When you are searching for the free software that can playback HEVC-encoded files, some people would recommend you MPC-HC, an extremely light-weight and open source media player software. The problem is that a lot of 4K video are encoded with the H.265/HEVC codec, when playing 4K HEVC/H.265 files with MPC-HC, a lot of people complain that there are video struggling or sluggish issues.
“I am using latest MPC HC x64 with LAV 64, EVR (custom). I am able to run videos upto AVC 4K without any problem and smooth playback using NVIDIA Cuvid and/or Intel QuickSync. Even 1080p x265 aren’t a problem. The issue comes with 4K x265 8bit/10bit videos. When I use the LAV x64 with HW decoder as NVidia Cuvid, the playback is really smooth with very low CPU usage, but after 3-4 minutes, it starts becoming choppy and audio and video start lagging. I have tried using other HW decoders with similar or worse results.”
Why MPC-HC struggle to play 4K HEVC/H.265 files?
Although MPC-HC is capable of decoding HEVC/H.265 files, however, software decoding isn’t the best option, because it’s not terribly efficient especially when your computer CPU is not powerful enough. Building a hardware decoder into a chip allows for more efficient operation, which means better performance on chips with modest grunt and improved efficiency. On the downside, though, this approach takes up valuable die space on a CPU or GPU. HEVC is not popular yet, and developing a hardware decode means designing new silicon – a lengthy process. Currently, the GTX960 is the first and only video card to have full hardware decode support for H.265.
Best solution to fix MPC-HC 4K HEVC struggling issue
If those people who are unwilling to change a new computer with powerful CPU or purchased a Graphic card that supports H.265 hardware decoding. The only workable solution is compressing 4K HEVC/H.265 to HD HEVC/H.265 since 1080p H.265 video can run smoothly on MPC-HC.
Here, you can get the job easily completed by downloading our best H.265 Video Compressor – Pavtube Video Converter. For your convenience, the application is available on both Windows and Mac platform (get Mac version). Thanks to its batch conversion mode, you can load multiple 4K H.265/HEVC video into the application for compressing at one time.
The program not only assists users to compress 4K HEVC/H.265 to HD HEVC/H.265, but also helps to transcode and compress 4K H.265/HEVC to HD H.264 or other popular HD file formats such as MPEG-4 HD MP4, MPEG-2 HD, MPEG-TS HD, MKV HD, WMV HD, Divx HD, AVI HD, BDAV HD, etc for conveniently playback and viewing with various different devices and applications.
Tips: The windows version of this application supports hardware encoding acceleration, you can get up to 30x faster H.265 codec encoding speed if you run your computer on Maxwell (GM206) or Pascal based Graphic cards that supports Nvidia NVENC technology or up to 6x faster H.264 codec encoding speed if you run your computer on Graphic cards that supports Nvidia CUDA or AMD App technology.
Step by Step to Fix MPC-HC 4K HEVC Playback Struggling Issues
Step 1: Load 4K HEVC/H.265 files.
Download the free trial version of the program. Launch it on your computer. Click “File” menu and select “Add Video/Audio” or click the “Add Video” button on the top tool bar to import source 4K HEVC/H.265 files into the program.
Step 2: Define the output format.
Clicking the Format bar, from its drop-down list, select MPC-HC smooth playaback HD H.265 files formats by following ” H.265 HD Video(*.mp4)” under “HD Video” main category. You can also choose other MPC-HC supported HD file formats according to your own needs.
Step 3: Enable GPU Encode Acceleration.
Click “Tools” > “Options”, in the opened “Options” window, click “Acceleration” menu, then check “Enable GPU Encode Acceleration” otpion so that the program will accelerate converion speed when encoding 4K H.265 to HD H.265/H.264 codec.
Step 4: Begin the final conversion process.
After all setting is completed, hit the “Convert” button at the right bottom of the main interface to begin the compression and conversion process from 4K H.265/HEVC to HD HEVC/H.265 codec.
When the conversion is finished, click “Open Output Folder” icon on the main interface to open the folder with generated files. Then you can smoothly viewing compressed H.265 files with MPC-HC.
