Tool for changing preferred DirectShow filters in Windows 7

[Zillion_]

You have written some unneeded steps:
1) The tool already takes care of (temporarily) changing the ownership and access rights of the registry key.
2) Default settings can be restored by simply setting everything back to "Microsoft". A backup of the key is thus not really needed. A "reset to default" button will be implemented in the near future to quickly reset things.

Also, I don't understand what you mean with "bad keys". Please elaborate about what is wrong. Those values are only changed when a user selects the related opti on.

Also what is the error you mentioned on x86?

1) it's still necessary, you need ownership to remove the "bad keys".
2) just to make sure.
3) the "bad keys": I have explained what they do. They may already be present, but your tool re-writes them there when selecting the options mentioned in the article.
I've tested it all pretty thoroughly (for DivX, XviD and MKV files anyway, with either MP3 or AC3 audio).
Examples are in the Troubleshooting section: e.g. if you see the DivX decoder TWICE in the DirectVobSub menu (e.g. "DivX Decoder Filter" and "DivX Decoder 003"), you've left some of the "bad keys" in the Preferred DirectShow Codecs. See above. If nothing else helps, repeat the procedure but first delete everything under the "Preferred key" (make sure you've backed it up before !).

[Zillion_]

Also what is the error you mentioned on x86?

Well, the error that it can't write to the x64 registry keys or something like that (someone else told you about this before)

[clsid]

The keys names are just media types and the values and identifiers of the decoders. There is absolutely nothing wrong or bad about them.

It may be true that they give some weird behavior in your testing, but that is not the fault of the keys, but rather of the player or perhaps the DivX filters. If we can figure out the exact cause of the problem, then I can take action to prevent those problems. Just blindly removing stuff is a bad idea (and will break playback when using other filters).

Can you reproduce the same problems with other decoders than the DivX ones? For example ffdshow.

{44495658-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71} equals FourCC "XVID" (capital letters)
{31435641-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71} equals FourCC "AVC1"
{5634504D-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71} equals FourCC "MP4V"
and
{64697678-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71} equals FourCC "xvid"

[Zillion_]

I've just done a new test install (under VM) to check that I didn't skip, or forget to document, any steps in my guide.
Here's the whole "basic" thing (some nice-to-haves have been skipped):

