MAJOR UPDATE v. 3.0: REWRITTEN TO WORK WITH SHARK007'S WINDOWS CODEC PACK. 

Time for a major overhaul of my Codec guide for Windows 7 MediaCenter (7MC) and Media Browser. Causes:

• recent 7MC updates have made it nearly impossible to configure using both DivX + FFdshow, or CoreAVC + FFdshow, for video decoding, which is required to enable fast forwarding, rewinding, subtitle selection, etc. together with Media Control under 7MC.
  
• Shark's Codec Pack is -- though I have been less than enthusiastic about "packs" in the past -- arguably the best on the "free" market (donations encouraged, though)
  
• It is the only codec package that works properly under both x86 and x64 environments.
  
• It can easily be reconfigured to switch from a "complex" codec configuration (re. Media Control, see above) to a more "simple" setup, where you'd basically use either only ffdshow, or ffdshow + XviD to decode all MP4-based (DivX, XviD, ...) videos, and ffdshow or DivX + DVXVA for H.264 (MKV) videos.

Aim: get best quality, including from network, with the lowest CPU, within 7MC, with fast forward & rewind, (auto) resume, and both audio stream switching and subtitle stream switching enabled, mainly for AVI's (DivX, XviD,...) and MKVs. Important note: this guide is based on a 32-bit installation of Windows 7. Not sure if everything would work as indicated under x64.

Introduction - Goals and Decisions:

1. This Guide is about DivX, XviD and MKV playing in Media Center (with Media Browser). I'm not interested in other players. Or in other codecs atm. 
2. MediaControl must work in Media Center. This allow fast forwarding and rewinding, and switching audio and subtitle streams from within mediacenter (preferably with a quick menu or a keypress on the media remote), and do so at least with DivX, XviD and MKV files (tested with MP3 and AC3 audio).
3. Text-based subtitles (.SRT) must be rendered clearly and sharply. That means: yes to DirectVobSub / VSFilter (poligonizing / doubled resolution to enhance clarity), no to ffdshow for subtitle rendering. Sub resolution should adapt to the video resolution / display size as well.
4. Subtitles must be selected automatically based on the file name, and the tool must be able to show e.g. a language identifier placed at the end of the subtitle file name (e.g. "Hancock.EN.srt", "Hancock.FR.srt", "Hancock.EN Comments.srt" must display in WMC as "EN, FR, EN comments" when switching subs)
5. DivX and XviD picture quality must be at least as good as what is currently obtained with DivX7, with the "Full Deblocking with Sharpening" option.
6. H.264 MKV decoding is expected to be of a good quality of course, but also stutter-free when playing from a NAS device (which eliminates the Gabest splitter, unless a newer version is out) and have no problems with sub / audio switching (which eliminates the DivX 7 MKV splitter), all this while keeping CPU usage within reasonable limits.

1. Install the Shark007 Windows Codecs Pack [current build: 2.6.3] from here. If you're on x64, also get the 64-bit components here.
   NOTE: there are some very clear warnings about installations and upgrades on the site. You cannot upgrade the package; you must always uninstall the old version before installing a new one, and ONLY do this with the "Uninstall" button on the "Help" tab in the Settings Application. Also, Shark007's pack automatically uninstalls certain competitors. Live with it.
   
   
   
2. Install DivX7 [WARNING: do NOT use any release newer than the August 2009 release 10.1.2.38 (with DivX Codec 6.8.5)]. Latest versions are here.
   You can deselect (remove) the DivX Player, the DivX Web Player and the Converter. And Google Chrome.
   If you're going to use CoreAVC, you must deselect (remove) the MKV Splitter under "DirectShow Filters". Else, leave it enabled.
   
   IMPORTANT WARNING: all releases of DivX 7 after August 2009 are messed up.
   It took me weeks to find out what's wrong: DivX files with multiple audio tracks wouldn't play at all, some files with AC3 audio would output static instead, FFDShow Video Decoder wouldn't load, DivX Demux would load instead of the AVI Splitter, disabling or lowering the DivX Demux would cause both XviD and DivX to be loaded at the same time for sime files, while DivX and DivX H.264 would be loaded at the same time for others... the list of the problems is endless. Note that DivX 8 has the same problems. You won't find the older version on the official site, so you'll have to look around. If you really can't find it, send me a message. UPDATE: DivX Support really doesn't care about this. Here's several links to the August 2009 version: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OWL4NEZW and http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6YFWV18I and http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11495287/DivX%207.0%20%5BAug-09%5D.rar Post me a message if they're not available anymore.
   
   
3. Install HeadBand GSPot from here, then upgrade it to the latest release found here (simply overwrite the files in \Program Files\GSpot).
   
