Froth-Bite's Playback Help Sticky

[Lythums]

Froth-Bite's Playback Help Sticky (Last updated: 2007/02/08)

Our group is regularly using the H.264/AVC video and AAC audio in MP4 and has stopped using the older XviD video and MP3 audio in AVI some time ago. The new standard brings great improvement especially in picture quality, thus giving us a chance to lower our fansubs' filesizes and saving bandwidth cost. But everything has its price! The minimum playback system requirements for fansubs encoded to H.264/AVC are approximately a 1.0 GHz System Processor (CPU) with a 16 MB RAM Video Card supported by DirectX 7, or higher. To avoid confusion, Froth-Bite's staff in collaboration with AnimeSuki have put together a playback guide which should help you configure playback for almost 100% of all anime fansubs.


WINDOWS:
For playing all anime, the listed software suffices (download links included):

• Haali's Matroska Splitter  (>> download <<)
  A video filter that supports playback of audio/video/subtitle media containers (MKV/MP4/AVI).
  
  
  
• ffdshow  (>> download <<)
  A collection of decoding filters for almost any type of anime fansub (playback support for DivX/XviD/H.264/AVC video, AAC audio and many more).
  
  
  
• ffdshow settings registry file  (>> download (Win 9x/NT4/x86)  download (Win 2000/XP/2003/Vista/x64) <<)
  This registry file carries *all* recommended settings for ffdshow so it's good that you use it!
  
  
  
• WMV9VCM  (>> download <<)
  A video codec for Windows Media Video 9.
  
  
  
• CoreVorbis  (>> download <<)
  An audio filter for Vorbis audio.
  
  
  
• VSFilter  (>> download <<)
  A filter for loading softsubs from a video file.
  
  

This is a "no-pack" solution to anime fansub playback. There are many codec packs (CCCP, ACE Mega CodecS Pack, K-Lite Codec Pack, gam3r's Codec Pack) on the internet which might not work for every computer. Codec packs are known to cause problems because of their components' intra-incompatibility. They also make it more difficult to troubleshoot user problems. If you have any problems with codec packs, I suggest that you UNINSTALL them and install our playback solution.


Installation instructions

Before installing these playback components: UNINSTALL any possible codec packs and previous ffdshow and VobSub installations that were left on your system. After that, install the above-listed software.

• 1) Haali's Matroska Splitter
  Start the .exe and go through the installation. Disable the splitter's AVI support during installation. Make the settings according to the screenshot below:
  
  
  
• 2) ffdshow
  Start the .exe and go through the installation. If you are not prepared to use our ffdshow's Settings Registry File described in the next step, it is recommended that you turn off MP3 and Vorbis audio decoding and Postprocessing during ffdshow's installation.
  
  
• 3) ffdshow's Settings Registry File
  Open the .reg file in the .zip file. It will ask you if you want to add the information in the .reg file to the registry. You confirm it. With this, all of our recommended settings have been loaded to ffdshow. After this, the registry file itself is no longer needed.
  
  
• 4) WMV9VCM
  
• 5) CoreVorbis
  
• 6) VSFilter
  These three components are all very self-explainatory installers. Run through them, set installation paths and you are done.
  

MPC
There are only a few video players out there which can cope with the newest anime fansubs. I especially recommend Media Player Classic (MPC).

MPC downloads here.

There are only two settings that you are recommended to tweak in MPC; go to View -> Options -> Internal Filters tab and change the settings as shown in the screenshot below. Make sure the AVI, Matroska, MP4, Ogg Source Filters are disabled! You can disable the AAC, AC3, DTS Transform Filters, if you like, as those can be decoded by ffdshow.


Also, make sure that the video renderer is set to System Default, under View -> Options -> Playback -> Output.


Remember, these are merely recommendations. All of the default settings for all playback components should suffice for most fansubs these days.


COREAVC
Alternatively, you can use COREAVC which is a H.264/AVC decoder, just like libavcodec is in ffdshow. Its advantage over ffdshow's libavcodec is its speed. Tests on the alpha versions showed it was 30-40% faster than libavcodec. libavcodec developers are also making their product faster, but they still have ways to go.

Users with slow computers might greatly benefit from the use of COREAVC when playing H.264 video!

