Problem with Video Playback

freedo50 · May 25, 2008, 09:59:13 AM

Hey guys,
I have loads of different TV series that I watch on my PC, and they are encoded in .avi format. Recently however, they have stopped playing correctly, and are now just a white screen with audio. I have checked the files with g-spot and they are all in good working order and I have all the codecs installed. I don't understand this at all, I haven't changed anything to do with videos since the last time they worked

. I have tried playing them in Windows Media Player, VLC, and Quicktime and it is the same for all of them.

HELP!!!

Thanks in advance,
Fred

callagrafx · May 25, 2008, 10:31:27 AM

It definitely sounds like the video codec. Is your Windows set to automatically update itself? Check the version of the codec you are trying to play back vs the installed codec.

freedo50 · May 25, 2008, 10:33:09 AM

That's the thing that's confusing, I haven't changed the codec since it last worked, and it's DivX, so it won't update automatically. G-spot also said that I had the correct codec installed

.

Fred

callagrafx · May 25, 2008, 10:41:53 AM

Sorry mate, should have read the post more carefully...have you tried the latest DivX player? I've had issues in the past with avi files, which is why I generally convert them to WMV, using QT pro to save the AVI to .mov, then Ultra Quicktime Converter to convert QT to WMV.

freedo50 · May 25, 2008, 10:47:05 AM

Ah, I hadn't tried the DivX player. That worked thanks! Still mystified as to why the codec for other players doesn't work though

Thanks Lee!
Fred

Shadow Assassin · May 26, 2008, 05:32:35 AM

It could be that DivX supports .avi natively.

Windows Media Player doesn't natively support .avi playback (this has changed with WMP 11, though) - you have to install the codec yourself.

There are plenty of third party codecs out there [particularly for WMP] that work fine... just do a Google search, and it should be in a codec pack or something.

freedo50 · May 26, 2008, 04:29:36 PM

Ok, this is really strange and even more annoying. I have just downloaded BBC iPlayer and it won't play the videos I am downloading from the iPlayer website properly. Surely this isn't even possible!? Please help, I think I might have to break my PC soon as this is really really infuriating.

Fred

EDIT: Sorry for the childish manner of the above post, but I was having a bad day

. I'm thinking about re-installing Vista and starting with a clean slate anyway, so I'll get back to y'all when/if I do.

Jonathan · May 28, 2008, 12:05:14 AM

I'm not sure but I don't think you can download videos on the iplayer with Vista, I tried to but then just gave up and watched them streamed.

freedo50 · May 28, 2008, 06:14:58 AM

Quote from: Warrior on May 28, 2008, 12:05:14 AM
I'm not sure but I don't think you can download videos on the iplayer with Vista, I tried to but then just gave up and watched them streamed.

Hey Jonathan,
I've completely wiped my HD (I have a backup though) and resinstalled and everything is working good now. iPlayer is working too, so that must be a problem at your end. I do know that the iPlayer support and messageboards are the worst thing I think I've ever seen.

Fred