   
4. Install MediaControl (current version: 6.0.7) from here. Install the VC++ runtime if asked. If this keeps coming back and the runtime has been installed, first empty your TEMP folder(s) and/or change the TEMP variables for the user & system to e.g. "c:\temp" and try again. May need to reboot for this.
   
   
5. Install MediaBrowser from here. If you can, you may want to compile a more recent build from SVN than the download version. There's a FAQ on how to do this.
   
   
6. Install MediaInfo from here. Install both the Windows GUI and the "DLL only" package. It's needed by MediaBrowser for video information anyway. Its explorer plug-in will give you lots of info on video files just by hovering over them. Get the latest "GUI Installer". Make sure, after installation, that the mediainfo.dll is present in your System32 folder. Else, find it and copy it in here.

Optional Components:

1. Install CoreAVC Professional. Get a trial or purchase the full version here. CoreAVC gives the best quality, but due to its heavy performance hit, I recommend it only for owners of CUDA-capable NVidia video cards; then most of the processing is done by the GPU.
   
   
2. get Media Center Studio here to edit the Windows 7 Media Center menus -- e.g. put MediaBrowser and My Videos on the same menu "bar" as TV, rename TV to "TV and Video", that kind of stuff.... Note that recently 7MC has made it very difficult to edit the default "menu strips". You could try creating a new Custom Strip, and putting e.g. MediaBrowser, Movie Library, Guide and Recorder TV in there, then see if this works. If it doesn't, just stick to the standard menu strips.
   
   
3. Optional: Install AutoGK from here (great tool in case you need to rip to DivX or XviD with multi audio & sub tracks). AutoGK will also install AviSynth and VobSub, which includes an older version of the DirectVobSub/VSFilter 2.23 included in Shark007; therefore, during Vobsub install, uncheck the Directvobsub support filter.
   
   

WHAT'S IT ALL FOR?

1. DivX 7: to decode DivX and XviD files with "Full deblocking and sharpening", which gives the best DivX / XviD image you can have in Media Center; and to decode MKV files with excellent quality, while not having issues with stuttering which other codecs have. [Note: re. DivX Labs WMF-capable MKV preview: see bottom].
2. XviD: just as a precaution and fallback, and if you want to rip to XviD files.
3. Haali Media Splitter: to "split" the MKV into streams, and allowing sub & audio stream selection. Haali has fewer stuttering problems than Gabest's and DivX's splitters.
4. Ffdshow: while not used for actual decoding for the most important codecs, Ffdshow is necessary to allow (together with MediaControl) subtitle and audio stream selection, and fast forwarding, rewinding and "jumping" in DivX, XviD and MKV files.
5. HeadBand GSPot: to analyze which codecs are used, and in which order, to play a media file; and to change DirectShow codec and splitter priorities.
6. MediaControl: see "ffdshow" above.
7. MediaBrowser: to display your series and movies in Media Center with synopsis, thumbs, covers, etc.
8. MediaCenter Studio: to edit the Windows Media Center start menu.
9. MediaInfo: to display detailed media file information (incl. audio & video streams, codecs, ...) in Windows Explorer and in Media Browser.
10. CoreAVC: alternative H.264 codec, very recommended if you have a CUDA-capable NVidia graphics card & drivers, or a fast CPU.
11. DirectVobSub / VSFilter: to display subs (also multiple subs) in high quality (especially SRT subs) while doubling image resolution, and work together with MediaControl to allow switching in Media Center.
    
    
    

CONFIGURING THE TOOLS:

1. Shark007 Codec Pack: Open the Settings Application and check the following:
   
1. "SWAP" tab: check (enable) the option "Use FFDshow for MP2/3 instead of Microsoft" and you may need to "Disable Windows DMO Video Codecs" as well, I'm not sure this applies to everybody. If AVIs without any subs do NOT use DivX and ffdshow video when the play, then you need to enable this option as well. No need to disable WMF, unless you find the "COM Surrogate" crashes when generating thumbnails for AVIs in Explorer, in which case you do need to disable this as well.
   
   
2. "MPG~MP4" tab: check "Use Microsoft / Haali splitter".
   
3. "MKV" tab: if later on Explorer crashes when clicking on an MKV file (error in QEDIT.DLL, probably cause by CoreAVC) when creating thumbs of MKVs, try the following:
   - "disable thumbnails"
   - disable DivX MF Splitter
   - uncheck disable DivX MF Splitter
   - "enable thumbnails" again
   - you'd have to re-do the actions on the "H264" tab if you do this later on...
   
