[Daveybryce]

Just a bit of advice really and a chance for discussion,

I decided to watch a 1080p MKV container last night thru Windows 7 Media Center and it got very juddery. My system is more than capable I would say (see my sig) however the 7MC codecs just don't seem to live up to the 3rd party codecs.

I minimised to a smaller window to see what codecs were being used. CoreAVC was not being used to allow for the multicore support.

I also used Graphedit to see which codecs/filters were being used and it was using the Windows preloaded h264 codec. But was using FFDShow for audio.

On further investigation it appears that all Beta releases at the moment do not allow the 3rd party codec developers to merit codecs and take control of the windows 7 decoders, etc. Therefore it is not worth buying CoreAVC or installing video codecs in Windows 7. Haali still works but that splits the container and doesn't decode. Also 7 Windows Media Player is bound by the same constraints.

Hopefully the RC releases of Windows 7 will allow 3rd party codecs to work.

If they dont I fear we will be forced to move away from 7MC and 7WMP and turn to MediaPortal/MeediOS/XBMC for our front end, I have no problems doing that as I loved MediaPortal but the TV side let me down, which is why I moved to VMC.

It would be a shame to get a stable operating system in Windows7 (hopefully) compared to VMC only to lose the Media Side, which in my eyes is pointless investing in a new operating system for a HTPC only to have to install 3rd party front ends to acheive the same.

There is one developer at FFDShow that will turn his development of codecs to Mediaportal if M$ don't allow for 3rd party codecs, which I think is a plus for MP.

[Evil Engineer]

Have you seen this?

hack7mc

[andy1249]

IT is not unusual for beta test programs to be locked in such a way , the purpose of the program is to get feedback on the code after all , not on user hacked versions of it or on third party codecs.

It is very naive of a developer with any experience to be calling out his intentions based on beta testing code.

I suspect the full release will have no such limitations , and of course third party codecs will be allowed.

[Daveybryce]

Originally Posted by Evil Engineer

Have you seen this?

hack7mc

Thank you soo soo much, I was beginning to lose hope as I actually really like Windows7.

I will try it out at home later and post up any findings.

EDIT: The link for the MCDU utility is here it includes some basic instructions to get you going

[Daveybryce]

Originally Posted by andy1249

IT is not unusual for beta test programs to be locked in such a way , the purpose of the program is to get feedback on the code after all , not on user hacked versions of it or on third party codecs.

It is very naive of a developer with any experience to be calling out his intentions based on beta testing code.

I suspect the full release will have no such limitations , and of course third party codecs will be allowed.

Yep, very true and they have relaxed the limitations now and renamed VMDU (Vista Mediacenter Decoder utility) to MCDU which will work to change the merits of codecs within 7MC and VMC to the ones you want.

I thought it a bit odd, but then I tend to listen to more knowledgable people about a subject and try to learn, which is why I thought I'd post here about my findings to create a discussion about it.