How to play h265?
#1
I'm using a Win7 computer and can't play HEVC h.265 movies. All that happens is that it plays audio and that's all. Do I need another codec? Or what is the problem?

I've looked for 265 codecs but can't find any, unless I'm missing something. I can play h.264 just fine.
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#2
You will need a new codec to play h265 videos in Windows Media Player or most other media players.

No doubt there is a standalone codec around somewhere but I've never even looked--I just use VLC which has one built in.

Note that h265 takes significantly more processor power than h264 so even with a codec there may be some h265 videos your hardware simply isn't up to playing smoothly.
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#3
(Oct 30, 2017, 16:49 pm)Sid Wrote: Note that h265 takes significantly more processor power than h264 so even with a codec there may be some h265 videos your hardware simply isn't up to playing smoothly.

^that

Before I upgraded there were a few of my h265 downloads that either played, but were jumpy (like buffering a streaming video on a slow connection) or played sound with no video.

But Sid is right. Just use VLC and if it doesn't play then, you will know that the hardware is to blame.
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#4
Hmmm...Ok.

But does anyone know of a standalone codec that I can try that doesn't use VLC? Just to see if it works? I haven't been able to find one. My computer does suck overall though.
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#5
(Oct 30, 2017, 19:04 pm)joew771 Wrote: Hmmm...Ok.

But does anyone know of a standalone codec that I can try that doesn't use VLC? Just to see if it works? I haven't been able to find one. My computer does suck overall though.
K-Lite Codec Pack here:
https://www.codecguide.com/download_kl.htm
NOT the big green button! LOL

VLC is still a good idea, it will play most anything short of a retail Blueray.
As stated above, if you still can't play the H265 encoded file it's
most likely whimpy hardware.
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#6
You'll need VLC 2.1.1 or above. You probably have a older version.
You can quickly test HEVC playback on your PC with latest VLC Portable. This is probably the easiest way.

You can install above codec pack or try another media player. MPC-HC is a good alternative.
Another highly recommended codec pack is LAVFilters. Works on Win 7.

1080p videos or those with high bit rate, may still lag on PCs with 'old' CPUs.

720p videos (even 10bit ones) should work fine, on dual-core PCs or later.

Use your 'task manager' to see if CPU / Memory is getting loaded.
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#7
Does the K-Lite Codec Pack have support for it yet?

EDIT: Just saw the post... sorry about asking, I am very slow.

Never mind my question, I withdraw.
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#8
It seemsĀ that MPC-HC doesn't use as much resources as VLC does when it plays x265 videos. If I'm multitasking, sometimes VLC drops frames and has distortions in the image of x265 videos, but MPC-HC plays them smoothly.
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#9
I"ve tried the K-lite codec pack before, that didn't work.

But I tried MPC-HC and that worked. I'll just use that player when I want to watch a 265 vid.

Thanks everyone.
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#10
joew771, just curious, what are your system specs?
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