4. "H264" tab: first enable "Use DivX codec", then "Enable FFDshow postprocessing". In that order. Ensure "Do not use FFDshow" is checked after that.
   Note: the "enable FFDshow postprocessing" is the most critical step here.
   As confirmed to me by the Sharkmeister, this causes Shark007 to swap the current ffdshow.ax for an older version (December 2009), without DVXA, which allows all posprocessing options to work, including (ha ha !) getting a video stream, that's already decoded by e.x. DivX or CoreAVC, to pass "through" FFDShow Video decoder again, and thus allow tools like MediaControl to manipulate the stream and enable fast forwarding and rewinding, subtitle and audio stream swapping, etc. etc.
   
   
5. "CONFIG" tab: uncheck "Disable XviD Decoder".
   
   
   Slideshow of full res screenshots: Shark configuration
   
   
   
2. Ffdshow Video: click the "FFDshow Video config" button in the Settings Application to open the FFDshow configuration tool, then proceed as follows:
   
   
1. in "Codecs", check that the last "codec" (Raw Video) is set to "all supported", and "Enable in WMP11" is checked. Normally this is done by Shark's tool when enabling PostProcessing for MKVs.
   
   
2. still in "Codecs", set the following to "Disabled": "XviD", "DivX 4/5/6", and "Other MPEG4". Reason: we want DivX 7 to do those.
   
   
3. in "Show / hide filters": hide all filters ("<<" button"). Click OK to save & close.
   
   
   Slideshow of full res screenshots: FFdshow configuration
   
   
3. Ffdshow Audio: click the "FFDshow Audio config" button in the Settings Application to open the FFDshow configuration tool, then proceed as follows:
   
1. in "Show / hide filters", hide all except the Volume filter.
   
2. enable the Stream Switcher.
   
3. in "Volume", enable Volume [already done by Shark normally], then Normalize, Regain Volume, Reset on Seek, Show current levels. Set the Max. amplification to e.g. 500% or 800%. Click OK to save & close.
   
   
   
4. Haali Media Splitter: Open the Media Splitter Settings by clicking the "Haali Splitter" button.
1. In "Options", "Compatibility", set autoload VSFilter = No.
2. In "Input", set "Input buffer size" to 65536.
3. In "Output", set "Decoder priority boost" to "on".
4. In "Interface", make sure "Show tray icon" is set to "Yes". 
   NOTE: text subs embedded in MKV's will always work; but external (SRTs) for MKVs will only work with "VSFilter = No" unless you do some weird configuration with its language tag defaults.
   
   
5. DirectVobSub: click the "VobSub Subtitles" button in the Settings Application to open the DirectVobSub configuration tool, then proceed as follows:
1. In the "Main" tab, set the font to e.g. Trebuchet MS Bold 16 or 18, Border Width 1, Shadow Depth 2;
2. PAR compensation: downscale.
3. General tabl: set the Resolution to "Doubled Resolution". This will double the image size, and create much nicer looking subtitles, at the expense of some extra CPU power.
4. In "Misc", check "Pre-buffer subpictures" and verify that "Apply changes immediately" and "Auto-reload..." are enabled. Click Apply & OK to save & close.
   
   
6. CoreAVC Decoder: Start the "Configure CoreAVC" shortcut, then:
1. make sure "Prefer CUDA acceleration" is enabled if you have a recent NVidia graphics card & recent drivers.
2. enable "Use Tray Icon" and "Preferred Decoder". Uncheck "Crop 1088 to 1080".
3. IF your CPU is not very fast: uncheck "Aggressive deinterlacing", and set Deblocking to "Skip when safe".  [not used if you have CoreAVC].
   
   
7. DivX H.264 Decoder: Open the H.264 Decoder Config. Nothing much to do. Everything should be enabled except "Use Default Encoding Settings".  [not used if you have CoreAVC].
   
   
8. GSpot: in Options, Settings, disable "Enable Full File Scan When Possible". Make the application window wider, then close the program.
   
   
9. DivX Decoder: open the DivX Decoder Configuration Utility, make sure "Reduce CPU spikes" and "Support decoding of generic MPeg-4 video" are enabled; also enable "User advanced hardware overlay" if your system can handle it. In "Playback": enable Full Deblocking with Sharpening (this one's quite essential for DivX / XviD quality). In "Toolbar", leave "Show DivX logo watermark" enabled, so you can always see if DivX 7 is decoding your DivX, XviD and MKV files.
   
