Why is MPC:HC playing so slowly compared to VLC?

[Cyber Akuma]

Pentium 3 1.13ghz
1GB PC133 SDRAM
AGP Sapphire Radeon 9600PRO

Yes I know my computer is old, but the thing is these videos played just fine before!

I recently upgraded from Windows 2000 to Windows XP, my 2k install was a mess, years old, tons of junkware and glitched files, dozens of codecs, misconfigured codecs, codecs that failed to install, etc etc etc.

I did a clean install of XP, and installed realplayer alternative, quicktime alternative, the latest Media Player Classic Home Cinema, ffdshow, Haali's splitter, and Koepi's Xvid binaries (for encoding only).

Essentially, this should mean ffdshow is handling all of my MPC:HC codecs right?

And VLC uses it's internal version of the same decoder that ffdshow uses right?

Why then does VLC play videos just fine, but MPC:HC is choking on many videos that I encoded on this very system and played perfectly fine years ago? They played in MPC/MPC:HC just fine before I upgraded to XP. Any ideas what could be causing this? Or how I can try to find out what is causing it? And how I can FIX it?

I have MPC:HC set to VMR9 renderless, which is what I was using before. I found that it only plays decently if I set it to Overlay Mixer..... barely, but this disables subtitles and a slew of other features.

MPC:HC shows clear 100% cpu usage, even in overlay mixer mode, VLC uses about 33% for the same videos.

I am also using the drivers provided by Windows Update, don't know if that matters. I tried installing the drivers from ATI's site, but that caused directx8 and directx9 tests to fail in dxdiag for some reason with the error "out of memory".

I don't like VLC and it can't play some of my videos, which is why I want to use MPC:HC instead.

Also, all the videos are of various different codecs and containers, so it dosen't seem like it could be a codec problem.

Yeah, some very very low resolution and bitrate videos play ok, but anything that isn't postage stamp sized does not.

Again, I would like to stress that these videos played fine before when MPC:HC was set to VMR9 Renderless before I upgraded from Win2k to XP before you just blame it on my old system and say that there is nothing I can do.

[Lincoln Burrows]

I hope you are not trying to play HD videos.

Have you tried to install the codec pack (Mega) from www.codecguide.com ?

[Inspector.Gadget]

If he already has the listed programs installed, he doesn't need a codec pack. Try using driversweeper to wipe out your existing graphics drivers and install the latest from your OEM. Make sure your BIOS is up to date, do a round of memtest86, etc. Also make sure you're not inadvertently using heavy postprocessing in ffdshow and keep an eye on the filters that are actually loaded.

I am also using the drivers provided by Windows Update, don't know if that matters.

I've had broken drivers from Windows Update on numerous occasions, albeit on NVIDIA.

[blah789]

Actually that's because it's relying on QuickTime's decoder (it's bundled with QuickTime Alternative).
Go view, options, player, formats. On the line QuickTime File (mov 3gp 3g2), on the right you'll see QuickTime. Click on QuickTime and set it to DirectShow.
There are some downsides to this. If MPC finds a QuickTime file with a codec it can't handle (anything other than H.264, Sorenson 1/3, MPEG-4, H.263), it won't play it (for example RPZA, Photo JPEG, and many more). If it was set to QuickTime, it'll use the QuickTime codecs (including the superslow Apple H.264 decoder).
The other downside is it'll try to decode 3gp files internally without QuickTime. If your 3gp file is in H.263 or has samr audio, MPC won't be able to play it. The fix for this second problem is to simply change the file associations on the line where it says .mov .3gp .3g2 (change it to .mov only, then click set).

Much thanks to CLSID for pointing out the solution two days ago.
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=151075

[DigitalDeviant]

MPC-HC has internal decoders as wll so you may want to make sure those are disabled if you want to use ffdshow. Also, make sure ffdshow isn't doing any RGB conversion.

