h265 - can't play any yet it says supported

Hi,

I came across a video which was encoded with HEVC h265 and I can't play it as I don't seem to have the codec.
It seems a nightmare to even find a codec - plenty of encoders but what's the point without being able to decode??

Anyway I recently installed K-lite 11.8 not so long ago and checking through the changes list I see that added support for h265 was added somewhere in version 10 and 10.7. The latter states that a high end video card is needed (I have the Nvidia GTX970 which is high enough). I still can't play the file and looking through the tweaker there is no mention of h265. So right now I'm confused. I know I could probably get VLC but would rather just get some kind of support for my favourite player to use.

Can anyone explain why this codec is so elusive ? and if possible how best to get something workable in Window 7 x64

thanks

H.265 has been supported for a long time already.

You did not mention which player your are using, so I am assuming it is WMP, since h.265 should work with default settings in MPC-HC. If you are using WMP on Windows 10, then you must disable Media Foundation for .mkv, otherwise it will use codecs from Microsoft and playback will fail. You can disable Media Foundation with the Codec Tweak Tool.

With MPC-HC it should play without needing any adjustments. Only requirement is that you must use LAV Splitter (which is the default). H.265 does not work when using Haali splitter.

Admin wrote:H.265 has been supported for a long time already.

You did not mention which player your are using, so I am assuming it is WMP, since h.265 should work with default settings in MPC-HC. If you are using WMP on Windows 10, then you must disable Media Foundation for .mkv, otherwise it will use codecs from Microsoft and playback will fail. You can disable Media Foundation with the Codec Tweak Tool.

With MPC-HC it should play without needing any adjustments. Only requirement is that you must use LAV Splitter (which is the default). H.265 does not work when using Haali splitter.

Sorry my goto player is Gom player. I don't use WMP ever and MP classic doesn't seem to work when I try it - often just crashes although in the case of the video I was trying to play it just said it was unsupported. I was looking in the options menu and see "Haali Video Renderer **unavailable**" If I select it anyway and apply it says "not installed".
Is this a clue? Should this have installed with 11.8 _full which is what I had recently installed?


I am also on Windows 7 x64.

I am still not able to play the h.265 video in Gom (when set to use external filters)

Haali splitter and Haali renderer are two different things. But since you don't know what Haali is, it is safe to say that you are already using LAV Splitter.

Open the file with GraphStudioNext (included in the pack). That shows you which filters are being used.

Admin wrote:Haali splitter and Haali renderer are two different things. But since you don't know what Haali is, it is safe to say that you are already using LAV Splitter.

Open the file with GraphStudioNext (included in the pack). That shows you which filters are being used.

That doesn't seem to be in my k-lite folder anywhere. Should I download it ?
I'm also confused by the ffdshow folders and if this has anything to do with the problem.

I have a main folder:

D:\program files (x86)\ffdshow

and then there are two in the k-lite structure:

D:\Program Files (x86)\K-Lite Codec Pack\Filters\ffdshow
D:\Program Files (x86)\K-Lite Codec Pack\Filters\ffdshow64

Well I just re-installed the codec pack and chose the haali splitter option. Some success in that like Gom now MPC plays the sound of the file only. MPC also plays some of the videos I couldn't get it to play before. So I'm getting a tad  closer .. I think

oh and now I do have graphstudionext installed. The file I'm trying to play shows only an audio path:

Haali media splitter (audio) > LAV audio Decoder > AC3Filter > Default DirectSound Device (audio).

The file btw plays perfectly on my Android device using MXPlayer so at least I do know this is not just a sound file.

As I said before, Haali Splitter does NOT support files that contain H.265 video. You must use LAV Splitter.

You should remove the existing ffdshow installation.

GraphStudioNext is included in the Full/Mega version.

Admin wrote:As I said before, Haali Splitter does NOT support files that contain H.265 video. You must use LAV Splitter.

You should remove the existing ffdshow installation.

GraphStudioNext is included in the Full/Mega version.

Ah - I should avoid editing my replies.

Ok so with the other ffdshow gone after k-lite removed it for me I chose the haali splitter at the installation stage.
How do I now go back to the LAV splitter ?

Ok I've disabled Haali splitter for mkv files and I can play the video in MPC now.

