Why does the user have to bother with codecs? (1 Viewer)

[msj33]

I'm also very sad to see, that CODEC installation is too confusion & complex nowadays!

I do use SAF 5.00 - but only because of the "ease" of installation/konfiguration.

I would definetly prefer NOT to do any installation at all - Should be maintained form central MEPO/CODEC team - Just like VLC!

Mediaportal is still far from being a "out-of-the box" single installer with ease of use plugin integration:-(

This lack of user friendliness keeps a lot of new users from choosing Mediaportal - Mediaportal is still for nerds!

/Morten

 

[tourettes]

I would definetly prefer NOT to do any installation at all - Should be maintained form central MEPO/CODEC team - Just like VLC!

I already stated that such (having own codecs) would be requiring lot of more development resources. So, it is not an option unfortunately.

Mediaportal is still for nerds!

Yes, since it is mainly build by the nerds for their own living rooms - spending free time to fullfil other people needs come only after that

 

[drealit]

Mediaportal is still far from being a "out-of-the box" single installer with ease of use plugin integration:-( ...Mediaportal is still for nerds!

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I was always under the impression that MePo was never supposed to be an "out of the box" product. It's meant to be massively customized by each user for their own unique scenarios. I've hated the other software I've tried if only because so much of it was already setup for me (and not easily undone or customized further for the most part). MediaPortal is supposed to give you a very basic set of features, then you're supposed to customize it to your hearts content with the plethora of Skins and Plugins.

As for the comparisons to VLC; VLC is a "all in one" media player emphasizing on quantity over quality. That may work for you... but I'm not wasting the countless hours and god knows how many $ for equipment and software on shoddy codecs and less than spectacular quality playback. VLC is a joke from the Napster/KaZaA age... we're not dealing with junk real media videos anymore. We're in the age of quality!

 

[jameson_uk]

Most problems with codecs are down to odd encodings. Win7 ships with h264 & mpeg2 video codecs which satisfy nearly all commercial video. Audio issues tend to be down to HD audio (trueHD etc) which require dedicated software (TMT/PowerDVD etc) or FFDShow; FFDShow has several issues with patent infringement so MP is unable to ship that and obviously things like TMT are commercial players.

On win7 most things should play out the box. If you want MKV you do need to install a splitter (LAV, Haali, MPC) but that is the only extra that is needed.

Often videos that do not play are downloaded... if you encode them yourself they will look like commercial videos and work.

I would be interested in what video and audio types you are having issues with (mediainfo as above)

 

[somy]

In fact, MPC-HC works pretty well for almost all videos.

 

[tourettes]

In fact, MPC-HC works pretty well for almost all videos.

You can use MPC-HC codecs in MediaPortal.

 

[somy]

Yes, I'm right now using MPC-HC splitters and FFDShow (for bitstreaming HD audio) I'm considering to switch to SAF 6 as the configuration can be much easier.
I'm dreaming that one application does everything as right now I have MP for movies, PowerDVD for blu-rays, foobar2000 for FLACs, Mediamonkey for music mgmt, Itunes for mobile apps (terrible software). On mobile side, I need mobile mouse to control MP (one-way), apple remote (DACP plugin for foobar2000), air video for video steaming, RDP client ......
It really bothers me as the upgrade and configurations are too complex.

 

[edterbak]

Hi all.
Here is an suggestion.
Is it possible, in the MP configuration tabs, to show information about the codec settings? These settings should show the recommended specified per OS, GFX card and MP version. Or even link to the wiki page with the basics. Just to aim the majority of the unaware people in the right direction.
Ofcourse the info can and will change per mp release and over time.
It would help me a bit i think.

 

[hoborg]

Then I tried SAF, because I it worked easy and good for me in the past. It almost worked, but for one MKV the audio was really dampened. So I tried to fix this but failed.

SAF6?
If yes, can you post a small sample of that video to reproduce? Use MKV merge to create a sample.

 

[adagio]

Are codecs used when MP records TV? Or only when playing back a recorded program?