Which codecs to install?

[crayons]

Hello all,

Long time Media Centre user... moved from XP to Vista a few months ago. Much nicer interface and overall more stable operation for me, BUT... damned codecs... why does it have to be so hard?!

I fiddled with installing divx and then the 'vista codec package'.

I now find that no matter which filters I fiddle with (ffdshow, AC3, tried all sorts of combos) I can't get surround sound out (I'm using SPDIF). I also have some divx files crashing VMC (they are digital camera movie files converted to divX... fine for 3 or 4 plays and then the 5th or so will crash VMC)

Here's what I want to be able to do (and I don't think it's much to ask) ...

* Have surround sound out that works (it used to).
* Be able to play divx AVI files and ideally MKV files
* Ideally have AVI and DVD files accessible and playable from the same place (like XP) without having to fiddle with something like MyMovies.

I am ready to do a nice clean install of Vista if necessary... I'm just unsure what codecs or combos of codecs I should carefully glue on top of it.

I would really appreciate input from anyone that has a long running stable setup.

Thanks!

[DDH]

crayons,

Under Vista I simply use the native VMC stuff and have ffdShow for video only (sometimes AC3) and RealAlternative for those few RealPlayer based files. This gets me every kind of download I've ever needed to use. I did check though, and I can't see where I've tried an MKV file, so not sure if that will sort out all of your needs.

[CowBoy Bob]

ffd show + haali matroska splitter

[crayons]

Thanks all... and this time I will be careful to take a disk image BEFORE I go fiddling with codecs and irreversibly stuff it up. Doh!