Windows 7 - Windows Explorer crashes in Large Icons (thumbnails) view

Whenever I view a folder which contains .MP4 (H264) video files in large icon view (shows thumbnails), Windows 7's Explorer crashes. Explorer loads for a few seconds, the green progress bar shows up, and then boom!, Explorer crashes. The thumbnails are not shown before crashing. Does anyone know how to fix this?

I tried setting Folder options to 'Always show icons, never thumbnails' (disables thumbnails) on the same folder with MP4 (H264) video files and Explorer doesn't crash if the MP4 thumbnails aren't shown. I tried testing in other folders containing other video formats (with 'Always show icons, never thumbnails' set to off) like .AVI/Xvid, without an MP4/H264 file, and Windows Explorer shows the thumbnails fine without crashing.

I have not currently experienced problems with other formats, only MP4/H264. The only media players that I have installed are KMPlayer and VLC Media Player which both do not install external codecs, AFAIK. The only external codec I have installed is CoreAVC, but I have been using CoreAVC for months (KMPlayer+CoreAVC is one of the first things I installed in Windows 7) without any problems (this issue just arose a few days ago).

I am using Windows 7 Ultimate, 32 bit.

Note: I prefer a solution that will not end up disabling video thumbnails for MP4 files. I still would like to see MP4 video thumbnails, if possible. If the video files themselves are problematic, I reckon Explorer should not crash and just not show the thumbnails.

Event Viewer log and HiJackThis log here:
http://tinypaste.com/8806b

Hello dazed_00, Is the .MP4 file particularly large, or at least larger than all the other files? Is the CoreAVC codec completely up to date? Cheers, Nahumi

Hello dazed_00,

Is the .MP4 file particularly large, or at least larger than all the other files?

Is the CoreAVC codec completely up to date?


Cheers,
Nahumi

Most of the MP4 files I have range from around 10MB to 500MB. I have been using CoreAVC 2.0 (current latest version since I've installed Windows 7 (around 4 months back) without any problems. This issue arose a few days ago. The only media player program I've configured to use CoreAVC is KMPlayer.

Okay, well I found a similar issue with a different Codec. Essentially there was a problem with a particular installation which resulted in buggy thumbnails.

There are a couple of things we can try to solve the problem.

Firstly you could try uninstalling and reinstalling CoreAVC. That might fix whatever went wrong a couple of days ago.

Secondly, you could try installing a different Codec. I've heard that FFDShow tends to be one of the more popular codecs for decoding MP4 files :
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/ffdshow.htm


Unfortunately I am going to have to ask you whether the files we're dealing with are in breach of copyright. The predominant use of MP4 files and codecs tend to be illegal. I have to say that the WTT Forum does not support or condone the illegal downloading of copyrighted material.

Okay, well I found a similar issue with a different Codec. Essentially there was a problem with a particular installation which resulted in buggy thumbnails.

There are a couple of things we can try to solve the problem.

Firstly you could try uninstalling and reinstalling CoreAVC. That might fix whatever went wrong a couple of days ago.

Secondly, you could try installing a different Codec. I've heard that FFDShow tends to be one of the more popular codecs for decoding MP4 files :
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/ffdshow.htm


Unfortunately I am going to have to ask you whether the files we're dealing with are in breach of copyright. The predominant use of MP4 files and codecs tend to be illegal. I have to say that the WTT Forum does not support or condone the illegal downloading of copyrighted material.

I will try reinstalling CoreAVC. All the video files I have are legal, to my knowledge.

I have experienced crashes with .MKV (H264) video files too. I checked out my CoreAVC installation settings and it appears to be, as of this moment, caused by Haali Media Splitter (which is an optional installation component, that is checked by default, with CoreAVC's installer). I've uninstalled Haali Media Splitter and I now experience no crashes with MP4 or MKV video thumbnails, so far. I guess the next questions should be: what does Haali Media Splitter do? What might have caused it to crash Explorer (I have it installed for months along with CoreAVC)? And is it needed for watching H264 (MP4/MKV videos) in KMPlayer (which I configured to use CoreAVC)? I will post here if there are any updates in case someone else also has the same problem.

According to Wikipedia, Haali Media Splitter separates the audio from the video. I suppose it makes sense that something like that could mess around with thumbnails. Windows tends to show a thumbnail of the movie footage a few minutes in, so it is perceivable that it could cause a bug. You shouldn't really need it to watch movies unless specified by KMPlayer. I guess the best thing would be to give it a go.