Vista - How to get Windows Media Centre to play AVI & MKV files on x32 & x64 systems.

How to get AVI files to play on Windows Media Centre on x32 & x64 systems.



Solution



1st Uninstall all codecs first.

2nd Then use this codec cleaner
Free-Codecs.com :: Download Vidc.Cleaner 09.03.2004 : If you don't see all codecs in VirtualDub, VirtualdubMod or other programs try Vidc.Cleaner

3rd And now reinstall the codecs. Use these
VistaCodecs x64Components Download - Softpedia


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How to get Windows Media Centre to play MKV files on x32 & x64 systems.
How to get MKV files to play on Windows Media Centre on x32 & x64 systems.


1st Open up a notepad!
2nd Copy the text below that is between the lines and paste into the notepad:-



_____________________________________________________________________________

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mkv]
"PerceivedType"="video"
"Content Type"="video/mkv"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Multimedia\WMPlayer\Extensions\.mkv]
"Runtime"=dword:00000007
"Permissions"=dword:0000000f
"UserApprovedOwning"="yes"
_____________________________________________________________________________



3rd Then save notepad as MKV to documents folder.
4th Then double-click on it to activate the device.
at this point you should be able to watch AVI and MKV files on your WMC




There you go!
All tried & trusted.

All the Best Trax1963

Hmmm - some comments:

Why would you only install a single MKV codec and then install the VCP x64 package, when the VCP package *includes* MKV as one of the codecs?

Also, you *do* know that you need to have the VCP 32bit package *before* you install the VCP 64bit package, right?

Finally, The stuff you have in between the lines is a registry entry - and saving that as MKV to *any* folder saves it as a .txt file. You need to specify mkv.reg in order for those tho be imported to your registry correctly.

see this thread it will answer you question:
mp4 file in Vista


Peace

And that thread shows two posts, one asking about MP4 and one reply by you - to get the Vista Codec package....edited roughly one hour before I made this post....

okay if you have the codecs...make a backup of your registry, then save the infomation below to avi.reg and import it into your registry by double clicking the avi.reg file.

Thanks ~

I decided to come back to this topic - and then edited it to add the codebox so it will be easier to copy the text into a file....

Copy the text, open notepad (or your favorite text editor) paste and then save the file ***with a .REG extension***

Make sure that your editor is not going to automatically append a .txt to the extension - for example, in Vista, notepad will still (sometimes) try to save the file as .txt, so naming it avi.reg will make a file called 'avi.reg.txt' - so, underneath the filename change the file *type* to All files then save as avi.red - or whatever filename you choose.

After long and careful consideration with the use of various applications i have come to the conclusion that it is better to use the VLC player, as it is much more useful has a better sound quality and also a better contrast than the WMC.Therefore i now advise all to use the VLC player...
I love the WMC but it just doesn't measure up to the VLC

I use VLC to play DVD's on my computer so I don't have to buy and install a decoder for windows media player.

I must be the only one who uses Media Player with VCP installed first and VLC as a backup.... 97% of the video stuff I throw at MP 'just works'. It's only the occasional odd file that I'll use VLC for, even though VLC has much more options than MP.... and normally I like more options than I would use...