Windows 10: x265 HEVC Video not playing or thumbnails

Hi,
My desktop PC (64bit Windows10 home) will not play HEVC videos with the default player, I just get a blank screen but can hear the audio. When viewing the files folder I just get the program icon and not a thumbnail. I assumed HEVC was not supported but trying the same files on another Windows10 laptop and they work fine.

How do I fix this?

Thanks

JD

:)

 

Directories with HEVC/x265 or Hi10p/10bit video sluggish

Issue is and is not resolved.

Tried the following:

When googled for similar situation, someone said to update VLC. Did that and it didn't make a difference.

@Sam mentioned it may be trying to create icon thumbnails (not the generic ones, like the VLC cone, but an actual picture like an album cover title). This makes some sense because if the video is not x265/hevc or 10bit/hi10p, I do get thumbnail images. It makes
me think that whatever code Microsoft uses to grab a snapshot/title out of the video file when you display a video directory, it doesn't know how to find it in an x265/hevc or 10bit/hi10p file. If this is the case, Microsoft needs to do an update on the code
because there are going to be a lot more x265/hevc and 10bit/hi10p now that 4k/UHD is taking off.

Doesn't matter if I have one x265/hevc or 10bit/hi10p file in a directory or hundreds or mixed with x264, still get the issue.

I followed the link @Sam gave but it was not clear how to turn off the thumbnail image creation process. I actually found it in File Explorer Options under View tab: check box next to "Always show icons, never thumbnails". THIS WORKED!

BUT - I want thumbnails. So do I tolerate File Managers sluggish-ness with x265/hevc or 10bit/hi10p files so I can have thumbs everywhere else or do I disable thumbs for everything???

Still looking for an solution without needing to disable thumbnails.

Thanks.

 

Directories with HEVC/x265 or Hi10p/10bit video sluggish

Looks like Microsoft may have resolved the problem in the latest update, 1709, also called the Fall Creators Update. I did not install Icaros like some of you did or disable thumbnails, I stubbornly preferred MS to resolve the issue. I am pretty sure I did
not install anything else that would have sped up moving HEVC/x265 or Hi10p/10bit videos or speeding up folder views of HEVC/x265 or Hi10p/10bit videos.

It was suspected that it had to do with thumbnail generation and that MS didn't update the process to recognize HEVC/x265 or Hi10p/10bit videos in mp4 or mkv containers. This caused "COM Surrogate" to start eating large amounts of CPU usage. "COM
Surrogate" is the process that extracts the thumbnails for videos and pictures.

It is possible that this process was updated to include recognition of these files, but no developer from Microsoft has come forward to confirm this.

All I can say, is that the issue has been resolved for me and I believe it came from the Fall Creators Update, 1709.

 

Do the two devices have the same video card? That could explain why one plays the HEVC file and the other does not.

 

Thanks for the reply.
I doubt they have the same video card.
VLC plays HEVC's on both machines without a problem. I wouldn't have thought the video card would effect the thumbnails? From what I have been reading, x265 (HEVC) is normally software decoded (x264 is often hardware decoded).

Cheers
JD

 

The default player only plays HEVC if your system contains a GPU with HEVC hardware acceleration capabilities. It is probably for licensing reasons.