How to import HD videos into Vista Windows Media Center?



High-definition video playback via Vista Media Center is not as simple as it seems. However, I want to tell you, if you want to try, Vista Media Center will also bring you extraordinary HD experiences that some other players are unmatched. In the following paragraphs, I will talk about how to get Vista Media Center to play HD videos, and two key requirements will be referred.

Requirement 1: Change registry to ensure Vista Media Center to realize which codec to use.
Copy and paste all of the following text to Notepad, and save it as text format *.reg file. Then double-click on it to add the essential entries to Windows Registry. Apart from HD video formats, like MKV, TS, TP, some common video formats are also included here. Just add whatever format you want along with the way below.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 (do not copy this line)

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.RM]
"PerceivedType"="video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.RMVB]
"PerceivedType"="video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.DAT]
"PerceivedType"="video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.MOV]
"PerceivedType"="video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.MP4]
"PerceivedType"="video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.MKV]
"PerceivedType"="video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.TS]
"PerceivedType"="video"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.TP]
"PerceivedType"="video"

Requirements 2: Codec supportIn order to let Media Center play your added file normally; you need install the corresponding decoder like free codec K-Lite Mega Codec Pack to ensure it. In addition, some file formats such as DVD video files *.VOB can not be imported to Media Center to play in the above mentioned way, you can try to change the file extension to *.AVI, so that Media Center system will automatically find the appropriate decoder to play.

Of course, not all the HD videos or common videos can be played in Vista Media Center through changing the registry, installing codec pack or transforming the file extension, therefore, when we are unable to solve this problem, we should think of another way. To me, I usually use Pavtube HD Video Converter to convert my other HD videos like *.TOD files generated by my JVC camcorder, *.F4V files downloaded from YouTube, Hulu, Fox, Google video, etc, to Vista Media Center supported formats like WMV, AVI, etc. Its conversion speed as well as conversion quality are both nice, and while importing the resulted files to my Media Center, I’m basically satisfied with the playback quality.

Well, I have little talent and little learning, and all of these I have known are totally presented here, I suppose there must be some flaws or even mistakes, so welcome to point them out. Or if you have further easier methods or more wonderful ideas, you can also tell me. Thanks a lot.