   
10. MediaControl: open the configuration program and do the following:
1.  In "Remote control & keyboard"
• set the command for "Red Button" (CTRL+ALT+R) to "Direct Commands";
• set the command for "Yellow Button" (CTRL+ALT+Y) to "Context Menu";
• set the command for "Green Button" (CTRL+ALT+G) to "Switch Subtitle Stream";
• set the command for "Blue Button" (CTRL+ALT+B) to "Macros Activator" (only if you intend to use more keyboard macros; else leave it on "Start Page").
2. Now you'll several ways to switch sub and audio tracks while playing a movie:
• Red Button opens the "direct command" menu; use arrows right & left to change command, and up & down to change value
• Yellow Button opens a graphical context menu
• Green Button immediately changes to the next available subtitle stream
3. Under Notifications / Tricks, enable Resume Movie, disable "Show the streams menu"
4. check that "Use Media State Aggregation", "Enable Media Experience" and "Enable Advanced Features" are all enabled.
5. Click Commit Changes.
6. Under Ffdshow configuration, click "Apply Minimal config" then commit changes again. Close the program.
   Note. some changes in Shark007's pack can reset ffdshow's configuration, which would disable the changes made by MediaControl. In that case, you'd have to start this configuration program, and click "Apply Minimal Config" in the "ffdshow configuration" tab again to re-activate the extra functions like fast forwarding,...
   
7. Load a movie with several subtitle files and check if you can switch them.
   There are five ways to switch subtitles:
• MediaControl's "Context Menu" popup (Yellow button, or CTRL+ALT+Y, if configured as above); this menu is a graphical menu in Media Center popup BLOCKED EXPRESSION;
• MediaControl's "Direct Commands" menu (Red button, or CTRL+ALT+R, if configured as above); then use left & right arrows to find the Subtitles command, and up & down to switch, enable or disable subtitles; this is all displayed using ffdshow's OSD on the top left of your screen;
• MediaControl's "Switch Subtitle Stream" function (Green Button, or CTRL+ALT+B, if configured as above); this immediately changes the subfile, and displays the selection through ffdshow's OSD on the top left of your screen;
• DirectVobSub's "green arrow" icon on the system tray; this requires using the mouse to minimize or "un-maximize" MediaCenter, then select a subtitle in the list;
• Haali Media Splitter's system tray icon; only for MKV movies; requires the mouse as above.
  
  
11. AC3 Filter: To be able to configure it, first uncheck "Disable AC3 Filter" in Shark Settings, then start the AC3 Filter Config tool, uncheck "PCM" in the System tab, close and save, then check "Disable AC3 Filter" in Shark tool again. We'll leave it disabled by default (as done by Shark on installation), unless you have some good reason to use it, e.g. problems with AC3 audio in certain movies or problems with output to advanced audio equipment. I've had a few MKV movies recently whose AC3 audio cannot be played back using the LIBA52 decoder used inside FFDShow Audio Decoder. See "Troubleshooting".
    
    
12. File Associations: Shark's settings app will correctly associate MKVs with Media Player, so you don't NEED to do anything here. However, you can do the following to get a different icon, description and "right-click actions" associated with MKV and AVI (e.g.: adding GSpot and Media Center to the "open with" menu, removing WMP's "playlist" menu items, ...): get the .MKV association regfile from here and the .AVI association regfile from here.

Media Center Themes:

It's up to you to decide whether you want it or not. If you're going to use Media Center to watch your videos, then you can't really do without it.

For MediaBrowser installation & configuration, go to their website. It's pretty straightforward.

1. install Media Browser
2. in the Configuration App, "Media Collection", create your media collections; each one can point to several different folders on different local or remote hard disks, etc.
3. install any plugins you want; Chocolate Theme, High Quality Thumbnails, CoverArt and MediaInfo Provider are strongly recommended. For a (very) small fee, add CoverArt, which'll change all your movie and series posters into stunning DVD covers, etc. (just try it out and see for yourself).
4. set the Configuration in Advanced mode (click "advanced" on top) and go to the "Display" tab.
5. enable "Hide Focus Frame" and "Show Clock".
6. set the theme (e.g. "Chocolate"), Color Scheme (e.g. "black"), Font Size ("small").
7. disable "Show Theme Background" and check "Enable Enhanced Home Screen".
8. enable all under "Media Tracking".
9. then start Media Browser (directly using shortcut on desktop, or through menu in media center) and do its initial configuration.
10. in "General", enable all under "Global" except Enhanced Mouse Support.
11. under "Views", set "Poster Grid Spacing" e.g. 20. Enable Show Fan Art, Rotate and Randomize.
12. Disable Show Initial Folder Background if you want to see your MCE background when there's no fan art (background.jpg) in a folder; leave it enabled if you want to place a background.jpg that applies to all views by default; see the mediabrowser website on how to customize further.
13. under "Chocolate Options", check "Smaller EHS Icons" and "Use Season Poster on EHS".
14. click Continue, and enjoy.