Is there a way to get Gom to play it as well? This is still playing sound only

I suspect GOM is still using its internal splitter. You should be able to disable that in the settings, and maybe even be able to select LAV Splitter.

Admin wrote:I suspect GOM is still using its internal splitter. You should be able to disable that in the settings, and maybe even be able to select LAV Splitter.

I'm trying that as we speak but to no avail yet although I know it's accepting the settings it's still playing sound only.

You can probably see which filters it uses during playback somewhere in its menu. For example in MPC-HC it is under: Play > Filters.

The internal filter settings in GOM:
Preferences > Filter > Source Filters

Admin wrote:You can probably see which filters it uses during playback somewhere in its menu. For example in MPC-HC it is under: Play > Filters.

The internal filter settings in GOM:
Preferences > Filter > Source Filters

Thanks, yes that's one of the things that I disabled - the mkv filter. This just stops Gom from trying to search for a codec.
I also went to advanced settings and put all the filters displayed in GraphStudioNext as high priority. Then finally in <disable filters, made sure 'disable internal filters were off and in the list of filters to enable ffdshow / LAV splitter amongst a few.

Still no go though. I also tried Avidimux to see if it could pick it up and it doesn't render the video. I get a line of noise displayed and it doesn't seek or display. The Decode button has ??? above it so it appears that programs can't either tell what decoder to ask for or can't connect to one via windows. Odd.
I feel so close but it's being stubborn.

At least I have two methods where I can play the video. MPC-HCx64 and VLC which seems to have it's own internal codecs in place.

I'll try GOM tomorrow or Monday. Maybe I can find another setting that needs changing.

Thanks

I am successfully able to load LAV Splitter in GOM player with these settings:

1) Preferences > Filter > Disable Filters > uncheck "LAV Splitter"
2) Preferences > Filter > Source Filter > uncheck all
3) Preferences > Filter > Codec > uncheck all

That's annoying. Still doesn't work for me. I set up exactly as you did and it's still playing sound only.
Might have to give up at this point.

Thanks very much for trying that for me. It may be that there's something wrong with the file I'm trying to play although it does play on my android ok.

So which splitter is GOM using in your case? You can see the filters it uses by right-clicking on the player during playback.

Admin wrote:So which splitter is GOM using in your case? You can see the filters it uses by right-clicking on the player during playback.

This is the wierd thing - in the details box is this:

Code:


*** DIRECTSHOW FILTER LIST ***
1. DirectSound Audio Renderer
2. Gretech Audio
3. AC3Filter
4. Haali Media Splitter

Point is that I can't see where or why it's using the Haali splitter.

I've even put the LAV splitter and LAV splitter source into the filter priority in Preferences > Filter > advanced settings. There isn't much else I can do in Gom to stop it using Haali so perhaps I need to disable it somewhere else?

Louiscar wrote:

Admin wrote:So which splitter is GOM using in your case? You can see the filters it uses by right-clicking on the player during playback.

This is the wierd thing -  in the details box is this:

Code:


*** DIRECTSHOW FILTER LIST ***
1. DirectSound Audio Renderer
2. Gretech Audio
3. AC3Filter
4. Haali Media Splitter

Point is that I can't see where or why it's using the Haali splitter.

I've even put the LAV splitter and LAV splitter source into the filter priority in Preferences > Filter > advanced settings. There isn't much else I can do in Gom to stop it using Haali so perhaps I need to disable it somewhere else?

EDIT: Ah got it!!!
I used the tweak tool and hadn't set the preferred 32-bit source filters to LAV - once I did this Gom is now playing the video.

Thanks again you've been a great help in guiding me through this problem.

In case of source filters (= splitters) it is possible to set them as preferred for specific file extensions. That overrides the merit (= priority) of a filter. As you have noticed, the Codec Tweak Tool provides options to control the preferred splitters.

Admin wrote: As you have noticed, the Codec Tweak Tool provides options to control the preferred splitters.

Thanks for the information. It's a complex subject and the problem is understanding how other programs behave. Avdimux won't deal with the video. My gut reaction is to get the video out of 265 and into something I can edit. Still I'm hoping that tools will evolve.

You might have an old version of AviDemux. Try version 2.6.11beta. I am able to open H265 with it.

Admin wrote:You might have an old version of AviDemux. Try version 2.6.11beta. I am able to open H265 with it.

Thanks I will my version is 2.6.6