How do I setup VLC Media Player to be optimized for watching 4K movies?

[porkandbeansboy]

From what I understand a recent update not only helps all the settings but it seems optimized by default except the audio I had to set that for 7.1 surround sound headphones.


I'm hoping someone here on the forums with experience using VLC media player with a 4K monitor and will be able and willing to help me out?"


I apologize if this is not the correct section the forum. I'm not sure if I should be posting this is in the windows specific questions since I'm using windows 10 currently.

[Lotesdelere]

There is nothing specific to do, VLC can play any size as long as the hardware of the PC can support it.

[MystiqueWanderer]

As far as I know, it works only for the newest versions. I know this because my roommate and I wanted to host a movie night, and we needed to play around with it.
So, you can go to 'Tools' > 'Preferences', then in the 'Input/Codecs' tab, find the 'Hardware-accelerated decoding' option and select 'Disable'. This can help with playback issues​

[porkandbeansboy]

As far as I know, it works only for the newest versions. I know this because my roommate and I wanted to host a movie night, and we needed to play around with it.
So, you can go to 'Tools' > 'Preferences', then in the 'Input/Codecs' tab, find the 'Hardware-accelerated decoding' option and select 'Disable'. This can help with playback issues​

Well the newest version I've got downloaded has that set to automatic wouldn't that be fine or perhaps even slightly more optimized than disabling it entirely?

[Lotesdelere]

On Windows 7 and above, you should use Direct3d11 video acceleration.
Make sure to set VLC like that:

Tools -> Preferences -> Video
Output = Direct3D11

Tools -> Preferences -> Input/Codecs
Hardware accelerated decoding = D3D11 Video Acceleration

Save, exit and restart VLC for the changes to take effect.

[MystiqueWanderer]

As far as I know, it works only for the newest versions. I know this because my roommate and I wanted to host a movie night, and we needed to play around with it.
So, you can go to 'Tools' > 'Preferences', then in the 'Input/Codecs' tab, find the 'Hardware-accelerated decoding' option and select 'Disable'. This can help with playback issues​

Well the newest version I've got downloaded has that set to automatic wouldn't that be fine or perhaps even slightly more optimized than disabling it entirely?

When set to 'Automatic', the software automatically decides whether to use hardware acceleration based on the file being played and your system's capabilities. This setting generally provides a good balance between performance and compatibility.
Disabling hardware-accelerated decoding can be helpful if you're experiencing playback issues like stuttering or artifacts in the video. This is because sometimes the hardware decoder might not handle certain video formats or codecs efficiently, leading to playback problems. By disabling it, you force the software to use software decoding, which can be more compatible with a wider range of video formats, albeit potentially at the cost of higher CPU usage.

[porkandbeansboy]

On Windows 7 and above, you should use Direct3d11 video acceleration.
Make sure to set VLC like that:

Tools -> Preferences -> Video
Output = Direct3D11

Tools -> Preferences -> Input/Codecs
Hardware accelerated decoding = D3D11 Video Acceleration

Save, exit and restart VLC for the changes to take effect.

Okay do you think the post that @MystiqueWanderer posted just now explaining why it might be beneficial to have the settings to disabled or I'm assuming you've got a good reason to have it set to D3D11 for windows 7 or above.

BTW I'm using Windows 10 currently and probably won't be upgrading to windows 11 until I have literally no choice but to do that.

[MystiqueWanderer]

On Windows 7 and above, you should use Direct3d11 video acceleration.
Make sure to set VLC like that:

Tools -> Preferences -> Video
Output = Direct3D11

Tools -> Preferences -> Input/Codecs
Hardware accelerated decoding = D3D11 Video Acceleration

Save, exit and restart VLC for the changes to take effect.

Okay do you think the post that @MystiqueWanderer posted just now explaining why it might be beneficial to have the settings to disabled or I'm assuming you've got a good reason to have it set to D3D11 for windows 7 or above.

BTW I'm using Windows 10 currently and probably won't be upgrading to windows 11 until I have literally no choice but to do that.

It's basically the same steps for Windows 10. You just need to click on the Input/Codecs tab in the same Preferences window.Then, find the option for Hardware-accelerated decoding.Set this to D3D11 Video Acceleration. This will enable hardware acceleration for video decoding using Direct3D11, which can improve playback performance.

[porkandbeansboy]

Okay I've done that. Thank you for the helpful replies. I assume it doesn't matter what 4K monitor I have as long as it says it can do that resolution in the dispay settings on the desktop.

I know you can play 4K movies on a monitor/T.V. that can not support that high of a resolution so it simply "upscales" the image or something?

[Lotesdelere]

Okay do you think the post that @MystiqueWanderer posted just now explaining why it might be beneficial to have the settings to disabled or I'm assuming you've got a good reason to have it set to D3D11 for windows 7 or above.

I think the answers from MystiqueWanderer sound like some generic I.A. generated answers. For some reason.
I'm not sure about the purpose of this behaviour but we are having a close look at this recently created account operating from a well known IP address.

[Mediawatcher]

Direct3D11 Makes subtitles black if HDR is on. OpenGL works normal. The problem does not exist in VLC 3.0.4 version. https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 61#p492761

[MystiqueWanderer]

Okay do you think the post that @MystiqueWanderer posted just now explaining why it might be beneficial to have the settings to disabled or I'm assuming you've got a good reason to have it set to D3D11 for windows 7 or above.

I think the answers from MystiqueWanderer sound like some generic I.A. generated answers. For some reason.
I'm not sure about the purpose of this behaviour but we are having a close look at this recently created account operating from a well known IP address.

OMG! What made you think that I'm AI, or how do you call me? It's a bit insulting to hear something like this. I just want to share what happened to me and what helped me? What's wrong with that?

[porkandbeansboy]

One reason I'm asking this is because when I play a game using my Displayport which is capable of using 240hz at 2k resolution it won't do that unless I set the desktop to that PLUS the game setting as an example itself.


So for a game as an example i need it set to 240hz plus the desktop resolution and hz/refresh rate need to match... so I'm wondering if something similar like this scenario might be happening to me and I just don't realize as this will be my first time seeing anything in 4K resolution?

[porkandbeansboy]

Right for some odd reason VLC Media player keeps randomly freezing. It has been working great up until now though? Any idea what could be causing this problem of mine?