After initial setup, you'll need the KnowledgeBase on the MediaBrowser website to help you on stuff like configuring background images, folder structure (required !!!) and further customization. Note that DVD "disk dump" playback is not 100% (DVD menus don't seem to work), so just use the Movie Library in Media Center for that.

Next, you have to decide how you'll download metadata, posters, thumbnails and backgrounds for your movies and series.
MediaBrowser does this on its own ("Allow Internet Providers" option in the configuration General section). That is: if your movies and series are structured properly, and especially if your series episodes use a correct naming structure, then those items will appear with "proper" names inside Media Browser, without actually renaming the files. Example: a House episode  names "House 6x08 - Ignorance is Bliss.mkv", store in the "House \ Season 6" folder on disk, will display as "6 - Ignorance is Bliss" inside the "House \ Season 6" folder in Media Browser. If your files are NOT named in a way it understands, the original filenames will appear, and MediaBrowser won't download metadata or thumbnails for them.

Slideshow of full res screenshots: Media Browser

You may also want to get tools like Meta Browser or Salami's Movie Organizer to download your own metadata for series and movies; or just let Media Browser do it on its own.
If you want Meta Browser: version 2.0 is not free anymore, but the 1.0 Beta, which I still use, can be downloaded here. Advantage of MetaBrowser is that it can automatically rename your movies and series, based on the downloaded metadata; it can even automatically move downloaded series episodes into the right folders on your "series" share, automatically retrieving metadata and thumbnails, and renaming the file in the process.

Tips on file and folder structure:

• Don't mix Series and Movies in the same folder structure. Use separate "collections" for that, which means separate drives or separate folder structures.
  
• A Collection can point to several different drives / folders at the same time, and MB will display the total of all media found in one nice list. Great for people with different NAS or external drives...
  
• There's an article on File and Folder structures here.
  
• Here's a few examples on what works for series; I use the one in bold:

D:\TV Shows\House\Season 1\ 
                             House 1x01 - Episode 1 title.avi 
                             House 1x02 - Episode 2 title.avi
D:\TV Shows\House\Season 2\
                             2x01 - Episode 1 title.avi
                             2x02 - Episode 2 title.avi
D:\TV Shows\House\Season 1\
                             101 - Episode 1 title.avi
                             102 - Episode 2 title.avi
D:\TV Shows\House\Season 2\
                             201 - Episode 1 title.avi
                             202 - Episode 2 title.avi 

 

AVI & MKV PLAYBACK VERIFICATION:

1. Find an MKV and an AVI (DivX or XviD, with MP3 audio) file, both with SRT subs. The SRT are needed to force DirectVobSub to appear, and it's the best means to troubleshoot codec, splitter & renderer issues. Open each of them in Windows Media Player.
   
2. Right-click either on the FFDshow's or DirectVobSub's icon (green arrow) in the system tray.
   NOTE: you may want to change move some of the items in the hidden, pop-up part of the System Tray so that the icons for DirectVobSub, ffdshow video and audio, Haali and DivX are always shown in the visible area (see screenshot).
   
3. AVI file: you should see the following items in FFDshow's or DirectVobSub's system tray menu:
• the DirectShound Audio Renderer
• the Enhanced Video Renderer
• DirectVobSub (auto-loading version)
• Ffdshow Video Decoder
• Ffdshow Audio Decoder
• DivX decoder filter
  Note: ignore the greyed out codec names if you're looking at FFDshow's system tray menu. If you're looking at DirectVobSub's, you'll also see info on the subtitles and audio tracks.
  
4. MKV file: you should see the following items in FFDshow's or DirectVobSub's system tray menu:
• the DirectShound Audio Renderer
• the Enhanced Video Renderer
• DirectVobSub (auto-loading version)
• Ffdshow Video Decoder
• Ffdshow Audio Decoder
• CoreAVC Video Decoder or DivX H.264 Decoder. NOTE: CoreAVC's icon will be GREEN when using CUDA GPU acceleration; blue when running in standard mode.
• Haali Media Splitter [only in FFDshow's system tray menu].
• The name & path of your MKV file [only in DirectVobSub's system tray menu].
  
  
  
5. Remember: test with video files that have an associated .SRT file. If you don't have SRT's, just take some for any video from the Net, it doesn't matter if it's not the right file, as long as it displays some subtitles. And always right-click the DirectVobSub system tray icon (the green arrow), or FFDshow' Video Decoder's red icon, to verify which codecs are loaded.
   
