MPC-HC and MPC-BE are both good players, MPC-BE comes preinstalled(afaik) with RTX Video Super Resolution render engine. It's a real time AI upscaler, but only compatible with 30/40 series Nvidia GPU

I prefer MPC-HC but I'm only rendering 1080.

I like it's ability to skip to the next file in a folder which is great for looking at clips when you've downloaded them.

It's File/Properties/Media Info display is the same as what you get with the Media Info App.

Thanks. I'll give it a shot but it hasn't been updated since 2017. Which isn't necessarily bad, I'd just like something that's still got live people workin' on it. :)

MPC-HC and MPC-BE are both good players, MPC-BE comes preinstalled(afaik) with RTX Video Super Resolution render engine. It's a real time AI upscaler, but only compatible with 30/40 series Nvidia GPU

I'll check them out. I get a bit confused with model numbers at times: RTX 3xxx isn't the same as RTX 3x -- the latter = newer gen -- so my 3060 ain't a 3x, right?

As to MPC-BE, unlike MPC-HC, it's current, but... wouldn't install on my system at all. So no-go.

I'll give it a shot but it hasn't been updated since 2017

That's incorrect. My version is 2022 and it may not be the most recent.

I'll check them out. I get a bit confused with model numbers at times: RTX 3xxx isn't the same as RTX 3x -- the latter = newer gen -- so my 3060 ain't a 3x, right?

30 series is same as saying 3000 series. the 3000 series have the tensor cores that Nvidia need for the Ai Up-resolution, so your card is compatible. 20 series cards also have the tensor cores but they are an inferior kind, but it's expected Nvidia will make them compatible eventually.

Also wait for the Studio drivers to come out mid month. I've using game ready, and there is a bug where I"m using too much CPU for no reason. It is expected Nvidia will replace the driver in the next 24hours. Another lesson learnt about game ready drivers

I'll give it a shot but it hasn't been updated since 2017

That's incorrect. My version is 2022 and it may not be the most recent.

Yes, and no. The official page (not the open source repository) states it's it was abandoned in 2017. But at the Github repository, there is the '22 one you have and mentioned at the top of the list, but barely any version past 2017 below it. I have installed it and maybe I'll play around with it (gotta get some nice skins...).

Then the weird thing is that KMPlayer is either an authorized or illegal copy of it; I installed it before doing so with MPC-HC, and the under-the-hood options are identical. I removed KMPlayer, will stick to the original.

As to my thumbnails problem, it could be due to that I tend to customize my Windows (Aero Tweak) for I'm picky about my GUIs, and so maybe something happened with video thumbnails of some files, i.e. mp4.

So I took the plunge with what kept showing up online as a solution, a small codec prog CodecTweakTool in which I just used the fix thumbnails part. I thought it would be convoluted, but t'wasn't and it worked.

I'll check them out. I get a bit confused with model numbers at times: RTX 3xxx isn't the same as RTX 3x -- the latter = newer gen -- so my 3060 ain't a 3x, right?

30 series is same as saying 3000 series. the 3000 series have the tensor cores that Nvidia need for the Ai Up-resolution, so your card is compatible. 20 series cards also have the tensor cores but they are an inferior kind, but it's expected Nvidia will make them compatible eventually.

Also wait for the Studio drivers to come out mid month. I've using game ready, and there is a bug where I"m using too much CPU for no reason. It is expected Nvidia will replace the driver in the next 24hours. Another lesson learnt about game ready drivers

Thanks for info on the series. I'll keep the new drivers in mind, though (must be my age - 68 - and not-with-it-ness showing), I never got into and still don't do video games.

The main reason I got a better system and gpu was for Vegas and Boris Continuum, specifically Particle Illusion. And when I'm ready, do some 3D-ish stuff with Unreal Engine.

UE is mainly used to create games and CGI, and so very sophisticated, but I just want to create some nice photorealistic fly-through landscapes -- or whatever my brain can realistically handle. :)

It appears MPC-HC continued under Doom9.

MPC-HC, yes ok. Last official versions 1.7.9 (2015) through 1.7.13 (2017) are at mpc-hc.org

But I believe it still uses Blend as its default (only?) deinterlacing method, where VLC has a nice selection of algorithms. Windows Media Player also uses Blend deinterlace.

But I believe it still uses Blend as its default (only?) deinterlacing method,

MPC-HC doesn't and I wouldn't use it if it did. Running a 25i m2ts file through frame by frame there are 50 frames shown per second and where there's easily recognised movement such as a passing vehicle each frame is different. Interlacing is being done using interpolation.

Well, from your replies so far, looks like no real alternative to VLC? I can live with that, just getting what's-newer-new greedy, I spoze.

Video thumbnails

"Also, no thumbnails for vids - just the VLC traffic cones -- and I don't want to go through the convoluted process to fix that by downloading some codec app."

This is not a problem of the media player, but of the operating system settings.
I would not recommend the K-Lite package, because in some cases hardly fixable problems have arisen due to the mix of existing and added codecs, there have been many reports on the web, although I must admit that I have not currently checked.
Maybe system settings like this link ttps://www.majorgeeks.com/content/page/thumbnail_previews_not_showing.html can help
A section of my Eplorer view (with VLC installed, of course MPC also present)->

MPC-BE is all I use on win 10 and 11 systems.

@frmax and @Soniclight-2.0, I had the problem of no thumbnails in Win 10 Pro. I tried everything in the link provided several times, and still no thumbnails. I eventually, out of desperation, installed K-Lite basic which rebuilt all the thumbnails to my videos and photos. Imagine trying to find a specific photo in a folder with many images, but without a thumbnail. It was a last resort, but one that worked, and it didn't interfere with Vegas as far as I know.

I know another editor using another piece of software that had the same issue... VLC cones and no thumbnails. He too went the route of trying to get them back and had to go the K-Lite route.

The process wasn't convoluted at all. A couple of clicks and everything started to rebuild. I am now though, and a clean installation of Win11 Pro, so didn't have to install K-Lite.

@Reyfox and @frmax - as stated yesterday some time, I had to cave to using The K-Lite solution and it worked. I had assumed it was convoluted due to what sometimes seems to me to be not so clear how-to-videos on YT.

I am somewhat surprised that there hasn't been any "Wow..." improvements in media players and that VLC (released as a French academic project in 2001) is one of very few decent ones left standing,

My guess that it's due to the world at large being on mobile devices, and so those apps are priority, not progs for desktops or laptops. Even VLC has gone mobile.

Since my tests of player deinterlacers are quite old, they would bear retesting, time permitting.

Here are a couple of interlaced test clips I have found useful.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10DTVIwFf3qRMDRpfwwi05n8dyGZAeWCL/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/11f7iJNrfPRoASxJGo1_R9h-cYkPehGgC/view?usp=sharing

I have been using MPC-HC for years. Reliable, opens fast and includes media info (in the app or via a context menu. I don't recall if the context menu needs to be set-up by the user).

Just ran some really quick tests, and neither MPC-HC or WMP seems to be using Blend at this time.

@EricLNZ

Standard Win10 Movies & TV app

Standard Win10 Movies & TV app

Mine won't open up, but probably because VLC is still the default.

If anyone was using the Game Ready drivers because you wanted to try out the realtime Nvidia AI Upscaler there's now a fix for the buggy drivers

https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5450/kw/hotfix

Standard Win10 Movies & TV app

+1