***Edit 9-3-2013: Post is outdated. MPC player comes prepackaged with all codecs now.***
MPC help, tips and solutions.
Problem #1: Media Player classic won’t play videos
Solution: Need to install video codec(s)
Checkout FileForum @BetaNews for a list of codecs. Recommended codecs: ffdshow, dvx, xvid, real (alternative), quicktime (alternative), etc. However, it’s not suggested to install all the codecs due to compatibility issues. The most popular are K-Lite or CCCP codec packs for the lazy. Packs install all the necessary codecs in one step and are pre-tested for compatibility. Always download from reliable sites or better yet, the codec’s official site.
Tested MPC with only FFDShow installed and found it played standard file types except real, quicktime, and asx files (need separate codecs for those).
Problem #2: Media Player Classic displays an error message containing the word “renderless” when trying to play videos
Solution: Change Output setting
View>Options>Playback>Output
Directshow Video>tick VMR7 (renderless), if that doesn’t work try VMR9 (renderless)
Apply>OK
Restart MPC
Problem #3: Subtitles won’t display
Solution: MPC auto-detects subtitles. If it doesn’t display then change the Output setting
See #2.
Double check.
Play>Subtitles (or left click>subtitles)
“Subtitles” shouldn’t be greyed out and “Enabled”. If separate sub files are detected you’ll be able to select it here.
Problem #4: Don’t know how to use SRT, SAA, or external subtitle files
Solution: Rename subtitle to match video or Ctrl+L it
Easy way:
Rename the subtitle file to match the video’s name
Place subtitle in same in same directory with video
Load video
MPC will now autodetect the external subtitle
Thinker’s way:
(don’t have to rename files)
Play video
File>Load Subtitles (Ctrl+L)
Locate/select subtitle file
OK
See end of #3 for double check procedure.
Problem #5: Subtitles are garbled
Solution: Typically happens when trying to play subtitles in a foriegn language not native to the computer.
Temporary fix
Control Panel>Regional and Language Options
Advanced tab>Language for non-Unicode Programs>select language of subtitle
OK
Reboot
To switch back to native language, follow the same steps
Permanent fix
Convert foreign format to srt using Subtitle workshop, or other similar software. Resync with Vob if needed. Softpedia offers several converters or just get Subtitle workshop from Urusoft. Go here for Vob or read the setup guide here. Never needed Vob for srt subs but maybe useful for others.
For those already with srt files (read first)
Setup computer following steps above under “Temporary fix”
Right-click>Open With…>Wordpad (not notepad)
Save As>Save as type>change to “Unicode Text Document” (note automatic change to .txt)
File name>rename file to *.srt (* is name of file)
Save (will rewrite file so always work with a copy)
Repeat for additional srt files
Reset “Regional Language” back to native setting
Reboot
(Wordpad will visually validate the conversion vs. Notepad)
Problem #6: Videos are too light or too dark
Solution: Adjust Picture Properties
Play>Filters>select “X” video decoder (where “X” is the name of installed video codec)
“X” video decoder tab>Image settings>Picture properties
Adjust Luminance offset (brightness)
Problem #7: Media Player Classic only opens videos in the same player or Want separate MPC window for each media file
Solution: Change “Open options”
View>Options>Player>Open options
Tick “Open a new player…”
Apply>Ok
Problem #8: Capture screenshots
Solution: Save image function
Pause video on image
File>Save Image…
Autosaves in My Documents>My Pictures
Grab Media Player Classic at sourceforge. Gabest’s latest builds at Doom9.
Copyright 2007 (DoA)nimation.
(DoA)nimation 
September 18, 2007 at 8:00 pm |
Thank you, I had problem #6 (video too dark), and you helped me to solve the problem.
November 21, 2007 at 9:39 am |
i can’t play videos in MPC.
a message box appears and says “AfxSocketInit failed”
November 29, 2007 at 6:00 pm |
What’s your OS? If it’s Vista, can’t help cuz nothing works properly on that operating system. Go back to XP! ┐(‘～`；)┌
FYI: The word is, it’s your consumer right to ask for a downgrade from Microsoft. People who dislike Vista, can get a copy of XP for free. Haven’t tried it yet but this will most likely negate the Vista key permanently so ask before taking the plunge.
February 16, 2008 at 11:57 pm |
after i fixed a sound problem and applied subtitles to my video files they keep freezing i don’t know what to do i’m completey new to this by the way…thanks
February 19, 2008 at 10:53 pm |
I have problem #8. However, all of a sudden, when I try to ‘save image’ all I get is the error message ‘GetCurrentImage failed, hr = 8000ffff’ This happened once before, a long time ago, but I can’t remember what I did to resolve it…
February 27, 2008 at 2:38 pm |
While using Media Player Classic and I try to “Save Image” from a film, it fails me and the error message window states “GetCurrentImage failed, hr = 80004001”. What is this about ? How is it corrected ?
