PS player eats cpu to 100% when certain xvid file is played

[bluedan]

:? Ahem, correction.
You don't have to uninstall ffdshow.
If you want XVid to decode then configure ffdshow under codec tab.
Clicks cycle through disable, xvid, libavcodec with the latter being the ffdshow inherent decoder.

I frankly favorize ffdshow, because it keeps the installation simple for most users here,
because it can decode mostly every video type available ATM.
This is true for versions from the last months, look for latest quite stable compile here.

Decoding quality with libavcodec should be the same as the code is actually nearly identical!

I agree with the rest of your statements adicoto.
Maybe reducing postprocessing settings in applied decoder filter could help a bit.

One word to the codecs info picture of AVIcodec.
Click on Direct Show because that's the intersting part for video playback!!