Capture Preview issue

With the pack installed whenever i try to preview any capture card (TV, webcam, etc) it just freezes shortly after it started.
I've determined it only does like 5 frames and hangs, it may advance very slowly.
I had this issue on multiple systems, since LAV was included IIRC. I worked around using other software and such.
I have recently pinpointed the issue to being a LAV issue.
How do i change the merit or whatever to avoid LAV with previewing?
I do not want to uninstall the pack because its great, uninstaller does not give add/remove.
Thanks in advance.

Is this with the latest version of the pack?

Can you copy the filter list here?
MPC-HC menu > Play > Filters

And also:
Codec Tweak Tool > Generate Log

PS: I prefer chat.

Admin wrote:Is this with the latest version of the pack?

Yes, and all versions that include LAV.  versions without LAV were fine.
I've verified with graphstudionet that it should work fine (tested with the default video renderer on graphstudionet) I have used AmCap before and after installing the codec pack and it was working fine until after the installation of the pack. I believe it's related to the introduction of LAV.

Admin wrote:Can you copy the filter list here?
MPC-HC menu > Play > Filters

Code:

Filters currently loaded:
  - Enhanced Video Renderer (custom presenter)
  - Deinterlacer
  - ffdshow Video Decoder
  - Smart Tee (video)
  - USB2.0_Camera


Admin wrote:And also:
Codec Tweak Tool > Generate Log

system information is a bit irrelevant in my opinion because i had the issue on different computers.
but here it is anyway, it's literally a fresh install, server 2016 = win10 anniversary update LTSB
CTT Log (paste2.org link)

The interesting thing is that there is nothing related to LAV in your filter list for the Webcam situation. ffdshow is used because you have enabled it for raw video.

You can disable raw video in ffdshow this way:
ffdshow video decoder settings > codecs > raw video (bottom of the list)

In case of TV the video format is usually H.264 or MPEG2. For that you are currently using LAV with hardware acceleration enabled. First try disabling hardware acceleration:
MPC-HC options > Internal Filters > Video decoder

To use ffdshow as decoder (like several years ago):
MPC-HC options > Internal Filters > uncheck all decoders
ffdshow video decoder settings > codecs > enable H.264 and MPEG2
(it is also possible to select the preferred decoder during installation of the codec pack)

I know that many people successfully use LAV Video for DVB/TV playback, so this is not a general situation and the problem might not be directly related to LAV.

again, I experience the same issue with any standard application that uses codecs such as AmCap (which is a DirectShow sample shipped with the Windows SDK, likely removed with 8 onward)
LAV is actually used because i see it loaded as DLL.
I recall not having issues without LAV.
right, lav may have nothing to do with this at all.
Can you reproduce this or not?

Regardless, installing the codec pack breaks raw video processing somehow.

This camera uses YUV2, but i also had troubles with rgb and others.
i also dont remember how i exactly worked around the issue on some computers.
and actually there's two copies of LAV shipped with the pack, MPC's internal and a standalone LAV IIRC

I think the Smart Tee Filter is what causing issues, in graphstudionet i wasnt using smart tee filter.
Yup, its FFDShow raw video processing. Odd.

DLLs being loaded by DirectShow is normal. What matters is which filters it actively uses in the filter chain.

There is just one copy of LAV Filters in the pack. The only difference of the internal one in MPC-HC (when enabled) is that it stores its settings in another location. This for example allows to use hardware acceleration in MPC-HC and use regular decoding in other apps.

Are all your systems Windows 10? Microsoft has 'broken' some things regarding webcams. You can read the details here:
https://www.theverge.com/2016/8/19/12562780/microsoft-windows-10-anniversary-update-webcam-freezing
The article contains a registry tweak to get the old behavior back.

Is the problem solved with ffdshow raw disabled? Also for TV playback?

For which purpose did you use ffdshow raw? I may be able to provide alternative solutions to get the same functionality in another way.

I am able to reproduce the problem on my laptop. With ffdshow raw enabled, webcam output uses a lot of time for each video frame, and it appears frozen.

Unfortunately, ffdshow is no longer being developed. So only thing you can do is avoid using it in this situation.

again, the issue is with everything capture related, yes its fixed by disabling raw processing

its a very old issue, had it on win7

perhaps ffdshow should be dropped from the pack? since lav is a replacement

yes, the second copy of lav is part of mpc-hc

Still through, i've verified that the culprit is that Smart Tee doesnt play along well with ffdshow

sorry for the late reply

LAV Filters are already used by default for everything!
ffdshow isn't used for processing raw video unless you explicitly manually select it during (or after) installation.

ffdshow is still included because some people still want use it due to some of its functionality, and there are legitimate use cases for it. It may cause a problem in this capture situation, but it works reasonably good in other cases. The percentage of people that use it is small.

It is a balance between giving users what they want and at the same time prevent them from shooting themselves in the foot. The recommended settings are always selected by default. Maybe that should be made even more clean at the beginning of the installation.

Oh i see, thanks for the info!!

Sorry.

good idea, i think there should be a note like "concerned? compatibility issues? click "contents"" for example or a readme step

since ffdshow is outdated/discontinued and used by a minority i think it should be removed from the installer and offered separately on website, with a small note in the installer.

People don't like to download separate things, that is why the Mega variant is the most popular one.

then i guess best would be shipping a readme

There actually already is a help button on most pages in the installer which opens a readme. It is just in desperate need of updated information. And people who read it.

Suggestion is putting a installer page instead of a button, due to the likelyhood of people pressing it