How to play 1080p H.264 mkv on low end laptops

Since I used to have problems playing high def content on my low end laptop (ATI HD3200), I did some research on how to play them perfectly. After following a few steps, I can now play 1080p movies PERFECTLY @ 60fps on my laptop.

Here are the steps:

1) go on google and search for k-lite codec. get the latest version. When it asks you to config k-lite codec, do not tell it to install MPC. For the lazy ones, here is a link: http://www.free-codecs.com/K_lite_codec_pack_download.htm

2) download MPC-HC (medial player classic - homecinema) here:
http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/download-media-player-classic-hc.html

3) get on MPC-HC and press o for the options menu.

4) go to playback-output and make sure that EVR custom is selected (the last option in the list). Also make sure the EVR buffer level is as low as possible.

5) go to the external filter tab and click on add filter. Click on fddshow video decoder and click ok.

6) After adding fddshow video decoder onto the filter list, click on block.

7) now you can enjoy 1080p high def content @ 60fps.

edit: the laptop that this was tested on has the neo l335 1.6ghz processor from AMD.

Alternatively, and possibly a better option, please follow namaiki's guide:

 

The new version of K-Lite Mega Codec Pack should also include the DiVX 7 h.264 decoder, which is more efficient than libavcodec by 25-30%. It's also multithreaded so it can take advantage of dual-core processors.

 

nice post! I was looking for a better codec pack.

 

Great info, guys!

 

CCCP>KLite

MPC always uses FFDSHOW as the default for me. Also you make reference to your "low end" laptop but only mention the video card. In reality your video card has nothing to do with it, its your cpu. You can have the crappiest video card out there as long as it can display your screen resolution your golden with a good cpu.

There are codecs out there that support hardware acceleration to offload rendering from the cpu to the video card, but thats not what this guide is for, so in this case the CPU is the only component that matters.

 

I won't trust a download from some dude's live page.

 

Instead of a codec pack and a player, have you tried VLC - if it does the trick, one of the big advantages is not having codec files/settings all over the place in your system.

 

In the OP's instructions, you are not even using any part of the K-Lite Codec Pack..

All you need is the latest Media Player Classic Homecinema by itself, default settings.

 

Yup, us anime people know our stuff.

Anime Avatar = 73.6% to know about codecs @ NBR

 

well, the k-lite codec pack is to cover everything else that initially would not play. I know that I'm no pro at this type of stuff, but I only did whatever possible to make things work. Since everything worked pretty well so far, I guess it's working. I made an edit to my first post to include the processor, which is AMD neo L335 1.6ghz, not the best processor in the market. ps I'll have to check out this CCCP thing sometimes, thanks for the info.

 

Anyone use CCCP?

 

I do. No components in it that I don't use.


Basically in the Media Player Classic in the *skydrive*, most of MPC's internal codecs are enabled, so AAC, AC3, DTS, Vorbis, Real, H.264(includes some form of DXVA), VC1, XviD, DivX, FLV, WMV(to some extent), so the basic stuff is covered.

 

For those with NVIDIA GPUs, I can recommend the CoreAVC decoder. The current version supports CUDA to accelerate H.265, reducing CPU usage by leveraging the GPU. They're approaching a 2.0 release.

http://coreavc.com/

 

The MPC-HC's internal DXVA decoder, as flawed as it is, can pretty much do the above.

 

Or one can just use windows media player 12 or media center. The built in codec supports hardware acceleration and is more efficient than even coreavc. Also the interface looks nice.

 

DXVA is DXVA. One can't really be more efficient than the other..

 

If you want a easy to install with minimum cofiguration i would recommend using Splash Media Player (DXVA) or VLC Media Player (Non-DXVA).
Splash doesent support vorbis audio yet, but since its not widely used in mkv's containing H.264 encoded hd stuff.
Just check out my signature and see 1080p playback on a Intel GL40 type GMA 4500. xD

 

Well, frankly, I don't see why you would want to use Splash Player over Media Player Classic and I still find deblocking broken on both programs for Intel cards + DXVA. :\

 

Media Player Classic wont do DXVA on GL40 and the Intel Celeron 575 is just too slow for handling 1080p content.

But using MPC-HC and DivX H.264 decoder works and now my C2D T7400 can decode 1080p.

But i usually stick to XBMC with Nvidia's VDPAU for all my video needs.
(ASRock Ion 330 with Ubuntu 9.10 and HDMI working perfectly.)

 

It should.. Is the GL40 the GMA 4500MHD?
My laptop has the GM45 chipset, and it can do DXVA in Media Player Classic - Home Cinema, so I can't really figure how yours would not be able to..