March 4, 2008 at 8:36 am |
GetCurrentImage error msg possibly a compability issue rising from source video file type (typically don’t see this problem with avi or mkv files).
Fix: View>Options>Playback>Output
try selecting output to direct7 or 9
Source: doom9
March 4, 2008 at 9:05 am |
tin, your post is vague and lacks system info.
“AfxSocketInit is an MFC command called used to initialize WinSockets for network communication. Your programs are trying to connect to the internet as part of the registration process and failing when they detect that your machine doesn’t support the TCP/IP communication protocol. Get your computer connected to the internet, or even a local network TCP/IP network, and it should work fine.”
Source: Y!,
Which means, check your net connection and settings. As a last resort try a system restore or reinstall OS because some necessary files may have gotten deleted, corrupted, etc. There are cases where updates bring up the socket error.
March 4, 2008 at 9:30 am |
help, try #2 fix for subtitle issues.
March 11, 2008 at 11:28 am |
I got a problem loading Media Player Classic.
it is none of the above eight. the program just refuses to open, even when it’s not asked to open any videos.
I tried lots of time to uninstall k-lite codec pack and reinstall a newer version. this time I removed the old one, along with WinAmp and installed k-lite mega codec pack 3.8.0.
now the player consums about 50% CPU and 4,180KB of memory and just hung like that, not displaying the gui or anything.
working on Windows XP on IBM T60 laptop. i know that it runs just fine on other laptops of my colleagues.
thanks in advance.
March 14, 2008 at 4:50 pm |
barnashi, we’re leaning towards the video file or codec pack as the culprit. Either may eat up significant resources and cause unwanted performance issues. However, we’re at a loss why the application won’t open. You may want cleanup the computer then re-download MPC and try a different codec such as ffdshow.
Barebones fix:
First, uninstall ALL codecs.
Next, Download the original MPC. Pick one of two versions available: XP and 98me, zip or 7z compression. Extract .exe file and open MPC. You should see the a player with menu bar, blank screen area showing “321”, and play buttons. Exit MPC.
Then, download and install ffdshow. Try the 06-17 release first.
Finally, open MPC. Drag and drop a video into player. If there’s sound but no video change output settings (see above) and your good to go.
For those who want the newest and latest, a new group is handling ffdshow called ffdshow tryouts.
June 30, 2008 at 11:14 am |
thank you for troubleshooting…
August 31, 2008 at 4:42 pm |
Hi, I have kind of a unique problem with media player classic. Whenever I try to open the program, I get an endless string of error messages (Run.dll has caused a problem and will now close, etc.), and the only thing I can do to stop them is to do a hard shutdown on my computer. I also have ffdshow, mplayer, divx 2.6, and windows media player 9, and an Intel Celeron processor, if that helps. My OS is Windows Me. Is there anything I can do to fix this? Do I just have too many video applications on my hard drive? Should I just get rid of media player classic and forget about it? Anyway, thanks in advance for your help.
September 16, 2008 at 5:19 am |
can i know how to watch the video…..i feel so confusing…i follow the step but then again still can’t see anything….help help!!!!!!
November 1, 2008 at 5:43 pm |
HI there. How do I permanently put the subtitles t the video? Please help. Thanks a lot and I LOVE YOUR SITE!!!
November 7, 2008 at 1:45 am |
I’ve problem on playing video from windows media player. Exmple :
The “windows media player” icon still there (at the video clip), then, 4 minutes later, the icon turn into “media player classic” icon and can’t play anymore. There are no “open with” when I right clicking it.
When I click “open” it’ll open “windows Media Player” but there are no video, audio , etc. In fact, It doesn’t open it either.
Eg: If the video clip’s name is “SuJu”, then the one that open in “windows media player” is “XXX” (the last video clip that had been played before)
November 24, 2008 at 3:35 am |
i have a problem about playing my movies with sound but no pictures, i did what the DoAnimation team said to barnashi about changing the output settings but it still won’t work …. please someone help me! i’m getting really impaitent about it because it won’t work. sometimes i feel like i could just smash my laptop!!!!!
please help!
