Trouble exporting any mov files into H264 after adding K-Lite codec pack into Windows XP SP3.

Question

I have QuickTime 7.7 (1680.34) installed. I have used it extensively and exported the video separate from the audio and extracted and used filters and it has all worked great with all of the other codecs I have had installed. It even worked great after I recently installed this K-Lite codec pack that actually saved files in a *.hdmov file type and I was able to view them with the Media Player Classic .... (I have Windows XP update 3)  and see what I could do over there and then go back to saving them as *.mov file types and work in QuickTime Pro. And still export them relatively fast to their latest H264 format.
I gave more file types to the Media Player Classic. I think along the line of the just the *.3g2 and *.mp4 and took them away from QuickTime but still keeping the *.mov, *.qt and *.mqv  file types .... and that is when I think everything must have changed.  all of a sudden I can not save any *.hdmov files and the export process in QuickTime takes longer than forever.
I thought that I had reconfigured Media Player Classic back to its default ....
and it should all go back to being how it was.
Is there some Direct Show filter or codec that upsets QuickTime Pro ... that I might have not reset back to what it was?
Any codec help would be much appreciated.
This is what the K-Lite site says in one instance about H264:
If the video that you are playing contains H.264 video, then you could try using another decoder. The codec pack by default uses ffdshow for decoding H.264 video. This is a free and open-source decoder. Other decoders exist that have better performance as ffdshow. They should give you smoother playback, specially if you have a dual-core or quad-core processor.
Alternative H.264 decoders are:
CoreAVC. This decoder is unfortunately not available for free.
DivX H.264 decoder. This decoder is available for free as part of the DivX Bundle. Tip: disable everything in the bundle except the H.264 decoder.
ffmpeg-mt. This is an experimental multi-threaded version of the libavcodec decoding library, which is used by ffdshow. You can select ffmpeg-mt as decoder in ffdshow video decoder configuration.
MPC DXVA H.264 decoder. This is an internal decoder of Media Player Classic Homecinema. It uses your graphics card to perform most of the decoding process, resulting is a very low CPU usage. You can enable this decoder though: MPC Options -> Internal Filters. Note: this decoder has some specific requirements.
I downloaded the DivX bundle and will pull out that codec. I bought the CoreAVC for $13 but Norton said it was a risky file when I downloaded it ... (I have a question into the site about that) and I will try the ffmpeg-mt codec as well as see what they say about the last one. I will also try to undo everything I did that happened I guess before QuickTime started to export so slow that it is not even worth it to try and convert a mov file into H264.
Sorry so long ... I just was trying to lay out the things I have attempted, will attempt to try and improve the situation.
Thanks again very much if anyone makes it thru this ... geez .. sorry.

Answer 1

Hello Tim,
I decided to do a clean install, a fresh new installation of windows and all its updates, I didn't get the option of
install SP1 yet.
After that I only installed Catalyst drivers: 11.5 and Realtek HD audio drivers, all downloaded on May 24 2011.
Then latest FFDShow and MPC-HC to test, both x64 versions Nothing else installed.
Only a fresh copy of windows with its updates and those mentioned drivers.
To my surprise, it happened a gain.
It still crashes after a while when playing MKV videos.
It's weird, because it doesn't happen with avi's or mp4's.
So, there must be something wrong with one of windows updates that creates this windows FREEZE.
Also there is no possibility to find out what error it is in "Event Viewer" as nothing gets recorded there. Anyone could
advise?
Thanks