Possible factors include, different operating system, different driver set, different graphics core(GL40 vs GM45)..

 

hai Namaiki...

actually im a user who used benq s42 with windows 7 64 bit..just installed it yesterday...but i cannot find the driver for the graphic card geforce 9600M GT...can u help me please....and also...why i cannot upgrade my bios to version 1.20? please help me....please...

 

mcnih:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_winvista_win7_x64_195.62_whql.html

Think this is what your after.

And GL40 is the budget gpu with lower clocks and official intel documentation says that it doesent support gpu decoding.
But using the newest intel drivers and GPU-Z it was identified as GM45 while CPU-Z told me it was GL40.
Either way as long as i can decode hd im good.

 

nope..thats noit the driver..i have installed it before..the driver is not compatible with benq s42 according to nvidia..i hope sum1 can find the solution for me...

 

You need to upgrade your BIOS in the original installation or 32-bit.. I hope you have recovery discs.. however, try install this first (props to Nautis for mostly-signed driver).

If no problems after using that driver, then you're set. If you do have problems, then you will have to do that BIOS update, as, that above, is the best driver so far.

 

hai..thank you for helping me..i have tried to update bios using the 32 bit(windows 7 32 bit and windows vista 32 bit)...but seems it failed to upgrade and done nothing to the bios...and...hwere do you take the software to update the bios?

 

What do you mean? You generally just need to run the BIOS update program within Windows. If that doesn't work, you will probably have to re-install the original BenQ Windows onto your laptop, and do the BIOS update within that.

Did you install the graphics drivers? Any issues that would make you need to update the BIOS?

 

hi namaiki...thank you for the driver..as now i've installed the driver and using my joybook happily...but i would like to know...the driver u gave to me...can i update it?or just let it be the current version...im afraid sumthing bad will occur if i try to update the driver...thank you...

 

That is the latest official hybrid graphics driver I know of. If you want to upgrade you will need to get another hybrid graphics driver, so basically, no driver upgrades for a while. :|

 

I kind of mashed a few DXVA guides together.

Step 'zero' in my guide is of course, install the latest CCCP (I would not recommend installing K-Lite, as most people will not use 80% of the things that it installs).

 

Whether or not you need CCCP is largely dependent on what OS you run. If you are running 7, you only need Haali and MPC-hC.

In fact if you use MPC-HC, you don't really need either K-lite or CCCP. Just Haali should suffice with mkv. If you don't have 7, you'll need to use the internal H.264/VC-1 decoder if your GPU supports it.

Unless your GPU lacks hardware acceleration support, CoreAVC isn't necessary.

 

Did you read *my* post or did you read the whole linked thread?
FFDShow has a few more options than MPC-HC's internal renderers and that is why I would recommend installing it, and CCCP's MPC-HC is fully configured otherwise to use FFDShow which is why I would recommend using CCCP rather than MPC-HC standalone unless you want to use MPC-HC's internal filters, or you are capable of setting FFDShow by yourself.

 

I use Shark007 Codec Pack and I can play anything on my WMP ( I prefer WMP, dunno why ).

 

Re: How to play 1080p H.264 mkv on low end laptops.

 

Shark007/Haali splitter + Win7 will definitely do.
Shark007 also includes mpc-hc decoder, but I have never tried that on vista/xp.
Personally I prefer splayer or mpc-hc just for mkv files, so no external codecs need to install on system.

 

uh..

+1 for MPC-HC. d;

 

@namaiki
i hope you don't mind that, with proper credits, I added your guide to the first post.

 

Nice guide, but since i don't know much about this stuff i was wondering if this guide somehow reduces quality for playback compared to playing the movie on divx player or vlc player. For some reason i can't play it on vlc player properly because it runs at about 23 fps and the movie does artifact a bit at times, on divx player it runs at 60 fps but the sound is horrible, it feels like my speakers are cracking. But it works perfectly from your guide.

Anyway, if i was to connect an HDMI out to an HDTV would playing it through MPC work fine?

Edit: My sytem specs are
C2D t5750 (2.0 ghz)
Mobility HD 3650
4 gb ram

 

@shinakuma
yes, it should be fine if you connect your laptop to your tv. Your laptop is actually more powerful than the one I tested.

 

I think for dummy, splayer is the best. No configuration needed, because EVR+DXVA is default setting. It is mpc-hc based and open source not like kmplayer.

 

I think the easiest options are VLC and MPC-HC

 

i used kmp player

 

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