Windows 10: HEVC H265 Video Extension Scam - Doesn't work whilst free + more mainstream alternative...

So lets talk about the video codec itself. Video encoding is changing all the time with new codecs being developed as technology evolves, I highly doubt Microsoft develops their own video codecs, or at least not anymore.

From the Wikipedia page "The HEVC format was jointly developed by more than a dozen organisations from across the world", guess whether Microsoft are included in that list? Surprisingly their competitor Apple are and they released the codec awhile back as a free update much like windows update.

So anyway to use H265 with Windows Media Player sometimes works, sometimes works without audio or refuses to play at all. Could be any combination of the 3. Microsoft's solution is to add a digital purchase for $0.99 to their store and have their support articles link to it.

Here's the catch, it does absolutely nothing. Read the reviews and you can clearly see everyone has the same issue, and others are just annoyed that a basic feature that should be included anyway has a storefront charge in-front of it.

The solution? K-lite codec pack. It not only includes every codec you could ever need but it also gives you the option of reverting to Microsoft Classic Player, VLC media player which has more features, or to stick with the normal Windows Media Player but unlike the store extension it is guaranteed to work. The reason its a free program is because they are basic codecs, everyone should be entitled to use them and it is bad practise to profit from somebody else work/creation.



Now just to be clear, originally I was trying to encode HEVC 265 into H264 for an older Samsung TV that wont play the newer codec. I tried to use Adobe Media Encoder to do this as it has worked in the past I have a full valid monthly subscription to all apps, however it didnt work. I tried reinstalling the relative apps with no luck and looked at their supported codecs, H265 was mentioned but with a footnote linking to the Microsoft Store H265 extension you have to purchase. Didn't work in the slightest, I couldn't even play H265 with windows media player after the purchase I use VLC and K-Lites codec, to be honest I don't even think it actually does anything but appear in purchases and installed programs. Ill contact Adobes support to try and resolve it where I can at least email, online chat or use and online enquiry form





To put my experience into perspective into refunding this, there is no option to request a refund on the store page. You can request to contact Microsoft via 2 options, 1 being these forums and expect a community response sure some strangers will refund me! or 2 being a 'virtual agent'. So basically it is impossible to contact an actual person. After talking with the virtual agent she guessing from the female avatar informs me they cannot refund digital items with nothing further to add - in other words a dead end.

After some digging I found a phone number to contact Microsoft sales customer support which I may try in the morning, I truly hate call centres though and god knows if its a free number or not. In this day and age not having email or an actual person behind online chat support is unacceptable.



Why I have gone through all this effort to post this over a dollar is strange, maybe part of me is hoping that Microsoft must surely get enough of these threads to realise their support system is primitive at best? I can't fault many of Microsoft's products as they just work, but when they dont things get frustrating real quick.

:)

 

HEVC Video Extensions

Hi DennisDennison1 and thanks for reaching out. My name is Joseph. I'm an independent advisor. I'll be happy to help you out today.

It is just an extension/codec that installed on your Windows 10 to be able to play HEVC or H.264 video format using the default video player installed on your Windows 10 PC.

Play High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) videos in any video app on your Windows 10 device. These extensions are designed to take advantage of hardware capabilities on some newer devices— including those with an Intel 7th Generation Core processor and newer
GPU to support 4K and Ultra HD content. For devices that don’t have hardware support for HEVC videos, software support is provided, but the playback experience might vary based on the video resolution and PC performance. These extensions also let you encode
HEVC content on devices that don’t have a hardware-based video encoder.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/hevc-video-ex...

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions and let me know how it goes.

Thank you!

 

PLEX - stop transcoding for 6CH HEVC H265 video 1080p

Hi there

Using Plex for 1080p with 6Ch and codec HEVC H265 transcoding always seems to take place and video pauses frequently even on megafast Network connection.

If I drop the audio to 2CH then it works fine seems PLEX has problem with the AUDIO rather than the video codec --strange though.

It all works at 720p whatever audio but I do prefer the full 1080p on decent TV's.

Is there any way to either "Pre-transcode in advance" or fix the audio problem -- 2Ch is OK but full 6 Ch is great for some movies.
Using HEVC H265 saves HUGE amounts of disk space at 1080p and will be even better for 4K UHD TV too.

Cheers
jimbo

 

HEVC Video Extensions

I bought HEVC Video Extensions from microsoft store but was never told what file it was downloaded to or how to access it. Where is it?