Disadvantages of COREAVC? It's not opensource or free. There are payable versions of it, Standard and Professional, here. You could, however, find it on some P2P network.

If you get ahold of the COREAVC copy, install it, then, if you are using ffdshow, go to ffdshow's Video decoder configuration (for ex. Start -> Programs -> ffdshow -> Video decoder configuration) and go to the Codecs tab. There, you will notice the H.264 row. In the second column in the said row, click on the drop-down menu and select disabled (screenshot below). Click OK. This is done because ffdshow tends to override the usage of all 3rd party decoders so that it can use its own (libavcodec for H.264).



*NIX / MAC :
I recommend mplayer to *NIX and Mac OS X users. mplayer requires no other software (decoders, filters) in order to play video, because all necessary components come with the player. From its SVN revision 18942 onward, mplayer has got great softsub ASS/SSA support. I recommend that you compile it using the newest SVN revisions (mplayer's README will be of great help to you).
To enable the ASS/SSA softsub support put the four lines below in mplayer's config file and run your video with it:

embeddedfonts=yes
ass=yes
correct-pts=yes
sid=0

The config file is located in ~/.mplayer/config in unix/linux, and mplayer\config within the mplayer installation folder on windows.

VideoLan Player (VLC) support is thus dropped! For Windows systems, mplayer's newest weekly builds can be obtained here. Those builds also have the mentioned ASS softsub and embedded fonts support.


Remember to follow the guide and afterwards, if you have trouble or if you need to report a bug of the listed software, post in here. We will help! No CCCP links or discussion about ANY codec packs! I've recently updated this post with new links to new software (look at the date when this post was modified).

[Xonk]

I have a question...are you suppose to install all of the programs listed or just some of them...confused  ...I want to run H264 so do i need to install the "Haali's Matroska Splitter?" and do i need to dl all the filters i.e WMV9VCM, CoreVorbis, VSFilter plz help.

-Xonk

[Sylf]

Haali's Matroska Splitter - Yes, you'll need it.  MP4 container, like MKV(Matroska), needs a piece of software how to read such file first.  This splitter does that job.  If you use Media Player Classic 6.4.8.9 or later (I think), you don't need the splitter, since the player has a built-in splitter.

WMV9VCM - No, you don't need it.  That's for Windows Media Video, and only needed when you need to open such video using software that use VfW (Video for Window), such as VirtualDub.  Normally, you don't need it for regular playback of WMV contents.  This has nothing to do with h.264.

CoreVorbis - No, you don't need it.  This is ogg vorbis audio handler that's often used in OGM or MKV video files.  None of Froth-Bite's releases use vorbis audio.

VSFilter - No, you don't need it.  This is a filter that displays an external subtitle files.  Some OGM and MKV files contain such subtitle "files" embedded inside, so you need it to view those subtitles.  (That's called softsub.) All of our releases have the subtitles embedded on the video itself.  (That's called hardsub.)  You don't need any extra software to view our subtitle.

ffdshow - Yes, you'll need this.  This is the actual software that handles the decompression of the h.264 video.  It can also handle AAC audio that we use in our recent releases.

[Lythums]

I strongly recommend everything, including CoreVorbis and VSFilter, except for maybe WMV9VCM, because files in that format are really rare. There were a few fansubs encoded in it and without Windows Media Player 9 installed, you can't really view them. But CoreVorbis and VSFilter you'll definitely need for other fansubs, not ours.

[Sylf]

If you are trying to play F-B's mp4 releases, there are couple things you need to be sure of.
1.  When you install Haali's mkv splitter, make sure you check the boxes exactly like the image posted in the first post in this thread.  It makes sure that Haali's splitter will be used for mp4 playbacks.  (But since you're getting the audio, this probably isn't the problem.)
2. When you install ffdshow, make sure that you check the h.264 box in one of those pages.  That's the codec used in all of our mp4 releases.

