Video Codec Setup

IMPORTANT: The following information ONLY applies if you did select the Windows Player INSTEAD of the default INTERACT Player.

Most formats, that are controlled best with the Windows Media Player, usually need a specific video codec setup. The default Windows codecs are not accurate enough in most cases!
The problem is, that those default codec offer a good playback quality, but unreliable time information. This sounds trivial, but it is not. Exact time information is NOT relevant for watching main stream videos, but it is essential for video coding!

Unreliable time information makes it impossible to control your video frame accurate. That is why you need to tweak your system configuration, using a great free-ware tool called Win7DSFilterTweaker, in order to get things the way we need them.

IMPORTANT: Keep away from codec packs like K-light and all LAV filters!
A list of what format is played best, by which player as well as the required codec can be found in Supported Multimedia Formats.
A detailed setup for all tested formats can be found in the section Video Codec Setup..

Note: If you do not know what compression routine was used for compression nor which codec is used for playback, follow the directions in Identify Codecs

This section explains how to tweak your Windows 7, 8 or 10 system for the following video codec types:

oXVID/DivX mpeg-4 implementations - Still the most accurate video codec which requires little CPU power. Setup is explained in XVID/DIVX compressed videos.

oWMV Videos - Windows own video container that can hold different compression routines. They usually run fine with the Windows 7 on-board codec, but some can be controlled better with ffdshow. Setup is explained in WMV files.

oAVCHD & 2MTS videos - Another H.264 implementation, both common in the recent High Definition Cameras. Those videos require very high CPU (Core i7 preferred) power and lots of RAM. Setup is explained in AVCHD & 2MTS videos.

ox264vfw (H.264) videos - Highly compressed videos with great quality, but requiring more CPU power than XviD. Setup is explained in X264vfw-based videos.

oH.264 Implementations - A small overview of the currently tested H.264 implementations and alternative setups, explained in H.264 Implementations.

oMPEG2/MOD/VOB videos - Old fashioned DVD standard. Tricky to configure for frame accurate controlling and the current codec is not able to handle more than 1 video simultaneously. Setup is explained in MPEG2/MOD/VOB Videos

oDV/DVSD videos - Uncompressed video format. Setup is explained in DV/DVSD Videos.

All tools required, can be found in www.videoanalysis.net/VideoCodecTools.zip.

IMPORTANT: Make sure INTERACT is closed before you perform any of those changes!