SL_E_LICENSE_FILE_NOT_INSTALLED (0xC004F011) Mpeg 2 Decoder

Per MS documentation, there is a MPEG 1 and 2 Video Decoder bundled with Windows 8 which is compatible with Media Foundation. I have written a Source Reader for DVD, MPEG2 and MPEG1 and started testing.

In my pipeline, right around the MFEnumEx, I get a reference to an instance of a decoder found on the system. As soon as I try to activate the object I receive SL_E_LICENSE_FILE_NOT_INSTALLED. I encountered this message before when I was writing a wrapper for MPEG4. MPEG 4 encoder gave me the same thing.

Based on Google searches, I ended up at with link and directed the users to run the command: DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

It seems this fixed the MPEG 4 encoder issue. Not sure what is happening. I ran TopoEdit.exe and tried adding Microsoft MPEG Video Decoder and the node fails with the same error.

I am wondering if anyone encountered the same issue? Any resolutions? I really don't want to write a decoder at this point.

I tested this on another PC at work and I am getting the same result. Both OS are 8.1 64bit.

Well, I found the issue.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/2616896/microsoft-windows/update--windows-8-won-t-be-able-to-play-dvds.html

Per the link above starting with Windows 8, DVD (MPEG 2 Decoder) is not included by default. It is a purchasable feature. This means no default DVD playback support for free. We purchased a copy for Surface Pro that we have at the company and it cost 10 bucks. Not a big deal. I wish they mentioned this in their documentation. It also appears that the feature is not purchasable/addable in 8.X Enterprise. Windows Media Center which contains the decoder was dropped from both Enterprise and Server 2012.