h264 videos cannot be played with Fast Stone Image Viewer 7.5.

Hi,

Edition Windows 10 Pro
Version 21H1

I use a Raspberry and use it to take photos and videos with motion detection. The videos are recorded in the h264 format.
Unfortunately, h264 videos are not displayed in the FastStone Image Viewer in my Windows PC.
Windows Media Player was also unable to play h264 videos before installing the K-Lite Codec Pack Mega.
After the installation the Windows Media Player can play the h264 videos but not the Fast Stone Image Viewer 7.5 (FSIV).
A reinstallation of the FSIV could not solve the problem either. Do you have any other ideas?

Best regards
Its me

Read this FAQ entry about black video:
http://codecguide.com/faq_display_issues.htm#item11

The h264 video is not shown in the preview in the Fast Stone Image Viewer. As far as I understand it, it has nothing to do with a video displayed in black or white. Windows Media Player and Media Player Classic Home Cinema can play the video correctly.

You can test playback of the file with the GraphStudioNext tool from the codec pack. If that tool can play the file, then the codecs are working correctly.

You will have to contact FastStone support for help with their software.

If you see the red LAV Video Decoder icon appear in your system tray while attempting to preview a video, then the problem is exactly as described in the FAQ. Video plays, but isn't rendered on screen properly. It doesn't necessarily have to show up as black, it may very well just show a grey background in your app.

The video is displayed in the GraphStudioNext tool as follows and can also be played.

In the Fast Stone Image Viewer, the h264 videos are not displayed in the thumbnail view, in the detail view or in the list view. If I manually change the extension h264 to mp4, the FSIV can display the miniature view but cannot play the video and reports an
error: The player could not find the required codec to play this video.

The red LAV Video Decoder icon appear in the system tray cannot be seen.

I am in contact with FSIV support. I received the suggestion from support:
FastStone Image Viewer(FSIV) completely depends on Windows to play videos. If the required codec from Windows system is missing or corrupted, Windows will fails to play the video, i.e. FSIV will fail to play that video too.
Maybe you can find some free and trusted codec pack for windows on the Internet. From some users feedback, "K-Lite Codec Pack" is a good one to use.

Does it use the thumbnailing functionality from Windows Explorer for its thumbnail previews? I will add .h264 extension support for that in next version of the codec pack.

For the video playback issue try this:
Codec Tweak Tool > Fixes > Re-register base DirectShow filters

Admin wrote:Does it use the thumbnailing functionality from Windows Explorer for its thumbnail previews?

I can only guess.

Admin wrote:Codec Tweak Tool > Fixes > Re-register base DirectShow filters

I did that. The h264 cannot yet be seen within the FSIV.
And
If I manually change the extension h264 to mp4, the FSIV can display the miniature view but cannot play the video and reports an
error: The player could not find the required codec to play this video.

Do you need a small test file?

You have to send the test file to FastStone.

The codecs are already working correctly. There is nothing for me to fix.

I have tried FastStone Image Viewer 7.5 Portable and the problem is probably on your pc (or with your files).

Files with .webm extension doesn't appear in the thumbnail view of FastStone but if I rename them to .mp4 then they appears (they probably have an hardcoded list), thumbnail works and it can also play the video correctly.

I'm not sure if they even use DirectShow codecs, probably not.