   
6. As an extra test, you can enable the OSD in FFDShow Video and Audio. Set the OSD colour to light yellow. It should always appear when you play any kind of video (if not, you've got problems). Also, if the OSD appears in blue for some videos, then wrong codecs are being used (probably the MP4DS Media Foundation codec). This latter issue is one of the consequences of using a "bad" version of the DivX 7 package, such as the October 2009 version; this is discussed in the installation section above.

TROUBLESHOOTING:

• DMO Problems: If the AVI doesn't play (you only see a small black screen or a thumbnail in WMP): analyze the file using GSpot. Right-click the file, Open With Gspot, click the "1" button under "MS A/V". If you see the [Mpeg4s Decoder DMO], then the Windows Media Foundation codec is still being used instead of DivX. Solution: check your configuration in Shark007's tool and ffdshow video decoder.
  
• Explorer crashing when generating AVI Thumbnails: if you get a crash in the "COM Surrogate" when clicking on AVIs in Explorer (which causes it to try to generate a thumbnail), you must disable Windows Media Foundation in the Shark tool's "SWAP" tab.
  
• Explorer crashing when generating MKV Thumbnails: if you get an error in QEDIT.DLL, probably caused by CoreAVC when creating thumbs of MKVs, try the following from the Shark Settings Application, MKV Tab:
  - "disable thumbnails"
  - disable DivX MF Splitter
  - uncheck disable DivX MF Splitter
  - "enable thumbnails" again
  - you'll have to re-do the actions on the "H264" tab then... (see the procedure way up above...).
  
  
• Duplicate Codecs in Stream: If you see the DivX decoder TWICE in the DirectVobSub menu (e.g. "DivX Decoder Filter" and "DivX Decoder 003"), see above. If nothing else helps, you can try to do a "Reset" in Shark007's settings application, or even reinstall everything.
  
  
• DirectVobSub System Tray Icon Missing: If you don't see the DirectVobSub "green arrow" while playing a movie with matching subtitles, and you see TWO items whose name is a number, one of them is probably DirectVobSub (click to check). If so you've allowed the Haali splitter to preload VSFilter. Not sure if it's a bad thing, but I avoid it. [Note: needs to be re-checked, this issue may be obsolete].
  
  
• To verify splitter / filter / codec loading order, right-click a video file, add GSpot to the "Open With" list, and in GSpot click the "1" button under "MS A/V" to verify the order in which it will render.
  
  
• Now you have to know that as long as any part of the Windows Media Foundation is enabled, Media Player and Media Center will NOT use the same items as shown in GSpot. GSpot shows how it's rendered using DirectShow, not WMF. It does, however, display Windows DMO codecs if the video can be rendered using DirectShow. Up to you to decide whether you want to leave those DMO's enabled or not. E.g. if I see the MP3 DMO (used for Audio), I go into Shark's settings application, SWAP tab, and disable it + enable ffdshow audio codec for MP2 and MP3.
  
  
• Correct results in GSpot should be:
• For an AVI:
  (src) -> (A) -> [AVI Splitter] -> (B) -> [DivX Decoder Filter] -> (C) -> [ffdshow Video Decoder] -> (D) -> [DirectVobSub (auto-loading version] -> (E) -> [Video Renderer].
  (src) -> (A) -> [AVI Splitter] -> (B) -> [ffdshow Audio Decoder] -> (C) -> [Default DirectSound Device]
• For an MKV:
  (src) -> (A) -> [CoreAVC Video Decoder] -> (B) -> [ffdshow Video Decoder] -> (C) -> [DirectVobSub (auto-loading version] -> (D) -> [Video Renderer].
  (src) -> (A) -> [ffdshow Audio Decoder] -> (B) -> [Default DirectSound Device]
  
  
• Note: if you use DivX H.264 instead of CoreAVC, you'll see [DivX H.264 Decoder] instead of [CoreAVC Decoder].
  Note: if you use the AC3 Filter, you'll see [AC3Filter] instead of [ffdshow Audio Decoder]. If you enabled Uncompressed Audio in ffdshow Audio Decoder, you'll see that after AC3filter too.
  
  
• DivX Demux. For an AVI with multiple audio tracks, DivX Demux is sometimes used and causes problems. If so, you need to force the system to use the AVI Splitter. To do that start GSpot, open System, List codecs and other filters; find the DivX Demux, right-click it and lower its Merit to "UNLIKELY". DivX Demux causes problems with XviD and DivX AVI files with multiple audio tracks (not with MKV files). This problem will return each time you reinstall DivX.
  
  
• DivX Messed Up After August 2009: As mentioned way up above in the installation section, currently the October 2009 version of the DivX7 package messes up big time. You'll need the August version, or an earlier one, else nothing's gonna work properly (multiple audio tracks in DivX and XviD not working, wrong codecs loading, two video codecs loading at the same time, ffdshow video decoder not loading -- which means no ffwd / rew...). Bad, bad, bad.
  Note that Shark advised me against using DivX products for anything. I just want to mention this, even if I personall find it's still worth using them... with caution.
  