[tetsuo55]

I am also using the drivers provided by Windows Update, don't know if that matters. I tried installing the drivers from ATI's site, but that caused directx8 and directx9 tests to fail in dxdiag for some reason with the error "out of memory".
try the MPC-HC troubleshooting guide, your probably missing some stuff that does not come over windows update (you will also need to update .net if windows update did not do it for you due to being an ATI user)

[Cyber Akuma]

I hope you are not trying to play HD videos.

Nope, i'm well aware its not capable of playing HD video.

Many of these are videos that played fine before on my Win2k install.

Try using driversweeper to wipe out your existing graphics drivers and install the latest from your OEM. Make sure your BIOS is up to date, do a round of memtest86, etc. Also make sure you're not inadvertently using heavy postprocessing in ffdshow and keep an eye on the filters that are actually loaded.

Thanks. i'll try drivesweeper, would CCleaner also be a good one to use?

I checked, this bios (which is several years old) is the latest for my motherboard.

There is no OEM because I am the one who built this pc years ago.... and attempting to install ATI's video drivers just simply broke everything. DirectX8, DirectX9 both would fail their tests in dxdiag and 3D games would no longer render any visuals. I'm trying to get that problem fixed too, because I suspect it might be related:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1035000267

All the checkboxes for everything under decoder settings in ffdshow, including postprocessing, are unchecked.

As for the filters being loaded:

Only two options seem to change:

Default DirectSound Device
Video Mixing Render 9 (Renderless)
Audio Switcher
MPC Video Decoder
AAC Decoder
(filename)

Its almost always MPC Video Decover (does this mean MPC is ignoring me and using it's own internal decoder?) but i've seen the audio decoder be replaced with MPEG-1 Decoder many times.

Actually that's because it's relying on QuickTime's decoder (it's bundled with QuickTime Alternative).
Go view, options, player, formats. On the line QuickTime File (mov 3gp 3g2), on the right you'll see QuickTime. Click on QuickTime and set it to DirectShow.

Will this only affect Quicktime files of the extension .mov, .3gp, or .3g2 though? The files i have been trying to play are mostly avi, mp4, wmv, and mpeg.

MPC-HC has internal decoders as wll so you may want to make sure those are disabled if you want to use ffdshow. Also, make sure ffdshow isn't doing any RGB conversion.

Hmm, is there any way to turn them all off so MPC dosen't rely on it's own decoders or do I have to turn them each off one by one?

This is the column on the RIGHT side when you go to the "Internal Filters" option right? The one called Transform Filters? Should I just uncheck them all?

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By the way, the CPU usage in MPC is kinda crazy, its ALWAYS at 100% when playing a video, even when I manage to get a video to actually play sometimes by trying different settings, its still at 100%, by contrast VLC uses about 33% of my CPU for the same video. Why is this?

[clsid]

Yes, the QuickTime stuff only affects .mov/.3g2/.3gp2. So that isn't the problem.

Overlay is recommended on XP. DirectVobSub can be used for the subtitles.

You are currently using the internal decoders of MPC. You can disable them in:
MPC options -> Internal filters -> Transform filters

[roozhou]

Try Overlay Mixer instead of VMR9.

[Cyber Akuma]

I set it to overlay mixer and disabled ALL internal filters, its STILL using up 100% cpu on videos that take 33% in VLC.

[blah789]

do a quick test: put your QuickTime folder (from Program Files) into the recycle bin for a moment, then play the file and monitor CPU usage.
when done, restore the quicktime folder.

[clsid]

That would be pointless, since the problem also occurs with AVI and WMV files, stuff completely unrelated to QuickTime.

[DigitalDeviant]

Make sure ffdshow is being used, either by the tray icon or right click the video window and look under 'filters'. If it is check and see if ffdshow doesn't have some postprocessing filter turned on and that it's not doing any rgb conversion.

[Cyber Akuma]

Make sure ffdshow is being used, either by the tray icon or right click the video window and look under 'filters'. If it is check and see if ffdshow doesn't have some postprocessing filter turned on and that it's not doing any rgb conversion.

ffdshow is doing both the audio and video decoding, and postprocesing is unchecked in ffdshow's decoder settings.