Win10 WMC codecs - Intel UHD graphics issues

[harakan2]

Is there a way to change WMC to use different codecs and/or disable hardware acceleration?

I have WMC10 running on a mini-PC using Intel integrated graphics (11th Gen Intel Core i5-11400H), mostly watching DVB-T2 HD or SD recorded TV (UK).

Using the originally-supplied Intel UHD Graphics driver (30.0.101.2079, 26-May-2022), video playback is generally excellent, although there are a few artifacts occasionally when skipping forward/backwards - but every so often, skipping backwards will hang WMC with a black screen, and I have to CTRL-ALT-DEL and launch Task Manager to regain access. More annoyingly, the system occasionally seems to lose audio or video entirely when it has been idle for a long time with the attached TV/amp off - I think it's related to HDMI switching, but I didn't have that issue with my previous system (WMC on Win8.1 using an NVidia card).

I've tried upgrading the Intel UHD Graphics driver to a newer version, but when I do that, WMC breaks - it starts okay, but as soon as I play recorded TV, the video stutters and freezes almost immediately, and the WMC menus run at 2-3FPS. I've tried 31.0.101.3790 (17-Oct-2022) and the latest 31.0.101.4091 (28-Jan-2023) with the same results. Whilst definitely looks like a driver issue, as WMC isn't supported on Win10 it seems very unlikely Intel will fix it.

Is there a way to disable hardware acceleration or switch to a different codec to see if that resolves the issue? If so, I'm hoping the newer drivers might fix the HDMI switching problems and a different codec would fix the skip-back hangs.

Is anyone else using WMC with Intel integrated graphics, and if so have they seen similar issues and/or found any solutions?

[garyan2]

I can't add too much about the codecs, but in the past I found Shark007 able to correct some issues and add codec compatibility within WMC. It has (did?) some recommended settings specifically for WMC.

For the HDMI switching issue, I had the same problem a long time ago and found that you need to enable the HDMI to generate sound when not in use. This keeps your HDMI interface synced with the AVR so there wouldn't be an issue when switching inputs.