November 24, 2008 at 3:43 am |
continuing from my other comment .. this is what i shows when i first try to play the movie:
E:1.rmvb::Output 01 (Video Stream)
Media Type 0:
————————–
Video: RealVideo 4 480×360 23.00fps 392Kbps
AM_MEDIA_TYPE:
majortype: MEDIATYPE_Video {73646976-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
subtype: Unknown GUID Name {30345652-0000-0010-8000-00AA00389B71}
formattype: FORMAT_VideoInfo {05589F80-C356-11CE-BF01-00AA0055595A}
bFixedSizeSamples: 1
bTemporalCompression: 0
lSampleSize: 21472
cbFormat: 122
December 1, 2008 at 3:23 am |
i can open files using mpc but when i go to enlarge to full screen it only stays open in full screen for a few seconds then automatically minimizes itself. i am using the 3.5.7 (i do believe) version. are there any paths that i should take or should i upgrade to another version? if so will this correct the problem?
December 31, 2008 at 11:52 am |
nice post
i like it a lot
many thanks dude…
January 3, 2009 at 12:32 pm |
Hi.
I recently downloaded the latest version of the K-lite MEGA Codec Pack and I discovered that this version of MPC was included.
I installed it but I oddly found out that MPC HomeCinema refuses to play any of my videos, which all work perfectly with Windows Media Player.
Whenever I duoble click on the videos the program starts, the window fits the aspect ratio of the video, the total time is displayed in the corner but it stays black with the STOP button pressed. If I click PLAY the button won’t work and the video remains black and stopped.
It’s odd that the original MediaPlayerClassic work perfectly, too.
I’ll uninstall the MPC HomeCinema, but I hope you’ll find a solution for this problems.
January 14, 2009 at 6:04 pm |
MPC won’t let me load subtitles. it’s an .srt file,with the same name as the movie, that I put on the same folder as the movie, but it won’t auto-detect, and when I try to load it says:
“To load subtitles you have to change the video renderer and reopen the file.” and then various
I changed all that, and reopened the file, but nothing changes, it still tells me to change the video renderer and reopen. I even tried disableing auto-detection, but to no avail.
January 14, 2009 at 6:05 pm |
MPC won’t let me load subtitles. it’s an .srt file,with the same name as the movie, that I put on the same folder as the movie, but it won’t auto-detect, and when I try to load it says:
“To load subtitles you have to change the video renderer and reopen the file.” and then various recommended settings.
I changed all that, and reopened the file, but nothing changes, it still tells me to change the video renderer and reopen. I even tried disableing auto-detection, but to no avail.
January 25, 2009 at 2:53 am |
Got Prob #2, it always says that i cannot render the videos i want to play, tried all kinds of videos but still cannot play, dunno what do to anymore…….
January 31, 2009 at 3:01 pm |
dont know if anyone will reply to this older forum but i have a problem with my MPC all the videos where playing fine, then one day i go to watch a vid and it only plays the audio… if i convert the files to a differnt format they play but i have some gb’s of videos and dont want to convert them all.
Thanks, Frank
May 2, 2009 at 4:03 am |
My MPC till date has always played .rmvb files. Suddenly, it’s not. It says it “cannot render the file”. I installed CCCP, but it’s still not working. Matroska files work, but it still doesn’t read .rmvb. I even tried out #2 but it still doesn’t work.
The error message said something about outputs.
“RealMedia Splitter::Output 00 (Video Stream)”
“RealMedia Splitter::Output 01 (Audio Stream)”
What do I do?
August 23, 2009 at 9:12 pm |
when i want to open videos on mpc it says cannot render the file -.- dam’n this video program but it seems that my video will just work on this shit app !
February 27, 2010 at 5:00 am |
hey guys… i had problem #1, and it has been sorted out with your help.. tankyaa….
February 27, 2010 at 2:50 pm |
Will not open, absolutly nothing happens when i click on mplayer.exe, uninstalled reinstalled ect, also wont open is safe mode.
April 29, 2010 at 2:34 pm |
Here’s an odd one.. MPC was simply amazing on my XP64 system, but after upgrading to Win7, any video displayed is very pixelated (low res). This is especially noticeable if watching a video clip at higher-than-native resolution (full screen). Windows Media Player works fine, as does VLC player. I’ve tried using different codec packs (cole2k, CCCP) with no change. This happens with all types of video formats (.mpg, .avi, .mp4). Any suggestions?
July 5, 2010 at 10:32 pm |
I dont have audio on media player classic when using windows 7. I dont have the same problem when I am using windows XP or Vista. Please advise on how to solve the problem. Thank you for your help
September 28, 2010 at 12:44 pm |
My media classic player wont show subtitle…….it wont auto detect the external subtitle……some internal subtitle that can play in other player like vlc player cant play at here. I try to press the subtitle button,but it remains grey. Can you help me?
October 18, 2011 at 3:22 am |
i cant save the subs with the movie! it only works when i play it on the mpc :(
November 17, 2011 at 11:57 am |
when i play a video, it will shows in full screen and i cant minimize or do other operation on the video
December 11, 2011 at 8:34 am |
video get stuck frequently when watching…..