Is ffdshow the best codec?

[zepking]

I've been using it for a while...it seems to be able to play almost anything...even some old divx 3 stuff I have. Is there anything better than it though?

Also...it has taken over as my default mp3 codec. Is it the best mp3 codec or should I use something else as the default?
Thank you very much for all of your expertise advice in advance.

[Sirber]

12) How NOT to post on this forum:

5 minutes after your initial post you reply to your own post writing something like "Why is nobody helping me? I'm sure you know the answer". Once somebody replies to your thread but doesn't give you exactly the answer you've been expecting you insult them.

Do not ask "what's best" because this question cannot be answered objectively. Each and everyone has their own view about what's best in a certain area. The best is what works best for you!

It's best not to against the rules ;)

[clsid]

If it works as it should, how can something else be better? Or, rather why do you need/want something else?

[cc979]

'best' is subjective like everybody has an opinion, i find testing everything i can then use my eyes,ears testing with haali's 'timecode' for speed part (or other means) and draw my own conclusion

if it works it works and don't worry about it ...

[zepking]

"how can something else be better? Or, rather why do you need/want something else?"

Well....for starters...whenever I'm playing anything that uses the ffdshow codec...it puts itself in the systray.

Yes...best cannot be answered objectively, but each of you probably has an opinion of what you think is best. I would like to hear that opinion from some of you. It could only help me find something "better"....

opinions are ok to give. I'm not afraid to hear some of them.

[clsid]

Then go into the options and disable the systray icon. It's under "Tray, dialog & paths".

[cc979]

most codecs will over quality if you feed it the right source (you can't polish a turd..pardon the pun) and enough resolution and bitrate it needs to do the job, x264/xvid seems popular and have a play

[KoD]

most codecs will over quality if you feed it the right source (you can't polish a turd..pardon the pun)

It's also known as "crap in - crap out".

[Doobie]

I've been using it for a while...it seems to be able to play almost anything...even some old divx 3 stuff I have. Is there anything better than it though?

Better? Are you having any problems with ffdshow? I have no complaints and cannot recommend anything better. As others have already pointed to, what really matters is the quality of stuff you're feeding ffdshow.

[gameplaya15143]

I prefer to use l3codecx.ax v1.9 to decode mp3 in my videos.

Why... when using ffdshow for mp3 (both mpg123 and mad).. when seeking there are audible sync errors, which often would result in audio/video de-sync (using the default MS avi parser).

l3codecx.ax v1.5 comes with all versions of windows (not vista afaik), but that one has decoding 'issues'. v1.9 has none so far as I am aware.

For video, I use ffdshow for very few codecs (only the ones I don't have the 'official' decoders for), but I do use it for raw video (same for the audio decoder as well, I like to have access to all the effects filters :) )