Codec problem's with new whirligig (non beta) version

[Kobold]

Hello Mr. Whirligig developer :)

Im a long time VR (whirligig) user and after a fresh win10 Pro install for my new owned Vive Pro 2 device that arrived today, i had some difficultys with your player.

From around 15 VR Videos that i try, only 1 video was working flawless... and i doesnt matter which codec path i choosed ( i tried them all), i had a 99% white 1% dark image and sometimes sound is playing and sometimes nothing.

I first installed newest k-light version but no changes, i gave your whirligig lav codec (2016) installer that you suggested in the Pinned treads from a try but also no changes.

After that i also tried a really old whirligig 4.121 that i had backed up from my Win7 harddrive and it worked but 1 video had really heavy performance issues, that was running fine with my old Rift CV1 in the same version on win7, its possible this bug is related to Win10 and the older codec package or with the new Vive Pro 2 Hardware, that hit the markted.

Anyways is looks like i can't use the newest player version 4.8... (no beta). i have no idea how to fix it, it looks like the codec lav package just get ignored with the newest version
and also tried again all differend video path's but they all was buggy.

[Whirligig]

Hi

Thanks for getting in touch. Firstly there has been a change in the latest version of Whirligig that might effect this although I'm not 100 percent sure. For Directshow there are a list of preferred codecs, well only two. The first is FFDshow and then the LAV codecs. This was implemented to allow people who wanted to use SVP with Whirligig to do so. So my first advice would be to uninstall FFDShow if you have it. I think the main aim is to get the LAV codecs to work so uninstalling FFDShow would mean that the LAV's should be the next in line to use.

So things to try. Install the LAV codecs directly instead of using K-light installer. Then use codec tweak tools to make sure that LAV is set to preferred codec. Here is an explanation in doing that:
https://youtu.be/lK-52yfGKg4?t=123

When installing the LAV codecs make sure to select show in taskbar as you'll be able to know if they are being used in Whirligig. It's also a good idea to setup the LAV codecs so they use GPU decoding instead of CPU. install guild here:
https://wearestars360.nsccreative.com/setup

Hopefully something should work in that lot but if not we can go from there.

Thanks for using Whirligig and hopefully we can get this sorted.

All the best

Phil

[黒猫]

Installing system-wide video codecs in 2021? Seriously?

[Whirligig]

Hi

When it comes to codecs there are a lot of issues with licensing. This is for example why windows doesn't support (or at least didn't support) dvd playback as standard. The mpeg codec is copyrighted and Windows would have to pay a set amount for every copy of windows sold. This is also true for mp3's.

For this reason the standard support that windows offers is limited so they don't have to pay licenses for the codec support they offer. Media Foundation, which is the video filter pack that is included with Windows is much much better than it used to be 4 years ago and now includes support for all the major video formats and includes gpu decoding for some of them. However this doesn't stop people using the latest codecs and compression that isn't immediately available in Media Foundation. Also some of the great work done by the people behind the LAV filters are actually more optimised and can often provide better performance.

This is why Whirligig offers support for the build in codecs (Media Foundation), DirectShow allow people to install their own if they want and Video Lan which is a whole different kettle of fish.

Video Lan is a different beast (the system implemented in VLC video player). They are based in France which have very different laws regarding copyright. This allows them to distribute a player free of charge with codec support for formats that others would have to pay licenses for.

To be truthful the whole codecs/filter playback thing is a ♥♥♥♥ show of red tape. I try and offer as much support as I can without getting into trouble. Hopefully Whirligig does that and keeps everyone happy :)

Phil

[Kobold]

Originally posted by Whirligig:

Hi
So things to try. Install the LAV codecs directly instead of using K-light installer. Then use codec tweak tools to make sure that LAV is set to preferred codec. Here is an explanation in doing that:
https://youtu.be/lK-52yfGKg4?t=123

I uninstalled K-Light, and the only codec i have installed now is LAVFilters-0.75-Installer.exe
from github, i think thats the newest version. This codecs works in the 3-4 years old player version but no success in your newest one and the youtube guide is no help, because its for k-light and i don't have this codec tweak tool from the k-light install.

Maybe you link the wrong youtube video guide?

[Whirligig]

The klite tweaktool is separate from klite so you don't need the tweaktool change the preferred preferences. Email me [e-mail] and I'll email you just the tool so you can make sure that the preferred codecs are being used.

[Kobold]

Originally posted by Whirligig:

I'll email you just the tool so you can make sure that the preferred codecs are being used.

If i just need the tweaktool i reinstall klight and backup the tweaktool and uninstall klight after that.

Originally posted by Whirligig:

Hi
When installing the LAV codecs make sure to select show in taskbar as you'll be able to know if they are being used in Whirligig. It's also a good idea to setup the LAV codecs so they use GPU decoding instead of CPU. install guild here:
https://wearestars360.nsccreative.com/setup

btw. my old player (v4121) is playing everything now and with the optimal performance, this guide is really usefull thanks... i really hope the tweaktool will help now with your new player version.