If you have recently purchased a camera that shoots 10-bit footage and you are having trouble playing it back on Windows 10, you are not alone. Even the popular VLC media player fails to play it back smoothly, leaving you with only stuttery or unplayable footage. Luckily, there is a solution that is both easy and free.
In this article, we will show you how to quickly go from no thumbnail unplayable footage to beautiful preview thumbnails and smooth playback using two free programs.
First, let’s tackle the playback issue. Instead of using VLC media player, which is not very compatible with 4K 10-bit video files, we recommend you download the free mpv media player from MPV.IO. Once downloaded, extract the mpv.exe file using the 7-zip software (which is also free).
Next, navigate to the 10-bit footage that you want to play and right-click on the file. Choose “Open with” and then “Choose another app.” Scroll down and click “Look for another app on this PC” and navigate to the location of the mpv.exe file. Select it and click “Open.” Your 10-bit video files will now play back smoothly in the mpv video player.
To ensure that Windows always opens these video files with the mpv video player, right-click on the video file, choose “Open with,” select “mpv,” and then click “Always use this app to open MP4 files.”
Now let’s move on to the thumbnail issue. To generate thumbnails for your video files, we recommend downloading a free tool called Icaros from videohelp.com. Once downloaded and installed, launch Icaros config and select “Video only” under the preset category. Then, activate thumbnailing and minimize Icaros.
Go to your footage folder, and you should see a thumbnail for your video file.
With these simple steps, you can now play back your 10-bit video files with smooth playback and have beautiful thumbnails on Windows 10. No need to worry about compatibility issues anymore.
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