start with a standard Windows 7 installation
Disable User Account Control
Start Media Player once (configuration)
Open an XviD or DivX file - plays fine, no subs. MKV: not recognized.
Install DivX7, without its MKV splitter
DivX Config: full deblocking with sharpening
Open a DivX or XviD file: DivX icon doesn't appear in Systray
Install GSpot and configure it
Open XviD/DivX file in GSpot, analyze in MS A/V: Mpeg4s DMO and MP3 Decoder DMO are used
Install AutoGK 2.55 (all defaults: including AviSynth, XviD, VobSub...)
Upgrade DVobSub/VSFilter to v2.39
Open a DivX/XviD file that has a matching SRT in GSpot
Analyze in GSpot
DirectVobSub loads when GSpot renders
In Media Player: doesn't load (WMP isn't using DivX or DVobSub at all)
Install Haali Splitter. Leave all defaults during install.
Double-click .MKV file: unrecognized
Create & run .REG file to register MKV filetype
Double-click .MKV file again
Confirm and select "don't ask me again" when WMP warns about playing the file format
File plays, with subs from DVobSub (green arrow and haali icon visible in systray)
Install a recent ffdshow build (e.g. rev 3078 CLSID :-) )
Let "Reset all ffdshow settings" enabled
Disable the "Decode video formats" checkbox
Enable "Raw Video"
Disable "Decode audio formats"
Enable "MP3" with libmad or libavcodec
Enable Raw Audio
Enable Volume Normalization
Run Audio Config
Hide all filters except Volume
Enable Stream Switcher
In "Output", set "Connect To:" to "DirectSound", AND disable "Apply only to S/PDIF output", then click OK
Run Video Config
In "Codecs", click on "Raw Video", enable "Enable in WMP 11"
Hide all filters, click OK
Open your video file (same as above) in GSpot, analyze it with "MS A/V"
ffdshow video is loaded after Mpeg4s DMO, and ffdshow audio is loaded after MP3 Decoder DMO; DirectVobSub loads after ffdshow video. that's ok for now.
Double-click the same video: WMP doesn't use any of this (expected).
Start WinDSFilterTweaker 1.7
Note that ffdshow doesn't appear in the choices for H.264/AVC, XVID or DIVX (on some configurations, it does ! Maybe a problem with recent ffdshow builds ?). Enabled "DivX" as the default for all video codecs that have it, and enable ffdshow as the MP3 decoder.
Click apply. Runtime Error appears re. 64-bit registry keys: ignore it, click OK. Click Apply again, click Yes twice.
Analyze your video in GSpot again: now the whole path should be correct:
video: src -> avi splitter -> divx decoder -> ffdshow decoder -> directvobsub -> video renderer
audio: srv -> avi splitter -> ffdshow audio decoder -> default directsound device.
Click the "2" button to actually play the file
Double-click the same file: WMP still doesn't use any of this !
DMO DLL trick: go to windows\system32, locate DSDMO.DLL, Take Ownership, rename it (e.g. DSDMO.DLL.W7).
Double-click the file again: still no change
Back to System32, do as above for MP3DMOD.DLL
Double-click the file again: WMP is still going with Media Foundation
Restart your computer
Double-click the file again: WMP blocks. A thumbnail for the video may appear on the top left of your screen, in the small WMP window, if you've got "season folders" with posters set up (e.g. as done by & for MediaBrowser and MetaBrowser).
DirectVobSub systray icon (green arrow) appears, and ffdshow audio decoder (blue) is there, but NO! the ffdshow video decoder icon (red) is missing.
This is where the "Preferred" registry key, and what I've called the "bad keys", come into play. Three of the "media types / codec" combos under the "Preferred" DirectShow registry key need to be deleted (see Guide). Don't forget to take ownership of the "Preferred" registry key !
After that, double-click your test file again: YES ! it plays, ffdshow audio and video are loaded, and so are DivXSM and DirectVobSub/VSFilter.
Make sure the DivXSM and FFDSHOW Audio systray icons are always displayed in the systray (you can do "Customize notification icons", but it's a lot quicker to drag & drop the icons from the "popup" icon area to the systray).
NOTE: if you see the picture twice & upside down, disable "Deinterlacing" in the DivX decoder configuration tool. Your hardware can't take it or isn't compatible.
Right-click the DirectVobSub icon to verify which filters & codecs are being used: ffdshow audio is there indeed, but not the ffdshow video.(Note: if the ffdshow audio decoder appears twice, and sound is gibberish, you didn't configure ffdshow audio decoder properly: see above)
Double-click the DirectVobSub system tray icon. Doubled Resolution, always load, and change the font if you wish. PAR compensation: downscale (in most cases).
Install MediaInfo. Enable the Shell Info Tip and the Shell Extension.
Install the AC3 Filter.
Now test an MKV file: everything should be fine, you'll also see the Haali and AC3Filter icons in the system tray.


DONE !

[Zillion_]

Can you reproduce the same problems with other decoders than the DivX ones? For example ffdshow.


mm I guess I could try with XviD, but not with ffdshow -- well that won't have the problem. The problem occurs when the video stream goes BOTH through a codec first, then is passed through ffdshow before going to the renderer.

Why ? See Guide: MediaControl "MUST" work. So the video and audio feeds must go through ffdshow, so mediacontrol can... well, "control" them (e.g. ffw / rew, switching audio streams...). I don't want to use ffdshow to do the actual video decoding work, because the quality is inferior compared to Divx7 with full deblocking + sharpening.

[Zillion_]

I guess I'm gonna rewrite the beginning of the guide to clearly state what the goals are, and why certain decisions were made, e.g. "why not just ffdshow" or "why bother with having both DivX and ffdshow"...

I anybody knows another way than MediaControl to enable ffw / rew + audio switching + sub switching in MediaCenter (a way that possibly doesn't require ffdshow or directvobsub/vsfilter, or even one that works through Media Foundation) I'll be very happy to try it out.

I'm still setting up my rig to start testing with CoreAVC, by the way.

[clsid]

Note that ffdshow doesn't appear in the choices for H.264/AVC, XVID or DIVX (on some configurations, it does ! Maybe a problem with recent ffdshow builds ?). Enabled "DivX" as the default for all video codecs that have it, and enable ffdshow as the MP3 decoder.It only appears when said formats are enabled in ffdshow settings ;)

[BetaBoy]

I guess I'm gonna rewrite the beginning of the guide to clearly state what the goals are, and why certain decisions were made, e.g. "why not just ffdshow" or "why bother with having both DivX and ffdshow"...

I anybody knows another way than MediaControl to enable ffw / rew + audio switching + sub switching in MediaCenter (a way that possibly doesn't require ffdshow or directvobsub/vsfilter, or even one that works through Media Foundation) I'll be very happy to try it out.

I'm still setting up my rig to start testing with CoreAVC, by the way.

