Installing LAV Codecs for using with Whirligig

[Whirligig]

Whirligig comes with 3 video path options.


Media Foundation
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This is built into windows 8 and 10 and doesn't require any codecs to be installed. It has a wide range of support and works well on the majortiy of videos.

Video Lan
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This is built into Whirligig and als doesn't require codecs to be installed. It uses the same video support as VLC video player and works on all Windows versions 7 up.

DirectShow
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This does require video codecs to be installed but in my opinion is the best option, plays the widest range of video formats and has the fastest playback when combined with the LAV codecs.

installing LAV codecs
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Warning, these installation guides are only offered as suggestions for installing codecs. Please take care when installing any third part software.
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There are many ways to install videos codecs to work with Whirligig. The easiest and safest is to install the LAV filters manually. Find here a guide on installing the LAV codecs and if you're lucky enough to own an Nvidia graphics card, how to set up gpu decoding.

http://wearestars360.nsccreative.com/setup

This guide is for setting up your system to play 'We are Stars' a VR science education film and you can find more details on that here:

http://wearestars360.nsccreative.com/

A great example of high end 360 video even if I do say so myself, although I did work on it :)

The other way to install codecs on your system is to use a codec pack such as klite. There is a strong word of warning here though as these packs often come with bloatware which you have to choose to not install. I've also had reports on issued caused by installing these packs. If you intend to install your codecs this way make sure you fully research into what you're doing first.

I hope these guide helps with setting up Whirligig for the best video support. If you have any problems or issues let me know and I'll do my best to help.

Happy watching.

Phil

[Brian3Dw]

This worked for me. Thanks for the help. The player is great!

[dannyhefc69]

+1 keep up the good work, works great and cheap, everyones a winner :)

[Pawciu]

Yup, worked for me too. Thanks!

[FoxZilla]

I'm curious.. How does the codec business work these days? I mean, why does VLC player play all my video files without having to install codecs manually? Last time I had to install codecs was ~10 years ago, but it seems like all the VR video players require them. I've always thought them to be a bit shady and even now as I tried to download the Tweak Tools F-Secure blocked the website (files.codecguide.com) saying it might be harmful O_o

[Whirligig]

If you're worried about klite then try the installer I made:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/a8w3cyuzko1iukd/LAV%20Installer%20for%20Whirligig%20Installer.exe?dl=1

It just contains the LAV codecs and tweak tools to register them which it does automatically.

Regarding your question about codecs and why they are a thing again all of a sudden. In truth they've never gone away. Something like VLC use the same codecs but they have them built in so you don't have to install them. The thing is is because VLC is given away free the problems with licenses and certained codecs wanting money for every unit sold is not a problem. If you give something like VLC away for free you don't fall into that trap. As soon as you decide to sell something though things become much more tricky. Including the VLC code is all of a sudden problematic or really really confusing. Who owns what licence and whether you are going to run into problems if you do are far more complicated. The easy solution is to not include them and get people to download the free ones themselves.

Interestingly I've found myself looking into this lot more recently as I bought a Unity3D video plugin that uses the VLC libraries and also another player has emerged that also use these libraries. Some of the legality has dropped away when using these libraries. In saying that I'm very conscious about this and although I've released a beta version which contains (I"ve removed the problematic codecs) them I'm probably going to resort to having people install VLC to be able to use the VLC libraries in Whirligig.

This is the safest for me and will also remove any worries about using features that VLC has.

In short it's all legal stuff and really frustrating. I wish it wasn't a problem as it would make my life much easier :)

[FoxZilla]

Thanks for the explanation. I used your installer and everything works now.

[NotUsing]

Hi, how can i integrate such DirectShow filter as DmitriRender (dmitrirender.ru) in Whirligig? It will be wonderfull if this is possible to watching videos with interpolated 90fps instead annoying 24/30fps.

[Rytharr]

I used your installer and it helped but im still having problems. I was getting 1 frame ever 10-20 seconds now after using your installer I get at least a couple frames a second.

[Whirligig]

Hi

When you load the video do you see the LAV icons appear in the taskbar at the bottom? If you do, right click on the red one and change the hardware decoding to none and see if that helps. If not try the other options in there as well.

Poor frame rates are things I've been working on to improve but very poor frame rates seems to be something else and something I've not been able to pin down.

There are a couple of other things you can try. You can also try the betas. To try the betas right click on Whirligig in Steam, go to properties and then the beta tab. In the beta tab try the 3.8 directshow version and the 3.8 media foundation version. You can also try the 3.73 version which has VLC support, check the News note for more information.

http://steamcommunity.com/games/whirligig/announcements/detail/603865318485493125

Again this might help.

Let me know if any of those suggestions are of any use. I'm constantly updating the player and there will be a new version out soon so hopefully that will improve things.

Best of luck.

Phil

[Rübezahl]

Thanks !!!

[michaeltomasso]

the drive or unc share does not exist or is not accessible. I get this when tring to install. any hep would be great

[Whirligig]

Thinking about it you could try installing the LAV codecs using their installer.

https://github.com/Nevcairiel/LAVFilters/releases

LAVFilters-0.68.1-Installer.exe

And then use the codec Tweak tools to register them as prefered as described above.

If it's that installer that isn't working they also provide a zip which will allow you to manually register them. That might be worth a try.

[andrea.marchi.san]

Hi

I just bought the Steam version of the player because I couldn't see a single movie on the free one. The problem persists: "Video failed to load" error, and I already tried all the suggested solutions including the custom codecs installer.

Please, is there something else I can try?

[Whirligig]

Hi

It is highly likely that the codecs haven't been installed properly, I suggest you try my installer which works on windows 10 where others don't.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/a8w3cyuzko1iukd/LAV%20Installer%20for%20Whirligig%20Installer.exe?dl=1


If this doesn't work there is also the option to try the other video paths. To do this select the cog icon on the bottom left of th UI, then select the video paths tab and then select an option other than directshow. Directshow requires codecs where as the other 2 do not.

Hopefully that helps but if not let me know and we'll go from there.

All the best

Phil

[andrea.marchi.san]

Thanks for the answer.

Anyway, I already tried the installer and the different paths, but I still get the same error every time I open a mp4 vr video.

I even reinstalled the player and codecs multiple times...I'm really out of options right now...