranSiteID=je6NUbpObpQ-uL4uIKqHwliA9qY_wtd37A&epi=je6NUbpObpQ-uL4uIKqHwliA9qY_wtd37A&irgwc=1&irclickid=_02rflafsmkkfr3k2kk0sohzixu2xjdfqa6zwikxi00&activetab=pivot:overviewtab

Edit:: Bit.ly link keeps being deleted :>

 

[osaka35]

VLC, MPC, SMPlayer, whatever works for you works for you. I use VLC since it's easy to install on any installation, on account of Ninite. Plus, I know all the shortcuts, what settings to change to fit my needs, and it hasn't hampered my workflow. Didn't have good experiences with MPC, but that was back in the day.

And really, windows 10+blackbird+ninite(classic start) and windows 10 is fine. Plus, you can always use something like ntlite or winreducer and trim out some of the fat.

I remember the old days of codec packs wars and whatnot. Didn't think it mattered overly much now, unless you had a specific need of a certain one for some project.

Thanks for the link! Hopefully it sticks around for a while. Odd they started charging for this though....

 

[FoxMcloud5655]

I use both MPC and VLC. Don't really understand why there's such hate for the other side since both work flawlessly.

It's stupid that M$ is charging for this when it's available totally free in the same store... Thanks for the link.

 

[Jayro]

I don't care if VLC is "ugly", it gets the job done without any useless bullshit. Now my only beef with VLC is that they need to make the disc playback support a bit more user-friendly and intuitive. I still resort to ripping the BD to HDD/SSD, then watching it... or installing the latest pirated version of PowerDVD.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

It stutters, frequently plays videos as if they're corrupted (whole screen artifacts), and is minimally aesthetic. Mpc is beautiful, has great and intuitive interface, and excellent performance. Unfortunately I have to use vlc on my Debian laptop because mpc is only for windows. My desktop has both Debian and windows, and vlc glitches for both for whatever reason. I used vlc back in the day, but once I found klite I've never looked back.

You can use MPV, it seems popular, though the interface is kinda basic.
Honestly sounds like an issue with your PC rather than with VLC. Never had issues like that on the 5+ different PCs I've used VLC on, ranging from old to new.

MadVR is one good reason to use MPC-HC, I suppose. Seems to be the way to go if you want the best image quality possible. But apart from that it's more of a hassle to set up compared to VLC; for little gain, at least in my experience. I did recently install MPC-HC again on my media PC as I needed DTS->AC3 conversion which I didn't see a setting for in VLC nor in Kodi, and I know AC3Filter has that feature. My stupid "smart" TV won't passthrough DTS to my speakers even though my speakers support it fine so I'm stuck using the inferior codec. Not that I can tell any difference in the audio quality. I could plug the speakers directly into the media PC but I think it only has an optical output and the only optical cable I have is pretty short. Damn things are expensive. Surprising really considering they should be pretty cheap to make.
But if I didn't need it for a particular purpose, I'd be fine just sticking to VLC and Kodi for the rest of my life. Doubt my media PC is powerful enough to handle MadVR anyway.
But understandably, if VLC doesn't work correctly for you, you don't keep using it when there are alternatives that work. No one would.

 

[IncredulousP]

You can use MPV, it seems popular, though the interface is kinda basic.
Honestly sounds like an issue with your PC rather than with VLC. Never had issues like that on the 5+ different PCs I've used VLC on, ranging from old to new.

MadVR is one good reason to use MPC-HC, I suppose. Seems to be the way to go if you want the best image quality possible. But apart from that it's more of a hassle to set up compared to VLC; for little gain, at least in my experience. I did recently install MPC-HC again on my media PC as I needed DTS->AC3 conversion which I didn't see a setting for in VLC nor in Kodi, and I know AC3Filter has that feature. My stupid "smart" TV won't passthrough DTS to my speakers even though my speakers support it fine so I'm stuck using the inferior codec. Not that I can tell any difference in the audio quality. I could plug the speakers directly into the media PC but I think it only has an optical output and the only optical cable I have is pretty short. Damn things are expensive. Surprising really considering they should be pretty cheap to make.
But if I didn't need it for a particular purpose, I'd be fine just sticking to VLC and Kodi for the rest of my life. Doubt my media PC is powerful enough to handle MadVR anyway.
But understandably, if VLC doesn't work correctly for you, you don't keep using it when there are alternatives that work. No one would.

My guess is the video doesn't buffer quick enough so it corrupts the display of the video every couple seconds. I know there's lots of buffering options in vlc and I've done some tweaking, but I haven't been able to remedy the issue. It happens on high-quality videos, and I don't have the issue in mpc, so I assume it's the way vlc buffers I/O

 

[The Real Jdbye]

My guess is the video doesn't buffer quick enough so it corrupts the display of the video every couple seconds. I know there's lots of buffering options in vlc and I've done some tweaking, but I haven't been able to remedy the issue. It happens on high-quality videos, and I don't have the issue in mpc, so I assume it's the way vlc buffers I/O

I know what you mean, I have those occasionally, but generally that only happens when I'm playing media off an external device (streaming, or playing them off my NAS) and it is extremely infrequent. Definitely shouldn't be happening all the time, unless something is hogging all your HDD I/O (you can check that in Task Manager)

 

[IncredulousP]

I know what you mean, I have those occasionally, but generally that only happens when I'm playing media off an external device (streaming, or playing them off my NAS) and it is extremely infrequent. Definitely shouldn't be happening all the time, unless something is hogging all your HDD I/O (you can check that in Task Manager)

Hm good to know, I'll have to take a look at the disk usage next time.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Hm good to know, I'll have to take a look at the disk usage next time.

I haven't really tried 10 bit video or 4K though (don't have a monitor capable of displaying those extra bits so what's the point) so if that's what you're having issues with, guess I might too if I actually tried it out. But I do usually pick the larger sized releases, which can be like 20GB for a movie. Also not tried HEVC too much but did try it once (can't recall if it was in VLC or Kodi, but it played fine)