LMK and I'll send you and COMP copy as well (of CoreAVC that is)

[Zillion_]

LMK and I'll send you and COMP copy as well (of CoreAVC that is)

That'd be great, thx ! Send you a msg through msn.

[Joniii]

Anyone figured out yet how to play .m2ts files with haali+ffdshow?

Renaming mfds.dll makes haali load with .m2ts files instead of mf splitter but ffdshow is not used in h.264 or mpeg-2.

[Shark007]

Originally Posted by betaking
Originally Posted by Shark007
I may be an idiot in your shallow view of what peoples needs are when it comes to a bundle of filters to install but at least I'm not the INSANE PERSON behind the K-lite fiasco that has caused more formatted partitions than any other blunder known to the 8086 architechture.

I have replicated nothing. I have looked at your tool and it falls short in many instances.
It leaves the registry open to hackers by unlocking keys and leaving them in that state.

My users demand more. They need the security and peace of mind that Microsoft intended for thier systems. My implementation of filter swapping goes way beyond the functionality of your simple hackjob. My users are able to re-lock the keys and return ownership to the TrustedInstaller either by a system Administrator who adjusted the settings in the 1st place or by simply uninstalling my software.

You probably should consider replicating the functionality my software offers (like K-lite does).
I'll look forward to it in some future release of yours.


According to the agreement is that they can not be used for commercial purposes on!

OT, but your opinion is noted.

Deliberate fail to quote properly to spread lies one more time?

Well, if CLSID's tool can take the ownership of the "TrustedInstaller" registry keys and modify values in those keys, then an evil hacker could do the same thing anyway :sly:

Someone recently informed me that you have corrected your oversite with the unlocking of the registry keys. Obviously you found my concern relevent enough to change the tools behavior but no where have you posted a changlog stating so.

[foxyshadis]

Yes, Shark, he 'corrected' it by never having it wrong in the first place. Your whole first post was wrong, and your continued insistence on reposting it constitutes harassment and advertisement. Stop posting it.

[Brazil2]

@ clsid

May I suggest you to update your first post when a new version is out ?

[scottsdaleBallroom]

Thanks clsid! I think this will help me out.. Thanks for sharing it.

[XhmikosR]

Hi, clsid. I get the following error with v1.8 on Win 7 32bit RTM.

http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/9774/10102009004128.png

After closing the error window, if I press "Apply" again I get the message that the changes have been applied is shown.

[clsid]

Fixed

[Lolitka]

Hello,

i have tried latest version of your switcher, but i don't get ffdshow to load in WMP. It loads when i tried to look what filters load graphedit64.

Is this bug, or there is still no way to force WMP to use ffdshow insted of default "Mpeg4s Decoder DMO".


BTW what acronym "DMO" means? :)

[Snowknight26]

Make sure you're using the 64-bit WMP.

DMO = DirectX Media Object.

[Lolitka]

I'm sure i using 64bit wmp - there is no *32 in taskmanager and 64bit vobsub tries to load.

[clsid]

I suspect you are playing a video format other than the ones controlled by the tool. Please supply MediaInfo output for that file.

[Lolitka]

I think it is standad xvid, but here you go: http://pastebin.com/f55c6bb45

EDIT: "fixed"

[thewebchat]

I don't know about it being "standard" or not, but I do know it's a rule 6 violation!

[ACrowley]

I cant see the Options for Arcsoft and Cyberlink VC1/H264 Decoders in the Tool ?
Also its not possible to reg. the clvc1dec.ax ?

[clsid]

Give more details about the filters that you want to use, such as the clsid values.

[Carpo]

Has anyone else had issues with this tool not working under windows 7 x64? It works fine under x86 windows 7 - i have the ffdshow icons in the tray, but when i run it on my x64 machine it says it has applied settings but still it uses windows own built in codecs.

If this is a known issue sorry for repeating it :)

[Scoty]

The Download ist very very slow. Where can add a Mirror please ?

[Leak]

The Download ist very very slow. Where can add a Mirror please ?
Wow, no kidding - Firefox was still listing "0 of unknown bytes (0.0 kb/sec)" after a minute when I just now tried downloading it... :(

np: El-P - Deep Space 9mm (Leak - Quer Durch Den Gemüsegarten Mix)

[DJ_Phatic]

I have noticed that audio output is lower in 7mc than using an external player (mpc-hc) with the exact same codec ffdshow and same settings, I have made sure it wasn't my ears and did a side-by-side comparison and the output from mpc-hc is clearer and higher than 7mc.

When right clicking on the ffdshow audio icon whilst playing something in 7mc I noticed "WMPlayer equalizer DMO" is listed but I am unable to click on it to change any settings. Any ideas how this change be removed/disabled from being used in 7mc?

[clsid]

This might work:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; WMPlayer equalizer DMO
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\NodeCLSIDs\{D01BC8E2-70AD-4976-9612-21B37ED5C8E8}]
"AutoInsert"=dword:00000000

[DJ_Phatic]

This might work:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; WMPlayer equalizer DMO
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MediaPlayer\NodeCLSIDs\{D01BC8E2-70AD-4976-9612-21B37ED5C8E8}]
"AutoInsert"=dword:00000000


Thanks, that removed WMPlayer equalizer DMO but the audio is still lower in 7mc in comparison to mpc-hc. :confused:

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Maybe you have the built-in "Audio Switcher" filter with Normalize and/or Regain enabled in MPC-HC?

[DJ_Phatic]

Maybe you have the built-in "Audio Switcher" filter with Normalize and/or Regain enabled in MPC-HC?

I did notice that the built-in audio switcher was enabled but I have since disabled it and the output is still louder than 7mc. Its not a massive difference but its easily noticable with dialogue, much more audible in mpc-hc than 7mc.

[jcoll81]

Has anyone else had issues with this tool not working under windows 7 x64? It works fine under x86 windows 7 - i have the ffdshow icons in the tray, but when i run it on my x64 machine it says it has applied settings but still it uses windows own built in codecs.

If this is a known issue sorry for repeating it :)

Im having the same problem.

[dimitrik]

It works perfectly on my x64 Win7 RC (7100).

Did you make sure you scrolled down into the tool and selected the 64-bit codecs? They are listed separately from the x86 ones.


Also if you want to use it in Media Center, I think you need to use the media center decoder utility available here (http://mediacenterexpert.blogspot.com/)

I'm not 100% sure about the last step because its been very long time since I last did it, but the tool definitely works in x64. To make your life easier you may just want to grab the K-lite codec pack x64 which includes the latest version of the tool.

[jcoll81]

I will definitely try the tool. My problem is that the x86 codecs are the only ones showing up. The only option for every 64bit codec is the default. Not sure what I need to do to correct that.

It works perfectly on my x64 Win7 RC (7100).

Did you make sure you scrolled down into the tool and selected the 64-bit codecs? They are listed separately from the x86 ones.


Also if you want to use it in Media Center, I think you need to use the media center decoder utility available here (http://mediacenterexpert.blogspot.com/)

I'm not 100% sure about the last step because its been very long time since I last did it, but the tool definitely works in x64. To make your life easier you may just want to grab the K-lite codec pack x64 which includes the latest version of the tool.

[clsid]

Install the appropriate 64-bit directshow filters. Options will only be shown for those filters that are installed.

[dimitrik]

On my x64 workstation I use only x64 codecs, which I install via K-Lite Codec Pack x64 version.

I used to have both x64 and x86 codecs installed but saw no point in the x86 ones especially since windows already has basic 32-bit codecs if needed, so I uninstalled them. Ffdshow x64 works in my media center decoding everything including DVDs.

However I still think the the 32-bit codecs are best for dedicated video machines.

[jcoll81]

Ok so part of the problem was that I had mistakenly downloaded the 32 bit k-lite pack. So I uninstall and then reinstalled the 64 bit. Now I am able to play all of my MKV files in media center. My problem is still with live tv. I have used the filter tweaker to set ffdshow as the default mpeg2 codec. Then I used that tool MCDU listed above to set ffdshow as my default audio and video codecs. I set the mpeg2 codec in ffdshow to libmpeg2. Cranked up media center and now it tells me the codec is not found or installed. I am not sure what I did wrong. Any ideas? And thanks for all the help so far!

[turbojet]

Has anyone else had issues with this tool not working under windows 7 x64? It works fine under x86 windows 7 - i have the ffdshow icons in the tray, but when i run it on my x64 machine it says it has applied settings but still it uses windows own built in codecs.

If this is a known issue sorry for repeating it :)

It works for me the first time I hit apply in Win 7 x64 ultimate but in order to change it again the program needs to be restarted.

[dimitrik]

Ok so part of the problem was that I had mistakenly downloaded the 32 bit k-lite pack. So I uninstall and then reinstalled the 64 bit. Now I am able to play all of my MKV files in media center. My problem is still with live tv. I have used the filter tweaker to set ffdshow as the default mpeg2 codec. Then I used that tool MCDU listed above to set ffdshow as my default audio and video codecs. I set the mpeg2 codec in ffdshow to libmpeg2. Cranked up media center and now it tells me the codec is not found or installed. I am not sure what I did wrong. Any ideas? And thanks for all the help so far!

Not sure that you did anything wrong. I don't use MC for TV, I just use my regular TV, so I never tried it.
This could mean that MC7 cannot use ffdshow for TV like XP/Vista could, or that it needs some more specific hacking.
The good news is that you should be able to reset this easily by running MCDU again and selecting the default or M$ decoders.

There is a lot of information on tweaking Mc7 at this site (http://www.hack7mc.com/) and you should be able to find an article on what you need to do exactly.

[SEB2010]

Hey clsid,

i tried your neat tool on my win7 pro 32bit and it will not work. i set all except the mp2/mp3 codecs to ffdshow (and they are still set if i reopen the tool), but when i play an avi with wmp ffdshow still wont show up in the tray nor apply my resizing options. am i missing something??

[clsid]

The settings from the tool only have effect when WMP uses DirectShow. If it uses Media Foundation, then it will use just Microsoft's own decoders.

I have plans to implement a tweak to bypass Media Foundation, but it is just one of the many things on my todo list. Maybe I will have time for it in the coming weeks.

[SEB2010]

hey,
that sounds like you can switch the use of direct-show/media foundation in wmp. I thought that wmp uses direct-show by default. But you were right, when monitoring the registry activities of wmp, it definitly accesses the media foundation keys and not the direct show keys. but why is my wmp using mediaf and not directs? or do you mean that my video-source enables wmp to use media foundation? is there a way to change that behavior?

[clsid]

WMP prefers the use of MF above DirectShow.

[shen333]

I noticed Haali's avi splitter isn't working well under w7... And for some reason (after determining the codecs of the tracks in the container and tweaked using your tool) transport streams still output mute sound files... I was wondering if you could tweak the splitters and maybe implement vid acceleration for mpeg2+4? It doesn't feel right going on TPB for coreavc/elecard... >.<. Btw, good luck on bypassing media foundation! We'll love you for it (not that we aren't grateful for the ds filter tool and ffdshow already).

[lchiu7]

Well like many I have installed Win7 and fallen into the problem of DirectShow no longer working with my normal workflow which is avisynth script, FFDShow, Haali Media Splitter and Megui to open and encode m2ts files.

I bumped into this thread and thought I saw the answer.

So installed ffdshow, haali media splitter (as I had with Vista) and then ran this program to update the filter settings. Made sure that ffdshow was set in the filter to be the codec for m2ts and also in ffdshow settings. Note after I run the filter and then run it again, the values are as I expect with the key value for H.264, VC1, xvid all set to ffdshow.

Opened an avisynth script with basically this line in it
DirectshowSource("c:\movie.m2ts")

with megui and it just hangs. It also hangs (not responding) with Virtualdub opening the same script.

Not sure what else I should be doing to make this work so any tips would be appreciated. I have scanned the entire thread but can't find anybody who has a similar experience.




Thanks

Larry

[clsid]

I think someone else with the same problem solved it by setting Haali as the preferred source filter for M2TS. You can do that with this registry tweak:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Media Type\Extensions\.m2ts]
"Source Filter"="{55DA30FC-F16B-49FC-BAA5-AE59FC65F82D}"

[lchiu7]

I think someone else with the same problem solved it by setting Haali as the preferred source filter for M2TS. You can do that with this registry tweak:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Media Type\Extensions\.m2ts]
"Source Filter"="{55DA30FC-F16B-49FC-BAA5-AE59FC65F82D}"


Thanks but it's already set to that. I found another tool that did that for me. The tweak tool is clearly working since I can open the m2ts file in graphstudio and it renders fine with ffdshow and to standard codecs for audio and video. For some reason I just can't get haali into the mix. I am going to hack around and removing and installing Haali again but from looking at the registry the entry appears to be correct.

[Lolitka]

I think it would be nice if this tool can also change preffered avi, mkv, etc. splitter - i really miss this feature



... and i don't know where to change it in registry for 32 and 64

[lchiu7]

Update: I deleted avisynth and re-installed it. This time there are very few DLL's in the plugin directory (directshowsource.dll). Using the same scripts as before VirtualDub can open the m2ts file (and I see Haali shows up in the tray icon). This looked really promising and the video is displayed in VirtualDub. Alas success was shortlived. Opening the same script in MeGui brings up an avisynth error - cannot find the file. So I am stuck again.

[edit]

I should note that all is well now. I installed staxrip which didn't work in that it hung when opening an AVS script, but after it installed all the tools it needed (including a fresh installation of avisynth) megui now worked! Sometimes computers are a black art - there is no rhyme or reason to what is going on. Of course nothing would have worked without this tool so I am thankful for that.