Setting up the Media Server to play various file types

My new Media Server doesn’t come with everything to play all file types. If I didn’t want to play files in Windows Media Player or Media Center, that wouldn’t be a problem. I highly recommend the Video Lan Client (VLC) as it plays just about every file type you throw at it. There are times however, when you want these files to be played in Media Player or Media Center. In not locally then streaming to other devices. For that you need codecs.

I recommend you stay away from codec packs. They say they play everything and can end up messing up your finely crafted system. A good article on this subject is Chris Lanier’s Guide to Codecs in Vista Media Center. As Chris’ article shows, you need 2 things. A splitter, which lets you open the files and a decoder to actually play the files.

Download and install Haali Media Splitter so you can open files like MKV, OGM, MP4, FLAC.

Next, download and install ffdshow. Ffdshow is always being updated. People in the Vista Media Center community are having good results with ffdshow_beta3_rev1324_20070701_clsid.exe so that is the one I install. Best to go with what works.Take all the defaults.

You also need to tell Vista how to handle these files. Simply use notepad to create a file called video.reg and copy and paste these lines into it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mp4]
“PerceivedType”=”video”
“Content Type”=”video/mp4″

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.m4v]
“PerceivedType”=”video”
“Content Type”=”video/m4v”

Save the file, close Notepad and then double-click on the file. Click ok to have the file added to your registry. Now these types of files will show up in your Media Player library.

Optionally, I install 2 other useful tools:

Real Player Alternative (MUCH better than installing Real Player)

QT Lite (Quicktime alternative) - Install this if you don’t have Quicktime installed.

Ffdshow has lots of options for improving audio and video. I set up mine to be used with most every file type. While Ffdshow can be used to upscale or de-noise, etc. I do not enable any of those settings. I just let it play the files with out adding any extra overhead to the CPU.

Video Settings