  
• MKV - AC3 Audio muted in some movies: You may hear no sound with some MKV files. I've experienced it with several 720p TV rips of True Blood Season 3. It's a problem with how the files have been encoded and the LIBA52 AC3 decoder included in FFDShow Audio Decoder. Solution: open the settings tools and uncheck "Disable AC3 Filter" to hear the sound in those movies. This requires you to have AC3 Filter installed (See "Optional Components"). Re-enable this option when done with those bad movies as you're missing out on some features ffdshow provides.
  NOTE: if you can't or won't install the AC3 Filter, an alternative is to disable AC3 in the Codec list in FFDShow Audio Config. That causes the decoder to use Microsoft's ACM wrapper instead; drawback is that the volume level will be pretty low.
  
  
• Movie and sub name not matching due to TheTVDB typo: Oh, I just had a WEEEEIRD bug. Had some episodes of Weeds (6x01 to 6x03): no subs would display for any of them. Drove me absolutely nuts. Even configured FFDShow do to the subtitles (instead of DirectVobSub) with "fuzzy matching" so it would pick them up: that works. Now switched that off again (I don't like the way FFdshow displays subs), and looked further. Tried converting the SRTs from ANSI to Unicode to UTF-8: no change. After half an hour, found it: all the episodes had a bloody SPACE after their filename, and therefore DirectVobSub didn't match the MKVs with the SRTs (who don't have that space after their name).... Cause: the space was added by MetaBrowser (doing its automatic renaming of files, which is good); the idiot extra space come from idiots who carelessly enter the episode data in TheTVDB (where MetaBrowser, MediaBrowser and many others get their metadata from).... So, I removed the spaces from the MKVs, checked that it works now (it does), then went off to TheTVDB to correct the errors... IDIOTS !!!!
  
  
  

CURRENT PROBLEMS:

• Sub Switching: Subtitle switching from within Media Center using the Media Control "context menu" sometimes doesn't work. They just don't do the switch. Use MediaControl's "Direct Commands" (= the red button as configured here) instead. This is a problem in Media Control itself. If all else fails, use DirectVobSub's "green arrow" icon in the system tray.
  
  
• Media Control Takes Time To Work: After opening a movie, it takes several seconds before MediaControl works, and you can start doing stuff like subtitle switching, or fast forwarding and rewinding. So don't assume all too quickly that it just doesn't work.
  
  
• Media Control Test Program: this tool, installed with Media Control, allows you to check if Media Control correctly sees the ffdshow instances used when playing a movie, which allows it to interact with the movie playback for FWD/REW, to change subtitles and audio streams, etc.
  To use it: "un-maximize" Media Center, start playing a movie, start the tool, and let it "Find FFDShow", and/or try pausing and fast forwarding with the buttons on screen. It'll also display which streams, subtitles etc. can be "seen" (and thus be selected / modified through MediaControl from within MediaCenter).
  

I keep meaning to try and get to grips with multiple audio tracks etc..

next time i reinstall I'll give it a go.

Thanks for taking the time to post a guide

Frank,

 Thanks for taking the time to work all this out and post such detailed instructions. I have a question.

Will this allow me to play VC-1 (VC1) using DXVA (h/w accel)? I use an intel atom/nvidia ion based htpc in my bedroom that does not have the CPU grunt to decode HD with the CPU alone.

Also, will DD and DTS passthrough my s/pdif?

Thanks

Ben

Currently I have the Shark007 pack + Media control plug in installed.

I’m pretty happy with it and the only thing that bothers me is that I can change subtitles from within the 7MC to ffdshow only.

Will I be able to control subtitles for all codecs after following this guide?

It will word for DivX, XviD and MKV.

Though there is not always visual feedback (the shortcut menus from MediaControl don't always display).

That's why I recommend directly assigning MediaControl shortcut keys (green and blue buttons) to respectively sub and audio stream switching.

With the Shark pack, you're not using DivX 7 to decode DivX, XviD and H.264 (MKV) video.

Whatever people will say, the quality will be inferior. Only codec which MAY give as good or better results is rumored to be CoreAVC -- didn't check it though.

Should I consider this if I use Linksys Media Extenders extensively?  I'd like to be able to view some mkv files on the extenders (720P), but haven't dived into as the wife factor comes into play.

 I love the details of this post and plan to implement with a 10-22 fresh install of Win7.

I'll be curious to hear of other users experience.

- you know what would truly solidify this walk-though, short sample MKV, AVI files that can be downloaded and used in the test/verification setting.

