drbuzz0
15th November 2008, 03:30
For the last few years I've been using Media Player Classic and FFDShow for my primary general purpose video playback purposes on my Windows XP PC. I recently got a nifty Jog dial which I had hoped to use for quicker seeking in media files, but there's a weird problem: Media Player Classic seems to be able to play some files fast and others it cannot.
What I've noticed is that some video files are limited to being played back at up to 2x original speed, but others can be played back at 4x or occasionally more. I thought this must have something to do with the codec not supporting that but I checked and strangly, sometimes the same media format and coded seems to have different playback options for speed. For example, I have some video files which I encoded a long while back as DivX 3 with Mp3 Audio at a constant bitrate of 128 kbps. I can play these back at 1x, 2x or 4x. However, I have some other video files, also Divx 3 with Mp3 audio that will playback at 2x but not 4x
There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to this unless it has something to do with how the file was encoded like how often the key frames are or what the motion threshold is or something. It's very strange.
WMV files won't fast forward or slow down at all, which I suppose is to be expected given that they're proprietary and generally a bitch for doing anything with.
BTW: All these video files can, without exception, be played back at a variety of speeds with VLC player. VLC can play them back at 2X, 4X, 8X, .5X, .25X all no problem. It can do it for the WMV files too.
I suppose the obvious question would be why don't I switch to VLC? I happen to like MPC a lot to begin with and I like the FFDshow package and the amount of options and controls it has. VLC doesn't allow you to use directshow filters like that and doesn't give the same level of options for deblocking or other post processing options.
I'm just wondering what limits the speed of playback on MPC. Is it the decode filter? Or maybe the maping of the audio output?
I'd be very eager to find any work arounds to allow me to use the jog dial for quick naviation in MPC.
BTW: The Jog dial is a Shuttle Contour. For editing and navigating videos it's SWEET. Highly recommended. Really beats mouse clicks.
What I've noticed is that some video files are limited to being played back at up to 2x original speed, but others can be played back at 4x or occasionally more. I thought this must have something to do with the codec not supporting that but I checked and strangly, sometimes the same media format and coded seems to have different playback options for speed. For example, I have some video files which I encoded a long while back as DivX 3 with Mp3 Audio at a constant bitrate of 128 kbps. I can play these back at 1x, 2x or 4x. However, I have some other video files, also Divx 3 with Mp3 audio that will playback at 2x but not 4x
There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to this unless it has something to do with how the file was encoded like how often the key frames are or what the motion threshold is or something. It's very strange.
WMV files won't fast forward or slow down at all, which I suppose is to be expected given that they're proprietary and generally a bitch for doing anything with.
BTW: All these video files can, without exception, be played back at a variety of speeds with VLC player. VLC can play them back at 2X, 4X, 8X, .5X, .25X all no problem. It can do it for the WMV files too.
I suppose the obvious question would be why don't I switch to VLC? I happen to like MPC a lot to begin with and I like the FFDshow package and the amount of options and controls it has. VLC doesn't allow you to use directshow filters like that and doesn't give the same level of options for deblocking or other post processing options.
I'm just wondering what limits the speed of playback on MPC. Is it the decode filter? Or maybe the maping of the audio output?
I'd be very eager to find any work arounds to allow me to use the jog dial for quick naviation in MPC.
BTW: The Jog dial is a Shuttle Contour. For editing and navigating videos it's SWEET. Highly recommended. Really beats mouse clicks.