Media Player Classic - Home Cinema

[SYSTEM]

[Moderator note: this is the primary Media Player Classic - Home Cinema thread. View database entry]

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A new version of Media Player Classic Home Cinema, 1.4.2499.0, was released yesterday with an impressive changelog.

MPC-HC is mentioned in the Media Player Classic entry, but I suggest changing the entry to point to MPC-HC instead. According to the SourceForge.net project feed (Show -> Code Commits), the latest commit of Guliverkli2 project* was 207 days ago. The development of Guliverkli2 may have stopped already, but even if not, MPC-HC's progress is much faster.

I mean, in my opinion listing dead software isn't a good idea if much better fork is available.

In case someone goes on and changes the entry: it seems MPC-HC was originally suggested by Rick, in March 2008.

*The links of Media Player Classic entry lead to Guliverkli2, not the original project.

[webfork]

listing dead software isn't a good idea if much better fork is available.

Its more than just feature set and recent updates that make a program great. For example, what are the stats on RAM and disk usage? Does it work on other operating systems under emulation? Unless MPC is bested in both features and efficiency, I recommend listing both.

Thanks for posting about this.

[webfork]

So far looks non-portable.

Tried the 7zip distribution and it looks like its writing lots of settings to the registry:

HKCU\Software\Gabest\Media Player Classic
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Gabest\Media Player Classic\ExePath

... and I *think* its writing to the System32\config\ directory, although I'm still learning System Explorer's snapshot feature (http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=1491) so that might not be accurate.

Edit: Many of the settings it saves to the registry are the same as regular Media Player Classic, which has been accepted as portable. However, the "HKCU\Software\Gabest\Media Player Classic" where it saves a lot of settings that regular MPC uses an INI file to record. I was not able to generate an INI file the program would write to and skip the registry.

[SYSTEM]

I was not able to generate an INI file the program would write to and skip the registry.

At least my copy of Media Player Classic Home Cinema still has the "Store settings to .ini file" option (View -> Options... -> Other). Do you mean the setting doesn't work?

listing dead software isn't a good idea if much better fork is available.

Its more than just feature set and recent updates that make a program great. For example, what are the stats on RAM and disk usage? Does it work on other operating systems under emulation? Unless MPC is bested in both features and efficiency, I recommend listing both.

You're right. While updating, I noticed myself that the new version of MPC-HC uses about two megabytes more disk space than the previous one. (Not an issue for me, though. ) As Guliverkli2 does have advantages over MPC-HC, it should at least be mentioned somewhere. Own entries for both is maybe the easiest way.

... and I *think* its writing to the System32\config\ directory, although I'm still learning System Explorer's snapshot feature (http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=1491) so that might not be accurate.

%windir%\system32\config is the location of Windows registry.

[Ruby]

This new version (as did the previous one) runs stealth on my system until I open a DVD folder/file (ifo, vob) which then creates and writes settings to:

Code: Select all

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Gabest\Filters\MPEG Video Decoder

[webfork]

At least my copy of Media Player Classic Home Cinema still has the "Store settings to .ini file" option (View -> Options... -> Other). Do you mean the setting doesn't work?

I didn't see that option. I tried creating an ini file with the same name as the exe (mpc-hc.ini or whatever it was). I should have guessed when the program deleted that file.

%windir%\system32\config is the location of Windows registry.

Hah! Of course! Thanks.

[SYSTEM]

Thank you both for testing, especially Ruby.

This new version (as did the previous one) runs stealth on my system until I open a DVD folder/file (ifo, vob) which then creates and writes settings to:

Code: Select all

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Gabest\Filters\MPEG Video Decoder

Hm. So portability of MPC-HC depends on how it's used.

Unfortunately, MPC-HC (as any piece of software) either is or is not in the TPFC database. There is no grey area. That is, we have to decide if MPC-HC can be accepted as portable.

First of all, I think there shouldn't be any disclaimer like "please don't use Media Player Classic Home Cinema for playing DVDs". Even if users read such disclaimers, they'll forget them and use software however they want.

The most important question is: How important are the settings MPC-HC stores in the location Ruby mentioned Is Media Player Classic Home Cinema portable even if it's used for playing DVDs or IFO/VOB files?

If not, I'm not going to submit MPC-HC. It shouldn't be possible to keep software from being portable simply by using it. Applications which don't meet that requirement don't belong to the TPFC database IMO.

[joby_toss]

I'm using winpenpack's X-MediaPlayerClassic Home Cinema.
Haven't properly tested it though.

[SYSTEM]

I'm using winpenpack's X-MediaPlayerClassic Home Cinema.
Haven't properly tested it though.

Thanks for reminding. Aterdin has mentioned X-MediaPlayerClassic Home Cinema in a comment of Media Player Classic entry, but I totally forgot it.

(Yay! After this post I'm R1! )

[Napiophelios]

Thank you both for testing, especially Ruby.
Hm. So portability of MPC-HC depends on how it's used.

Unfortunately, MPC-HC (as any piece of software) either is or is not in the TPFC database. There is no grey area. That is, we have to decide if MPC-HC can be accepted as portable.

Of course its portable and should be included as such
its just not a stealth portable.

[webfork]

So the MPC entry was edited to add a note about the Home Cinema fork (http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=42), but it doesn't include any instructions discussed above about making it portable.

I don't want to just send visitors to this thread as our instructions are a little convoluted. There seems to be several people who are big fans of this software, can someone come up with a clear guide either here in the forums or in the official entry?

[SYSTEM]

@webfork

Made after the instructions of Media Player Classic:

Download the ZIP or 7-ZIP file and extract to a folder of your choice. Launch mpc-hc.exe. Select View, Options, Player and check "Store settings to .ini file" to store settings in the application folder instead of the registry.

[Ruby]

I think, if anything, MPC-HC is 'stealthier' than MPC; e.g. MPC and MPC-HC both create a folder
in %appdata% containing a playlist (default.mpcpl) however, working from an ini; MPC-HC will default
to app directory for the playlist and no folder created in %appdata%.

As for the entry 'MPEG Video Decoder' created in the registry; when opening a DVD folder/file (ifo, vob),
any app that uses Gabest's filters (e.g. KMPlayer (MPCVideoDec.ax)) will create/use/store settings to that key.

'How to extract' should apply to both MPC and MPC-HC; however to avoid the empty registry entry on first launch (which is left behind)
create an ini file with the same name as the executable containing 1 line of code

Code: Select all

[Settings]

An empty ini will just get deleted on first launch.

If you change the name of the executable you must change the name of the ini.

[webfork]

@webfork

Made after the instructions of Media Player Classic:

Download the ZIP or 7-ZIP file and extract to a folder of your choice. Launch mpc-hc.exe. Select View, Options, Player and check "Store settings to .ini file" to store settings in the application folder instead of the registry.

So are you suggesting we link directly to this post for instructions? Or are Ruby's instructions more effective?

[SYSTEM]

So are you suggesting we link directly to this post for instructions? Or are Ruby's instructions more effective?

There are three options in total.

• As the differences are very small (MPC-HC is also available as a 7-Zip package and the executable name has changed), maybe MPC-HC doesn't need any extraction instructions of its own.
• I created my post above in order to allow you to link to that post or copy instructions from it.
• Ruby's instructions are a bit longer, but they'll prevent Media Player Classic Home Cinema from creating a registry entry on first launch.

I don't suggest anything. The choice doesn't actually matter to me.