This is extermly good / detailed information.

 Can you tell me though, if all I want to "change" is to have MediaCenter use ffdshow & AC3Filter for all my AVI & MKVs, (which have h264, xvid, mp3, ac3), how can I accomplish that without having to go through the bible, or change the way livetv is handled?

Thanks for the guide!

I followed the guide step-by-step and now I have these problems:

Mkv files:  when I double click the file the WMP shows me the message about an unknown codec. Then I see something like two ghost frames, one over the other smeared all over the screen with mostly green and pink colors.
Divx:   some movies will not play at all, some play but with distortions and pixilated.
  Some divx movies crush the media browser.
TV:   very pixilated with distortion
Sound:   only front speakers + center (no audio from the rear speakers)
  
Any idea about how to find and fix this problem. Which additional type of info should I provide?

With http://labs.divx.com/mkvwin7preview (uses Microsoft Media Foundation) you can play 1080p content on Windows 7 Media Center keeping the CPU usage very low (<8%)! It is great!

This guide should be updated to include this and remove redundant codecs.

However:
1- Subtitles are not working!
2- Playing old DivX and Xvid content makes the CPU raise to >50% !

- How can we play all these files with Hardware Acceleration in Windows Media Center? (... and with subtitle support)

sealightPT

With http://labs.divx.com/mkvwin7preview (uses Microsoft Media Foundation) you can play 1080p content on Windows 7 Media Center keeping the CPU usage very low (<8%)! It is great!

Thanks, but no. MKVWIN7PREVIEW is very experimental.

It does not support subtitles at all (and prevents known subtitles tools from doing so). Obviously it doesn't support subtitle switching.

It also doesn't support multiple audio tracks or switching between them.

Furthermore, enabling DVobSub / VSFilter disables DXVA in any case.

AND it indeed causes huge CPU usage when playing DivX and XviD

So while I appreciate the suggestion, please read the intro to my article before commenting.

I consider sub support, sub switching, and audio stream switching to be essential in a Media Center config.

Remember, there's a big world outside the US and the UK...

In any case, I'm adding this info to the guide.

@d.kilshtein: looks like you've messed up big time. If your really followed all the steps, it's likely your previous codec pack screwed things up.

I've done 5 installations based on the instructions in this guide now.

To troubleshoot, start by opening some media files in GSpot, click the "1" button under "MS A/V" and analyze the results.

There's more info on how to use GSpot in my Vista Codec Bible: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/t/65608.aspx

Any codecs, filters etc. that are used while they shouldn't: lower their Merit (using GSpot) OR unregister them (using GSpot) OR uninstall them.

Maybe just start by removing your shark package.

Oh, make sure you've got up-to-date ATI or NVIDIA drivers too. If you're unsure about your video card's performance and capabilities, disable "Hardware Acceleration" in the DivX codec config.

Test using Media Player (not WMC) to make it easier. Check which icons appear in the System Tray (ffdshow video + audio + DivXSM should always appear. AC3Filter for files with AC3 audio. DVobsub/VSFilter for files with SRTs or SUBs.).

FrankGeelen

(...)Furthermore, enabling DVobSub / VSFilter disables DXVA in any case AND it indeed causes huge CPU usage when playing DivX and XviD

Thanks for your reply. Yes, it is far from perfect. The problem is I can't find a good solution to this problem.

- If I follow the configuration that is posted here will I have hardware acceleration AND subtitles (with H.264, MKV, DivX, XVid...)?

I know, I live on it :) (... and I enjoy it much!)

I’ve used the guide on a clean install of Windows 7. The previous windows (with the Shark7) was formatted.
I will try to use the GSpot. Thanks.

d.kilshtein:

ow, I forgot the following:

- TV pixilated & distorted: there's nothing in this guide that touches TV display (that's why I'm not touching the MPEG2 codecs, and why I won't let FFDSHOW as a decoder for MPEG). So again there may be an issues with your Video card drivers.

- MKV unknown: I don't think you used my .REG file. If you do, MKVs should display in Explorer as "Matroska file", and the icon should be a coloured movie thing with balloons in side. If you see the Haali icon or something else, there's something wrong with your file associations. When you right-click an .MKV, your should only see "Play in Media Player". Possibly also "MediaInfo" if you installed it and enabled its Explorer extensions.

There are more keys that can influence which player is used when double-clicking, but I'm not going to start detailing those unless absolutely necessary (it's in the "SystemFileAssociations" under hkey-classes-root.

- I've forgotten to specify that it's best to disable User Account Control (and restarting the PC) before starting this. You can re-enable it when finished if you want.

- You obviously need to use a full admin account.