win7 cannot play hevc files

[luv2liv]

i have a 4k video file encoded with HEVC. my win7 simply refuses to play it.
i got the latest VLC, even k-lite mega pack as seen in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X69kG8yxyoA. after that mega pack, i tried using media player classic and win media player and still nothing. the video would look like garbled up distortion. i tried using Handbrake to convert to something else but the result is a bigger file size with same distortion.
the strange thing is....my 1.5 years old Samsung 4k TV has no problem playing the video file! wow.

pc spec:
nvidia gtx 960 4gig ram
16 gig ram
i7 6800k cpu

 

[sdifox]

What does codec info in vlc say it is?

 

[luv2liv]

What does codec info in vlc say it is?

stream 2
type: video
codec: mpeg-h part2/hevc (h.265) (hevc)
language: english
resolution: 3840x2176
display resolution: 3840x2160
frame rate: 30.000300
decoded format: planar 4:2:0 YUV 10-bit LE

 

[sdifox]

are you playing local or over wifi?

 

[luv2liv]

playing local, direct from int sata hard drive, VLC just shows distortion.
at first, i thought the file was corrupt.
so i copied the file over to usb. inserted into TV and it works fine.

 

[sdifox]

playing local, direct from int sata hard drive, VLC just shows distortion.
at first, i thought the file was corrupt.
so i copied the file over to usb. inserted into TV and it works fine.

As far as I can tell, VLC doesn't use external codec at all. I'll try it on my win7 machine once I get home and put a 4k mkv on usb drive and test.

 

[Elixer]

Yeah, VLC don't use external decoders, it is all baked in.

Once you have the file opened in VLC, go to the menu option "Tools" then "Codec information" and see what it tells you there. If possible, post a screenshot of that dialog.

 

[sdifox]

Yeah, VLC don't use external decoders, it is all baked in.

Once you have the file opened in VLC, go to the menu option "Tools" then "Codec information" and see what it tells you there. If possible, post a screenshot of that dialog.

see post #3

looks ordinary enough for me

 

[luv2liv]

did you get a chance to see if your VLC can play HEVC encoded 4k movies in win7?

 

[sdifox]

did you get a chance to see if your VLC can play HEVC encoded 4k movies in win7?

sorry, didn't get to. will try tonight

 

[JeffMD]

You are asking the wrong question, your VLC "IS" decoding hevc, otherwise you would get NO video window. Sounds more like the video output selected is incompatible (video driver is probably telling VLC it is a valid video mode but is infact broken).

 

[sdifox]

I tried it and the message window is saying my machine is too slow to decode hevc 4k without lag. hevc is cpu intensive.
tried on two systems.

 

[luv2liv]

well, im happy to say i encode a 1080p HEVC file and VLC was able to play it without any issues.
guess the problem was with those 4k HEVC files 🙁