[nightkid90]

i'm facing a lil playback problem.its a H.264...after i disabled the H.264...the videos goes on like normal but i have a feeling it slowed down...and the music ends before the clip ends...so its like the video is smooth but slower than its normal speed...i've installed Haali's Matroska Splitter and FFD show...any idea wat happend??or is my comp to slow??realy need some help,thanks in advance=)

[Lythums]

You have to disable h.264 in ffdshow ONLY IF you're going to be using CoreAVC, otherwise keep it enabled. CoreAVC is another H.264 decoder, just like libavcodec is in ffdshow, and it is only more useful if you have a slow computer. We don't provide a download link to it. You have to buy it or find a download of it yourself.
Even though CoreAVC is one time faster than ffshow it is pestered by quality performance issues. It can't properly decode some of the new features of the x264.exe that we use to encode our releases with. On the other hand you have the latest ffdshow builds which we recommend. ffdshow's libavcodec is bit-exact and is the most qualified H.264 High Profile software decoder.

[nightkid90]

so the only choice is to have the coreavc or get a fast comp?btw is there any place to dl the coreavc..maybe a even a trial?

[thr]

In the first post there's a link to a site that hosts mplayer builds for windows. I just wanted to note that these builds are compiled without fontconfig support, which means that softsubs will only be rendered with the default font.

[Lythums]

@nightkid90: Exactly. I don't believe there are trial versions of CoreAVC, you can still check out their site. However, if it were me, I wouldn't buy CoreAVC just yet because the new versions still have a lot of issues with High Profile encodes. And if you decide to buy CoreAVC, be sure to buy the Professional version.

@thr: Yes, I know about it. I just didn't take the time to update the guide with a warning.
I don't believe that many Windows users use mplayer builds anyway; they rather go for CoreAVC which is also faster. Also, providing whatever support for softsub playback on our site/forum is a long extension from the basic H.264 video and AAC audio help. I just thought it would be fair toward users to not leave them with a half-assed playback setup. Anyway, a certain forum offers the mplayer build with both the embedded fonts and ASS/SSA support, I'm just not willing to link to it. 

[nightkid90]

okay,thanks dude^^

[Tokimemofan]

[Lythums]

Adding to Tokimemofan's Winamp suggestion: In order for softsubs to load properly via VSFilter in Winamp, you need to change the value of Autoload VSFilter to Yes under Haali's Media Splitter Settings -> Options tab -> Compatibility, otherwise VSFilter and softsubs will not load.

Use this option only when playing softsubs in Winamp. If you'll have the value set to Yes when playing our MP4/H.264/AAC for example, VSFilter will autoload with any player that's going to be using Haali's Media Splitter (MPC, ZoomPlayer, Winamp) even when the files won't have any softsubs inside, possibly taking more of your system's resources!

[raze]

[Sylf]

Did you install ffdshow, as directed in the first post?

[raze]

Yes

[Sylf]

Since you're hearing the audio, the mp4 splitter (Haali's) is working fine, it sounds.  So I still think the problem is around the video decoder itself, which would be ffdshow in this case.

In ffdshow video decoder configuration dialog (you can access that via Start menu), in the Codecs section what is the current selection for H.264?  And while we're at it, which version of ffdshow is it?  (see it in "About" section of that configuration dialog).

[simik]

To those with slow CPUs I suggest using The Core Pocket Media Player made by CoreAVC guys. Its builtin H264 codec is even faster than a standalone commercial CoreAVC, plus the player is free and includes a set of common audio/video codecs (ogg, aac, matroska spliiter, etc), it could play a 720x576 H264 encoded video without a single glitch on my old PIII-733MHz.

[Sylf]

Yes, The Core Media Player is indeed nice.  But it doesn't have a built-in AVC decoder.  It's a separate plugin, which corecodec has never officially released.

And now TCPMP project has ended.  It's now called CorePlayer, which windows version has not been released yet.

The versions that are available for mobile devices are payware, so I can only imagine that the Windows version will be the same as well.  But it does sound like that version will include the AVC and AAC decoder.  It being only $20, it might be worth purchasing for those of us with slower PC.

[Saiyajin]

Hello;

I got myself a new computer last week and I used Lythka's guide to setup my video playback solution. I followed the instructions and so far have not experienced problems. However, I would like to know what exactly does the FFdshow registry file do?  Upon installing it I haven't noticed any changes in the FFdshow audio/video decoder configuration (ticked boxes, values, etc).

In case I want to revert to FFdshow's default settings what would I need to do? 

Thanks!