Easy Questions (ffdshow vs codecs)

Discussion in 'Other video questions' started by ChadZ, Jul 5, 2006.

  1. ChadZ

    ChadZ Member

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2006
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    11
    Hey guys. I just had a couple of easy questions I was hoping people could help me with. (I searched and couldn't find the answers)

    1. Is it better to use ffdshow for viewing divx and xvid or to have and use the actual divx and xvid codecs? What about for audio since I know ffdshow supports many audio types.

    2. I noticed a lot of people install an AC3 filter even though they also have ffdshow and it seems to support it. Why bother? Or are there some things ffdshow supports but isn't good at? I noticed when I go to install it some of it's supported options aren't checked and figured maybe that's why - because its not good at it and I have something better already installed?

    3. I noticed ffdshow is open source but the open source webpage has not been updated in years while the version offered by afterdawn.com is quite recent. What gives?

    4. VLC vs Media Player Classic. How does VLC's internal format handling compare to that done by ffd show or the original codecs? Basically which gives better results?

    I realize I asked a lot of questions, but I'd appreciate it if anyone could answer even just one.

    Thanks.
    - Chad
     
    ChadZ, Jul 5, 2006
    #1
  2. celtic_d

    celtic_d Regular member

    Joined:
    Jan 23, 2005
    Messages:
    3,352
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    46
    1. ffdshow uses libavcodec for MPEG-4 decoding and it is about the fastest decoder out. It also has some nice pp options. In the end though it is a personaly choice. Use whatever you want to use.

    2. No real need for AC3Filter. ffdshow can basically do everything that it can including on the fly AC3 encoding.

    3. Opensource means anyone can download the source and build it (done it myself numerous times). Perhaps Milan stopped for the same reason I did. There are that many builds out there. Fact is that ffdshow hasn't been updated in quite awhile, so I guess Milan isn't around or is otherwise occupied.

    4. VLC uses libavcodec for most decoding. It also shares numerous other libs with ffdshow (libdts, libmad, etc.) so quality should be basically the same, although ffdshow I think has more pp features. VLC doesn't rely on dshow though, so it uses less overhead. Still if that was your main concern then you would be using mplayer, not VLC.
     
    celtic_d, Jul 5, 2006
    #2
  3. ChadZ

    ChadZ Member

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2006
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    11
    Thanks for clearing all that up celtic.

    Appreciate it.
    - Chad
     
    ChadZ, Jul 7, 2006
    #3

Share This Page