Video Codecs are the next DLL Hell

[James Fee]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://msmvps.com/chrisl/archive/2005/01/27/34039.aspx' target='_blank'>http://msmvps.com/chrisl/archive/2005/01/27/34039.aspx</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Alright, I know more then the average person when it comes to audio and video decoding. That's a problem! The average person on the web searches there favorite search engine for “codec” and will mainly get a bunch of crappy sites offering pirated and hacked codec downloads. These Codec Packs, as some refer to them, are hell on your PC. They will install a number of codec's that you don't need or want. However, many people think it's the more the merrier type of thing here. The truth is far from this! Taking MCE PC's for example, the MPEG-2/DVD decoder is a rather large part of it working or not. Most “Codec Packs” include at least one (and it some cases up to 4) MPEG-2 decoders. Okay, that is a huge problem for anyone running Media Center. You now have a number of codec's that are basically wanting to decode the video, and only one can win for it to take place."</i><br /><br />Why is this so difficult and it is getting worse by the day. Every company has their own proprietary codecs that they think are the best. Consumers are left holding the bag trying to choose. What is also interesting (via comments on Chris' blog) is the reasons why Microsoft won't include an MPEG-2 codec in the box is royalties. Excuse me? Microsoft MUST include the MPEG-2 codec by default on MCE 2005. People blame only one company, Microsoft when things go wrong. OEMs don't always do what is in the best interest of the platform (MCE 2005) and focus on their little product. <br /><br />I almost see parallels with Windows Mobile OEM and Microsoft. People are quick to blame Microsoft for the lack of updates or why WMP10 is not available on their 6 month old PDA. Microsoft needs to step forward here and solve this problem or MCE will never be more than a niche product.

[jeffd]

Alot of us seasoned users are allways telling the noobs to stay away from these packs, and thats just for regular PCs. These multie media boxs use special decoder cards, especialy for mpeg2. I can only imagin the HELL one of these packs can unleash on such a setup.

Since my movie box dosnt have a compatable video card for the Multimedia edition of xp, I was unable to play with it (Even though being a geforce2 video card, it contains most of the required abilities of a MCE box except for video capture. Go figure). Anyone try out FFDShow on one? FFDShow owns now that it is a one stop free solition for most audio and video decoding needs (finally a free mp3 decoder, you know how long I had to hold onto my divx 3.11 directory so I could install it with its illegal mp3 codec?). Also its filters allow you to make the video output even better. I just have no idea how it will react on the hardware decoder boards used in MCE boxs.

[Jason Dunn]

Good article, and so very true. I was STUNNED at how easy it was to shatter the spine of MCE 2005 - one bad codec and the whole thing tumbled down like a stack of cards. :roll:

[RWC_Zippy]

Alot of us seasoned users are allways telling the noobs to stay away from these packs, and thats just for regular PCs. These multie media boxs use special decoder cards, especialy for mpeg2. I can only imagin the HELL one of these packs can unleash on such a setup.

hmmm... I guess as the saying goes, "you don't know what you don't know" ! I have definitely done this before... couldn't decode some .ape files so I googled the codec and installed the DLL. It worked just fine but I never considered that it could be messing with other codecs on my system (think "doesn't play well with others...")

I will have to be much more careful by the sounds of it!

:n00b: &lt;- I definitely deserve this after reading this post! :mrgreen: