I experienced similar issues with the PowerDVD 8 codec on my HTPC (but with all channels, not only h.264 content). Sometimes the video hangs while the audio runs in the background. After 30 to 120 seconds, the video resumes. Sometimes the video is displayed, but no audio is played. Again, after 30 to 120 seconds, the audio resumes, but the video hangs... and further 30 to 120 seconds later, everything is fine again
.
Further weird stuff: when installing PowerDVD 8, I get 3 different Audio Codecs:
Cyberlink Audio Decoder (PDVD8),
Cyberlink Audio Decode (PDVD8) and
Cyberlink Audio Decoder (PDVD8) Plug & Play (or something). I always used Cyberlink Audio Decoder (PDVD8)... but after switching to the audio codec with the missing "
r", those issues don't seem to happen anymore.
On a side note: I configured "Default Direct Sound Device" as Audio Renderer, other wise MP will frequently hang up on a channel switch.