So Windows Vista Media center gives you a “Cannot Play Video, One or more codecs required to play to open this content could not be found”.
Are you running the 64bit version of mediacenter? Follow these steps to get it working:

1) Download and install the approperiate decoder, my favorite is ffdshow. You’ll need the 64bit version: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=173941&package_id=229162&release_id=559173
2) Change Media center so it uses the 64bit version of media player instead of the 32bit one
– Open the registry using regedit
– Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\AppPaths\wmplayer.exe
Remove the ‘x86’ items and make sure afterwards it looks like this: 

(Default) – “%ProgramFiles%\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe”
Path – %ProgramFiles%\Windows Media Player

3) Close regedit
4) Open a command prompt and type this: %windir%\system32\unregmp2.exe /SwapTo:64
5) Reboot the media center box
6) Leave a reply if it worked 😉

Now your good to go, Media Center will play your Divx and Xvid!

UPDATE: Somehow it doesn´t work at everyones Mediacenter, please have a look at the comment by FINN, it might help you!

29 Responses to “Cannot Play Video, One or more codecs required to play to open this content could not be found”

  1. chris Says:

    Worked perfectly, thankyou very much.

    Chris

  2. James Says:

    Didn’t work for me. 🙁

    Still getting that error message. Funny thing is, MP11 plays the video files fine. 😕

  3. James Says:

    Don’t know what happened but it’s just started working! Problem is, it’s all upside down. Lol

  4. John Says:

    Same as James … works fine in mp11, but not media center

  5. Art Vandelay Says:

    IT WERKS!!!!!

    Vista ult sp1 x64
    Thanks so much

  6. Artsi Says:

    Ain’t working me either.

  7. Finn Says:

    Sadly this didn’t work for me either. I’ve tried a dozen things so far…guess I’ll keep looking for a solution. Thanks anyway!

  8. Finn Says:

    Update:

    Just thought you all might like to know, I originally tried updating the XVID codecs and whatnot, followed five or six online suggestions–all without success. I finally tried this one, it still didn’t work. Then I found another suggestion where they said uninstall all divx, xvid, and ffdshow codecs, reinstall the 64bit ffdshow codec linked above, and then install the cccpack on top. Amazingly enough, it all now works. I suppose it could be any combination of the things I tried to get it to work, but I’d recommend unistalling all codecs, and installing just the ffdshow and cccpack. Maybe it will work for you too. Good luck everybody!

  9. Hugo Says:

    Pieter,

    Did you know XBMC is recently ported to Windows (and ubuntu, macos and other platforms)?
    Exactly like it was on xbox! All codecs embedded, plays movies (xvid, dvdr) straight out of the rarfiles. But now powerfull enough, since it runs on your pc with lots of cpu and graphic power compared to a 700 MHz XBOX with something like a Nvidia2 videocard.

    Try it! You’ll love it! (http://sourceforge.net/projects/xbmc/)

    Hugo

  10. Unclemantis Says:

    This did not work for me. I also did what Finn said he did and that did not work either.

  11. Unclemantis Says:

    I found a solution!!!!

    http://brh.numbera.com/blog/index.php/2007/03/01/getting-windows-media-center-to-stream-divxxvid-to-an-xbox-360-from-vista-x64/

  12. BrokenWing Says:

    Worked for me! Was trying to get videos to play in my XBox via Media Center. Now I can – happy days. 🙂

  13. stura Says:

    10X man!!!

  14. ugz Says:

    i was able to do up to step 4. But I don’t know how to “Reboot the media center box” on step 5. Please help. thanks

  15. Antonio Says:

    Thanks a lot, you saved my life, it worked perfectly !

  16. Antonio Says:

    ugz Says:
    December 8th, 2008 at 6:25

    i was able to do up to step 4. But I don’t know how to “Reboot the media center box” on step 5. Please help. thanks

    Reboot means close and reopen windows media center

  17. Ashwin Says:

    Worked for me! Thanks!!

    Windows 7 x64, with Xvid and AC3 filter instead of ffdshow.

  18. muckyp Says:

    Fantastic

  19. TheOthers Says:

    Unclemantis Says:
    August 15th, 2008 at 2:14
    I found a solution!!!!

    http://brh.numbera.com/blog/index.php/2007/03/01/getting-windows-media-center-to-stream-divxxvid-to-an-xbox-360-from-vista-x64/

    works for me. THX

  20. Morgz Says:

    You are the man!

  21. joe Says:

    The solution described at brh.numbera.com/blog/… [linked above] worked for me.

    Thanks Pieter and thanks Unclemantis

  22. Taco Says:

    I figured it must have been that i installed a 32 bit codec pack on my 64bit system, but i could not discover which part of the codec pack made the problem. This solved it right away, i didnt do any reg editting though. Just installed the ffdshow in the link and the problem was solved.

    Thanks a bunch for the guide, idea, time and effort you putt in making this publically available.

    Taco
    The Netherlands.

  23. anthonyngnm Says:

    Just got to setup my media pc and tried to play some avi. Did what it says plus install cccp (as what Finn advised) and it worked.

  24. jiytee Says:

    Worked a treat for me mate!

    A virtual pint at the virtual bar for you there!

    :0)

  25. Bob Lestronge Says:

    This is a great blog you got here but i can’t seem to find the RSS button.

  26. playfish Says:

    lol one or two of the comments most people post are such stoner remarks, in many instances i ask myself whether they really read the documents and threads before writing or whether they barely skim the title of the article and submit only the first thought that drifts into their minds. anyways, it really is useful to browse through sensible commentary once in a while rather than the same, outdated blog vomit which i normally discover on the net i’m off to have fun with a few rounds of facebook poker adios

  27. Jae Haeck Says:

    Hi there may I quote some of the information here in this post if I link back to you?

  28. Torri Bresser Says:

    Good info comes from the great writer .. I hope you like my compliment .. thanks for giving me great info 🙂

  29. good family dogs Says:

    magnificent post, very informative. I wonder why the other experts of this sector don’t notice this. You should continue your writing. I am sure, you’ve a great readers’ base already!

Post A Comment