Play video files gives me a black screen

When playing or streaming any video file using Real Player or Windows Media Player I get a black screen, like it's going in to full-screen mode, then the video will play. This will happen in the player it's self or using any browser. The annoying thing is I miss the start of the video so I have to stop and start it again. This does not happen with Quicktime files.

Any suggestions?

Spec:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2

Video Adapter Properties:
Device Description S3 Graphics ProSavage 8A26 (Microsoft Corporation)
Adapter String S3 Compatible Display Adapter
BIOS String 03.3C.10
Chip Type S3 ProSavage KM133(TM)
DAC Type S3 SDAC
Installed Drivers s3gnb (6.14.10.0012-13.94.12)
Memory Size 32 MB

Physical Memory:
Total 479 MB

Real Player 10.5
Window Media Player 9

 

Well you didn't say what sort of CPU you have, but from looking at the rest of the specs I'm guessing it's not something that's too fast. Which means the problem is most likely just because it's a slower computer so it takes a little while to laod everything up.

You have an onboard video card with shared memory so it's quite common for there to be a little loading time.

 

You may not have the correct codec.

Does it happen only with streaming video or any video?

 

It wouldn't be a codec issue. He said it played it just took awhile to start. If it was a codec issue it wouldn't play or it would play with errors. But simply letting it have a little time to load wouldn't resolve a codec issue.

 

It may be because the encoded video has few key frames.
Do you find the same problem when you seek a particular part of the video using the slider?Streaming videos usually buffer a bit before they start as well.

 

your gfx card is old ,you have a silly amount of memory,you prob have an old cpu i.e its time for an upgrade!

 

Not that this matter but he doesn't actually have a weird amount of ram. He has 512MB. It's just since it's an onboard video card with shared memory 32MB of that is allocated to the video card, which makes it look like a funny amount of ram.

 

The black full screen comes when there is a display reoslution change.

 

512-32=480 not 479
where did 1mb go?

 

Yeah I wonder where 1mb went too, I used Everest to get the PC spec's. To say I have a low spec machine is to join in with big business and say that you always need the latest hardware for anything to work. Just because your car is 4 years old does not make it redundant.

The problem I descirbe did not always happen but has done so for the last few months. I have no problem viewing the videos in the respect of codecs. This black screen pops up for a second or two just like when you go in to full-screen but I'm viewing the file at normal screen, be it streaming or otherwise.

Maybe I'll uninstall all video software and reload it all. Any other suggestions?

 

Did you have this annoyance when your system was new?

 

The 1MB could simply be a minor mistake by the program he's using to get the results. It's fairly common to have a small discrepancy with something like this and it's not a big deal.

As for actually making it work, I'd still be gambling it does it because the CPU needs time to load up a bit. The reason it wouldn't have done it before is because to start with there was less stuff running. So it's most likely something running in the background which slows you down just enough to force it to have to load a bit.

Also, a four year old car and a four year old computer don't really match up. A car can make it 10 years if you take care of it. A computer however will not ever make it 10 years in the current market no matter how much you take care of it. They simply go out of date too fast as new technology comes around. A four year old computer is really pushing it's limits, and that's to be running just office stuff. You can forgot about new games altogether, some of them might not even let you install them with a four year old computer.

 

You cannot just rule out codecs because it is playing.

I said it was codecs because he said Quicktime Files play okay, and they use their own MPEG codec.

So why would only one type of file play and not others?

Quicktime are just as CPU intensive as other MPEG files.

If it was the CPU then logically the QuickTime files would behave like the others.

I've played AVI's and other types of video on my Pentium II 233 with 128 mb RAM.


It may very well be his CPU, but it may also be codecs or something else and it's very hard to say with the little information given, however that doesn't mean you can rule things out with certaintly either.

 

i'm not too familiar with WMP as I don't use it, but there might be an option to emulate full screen instead of having the player switch the resolution

for example: you have a file that's 640x480 and your screen res, is 1024x768 ... instead of having the player set the main resolution to 640x480, have the player scale the video to 1024x768

 

I would have to completely disagree with you here. You absolutely CAN rule out codecs just because it's playing. A codec is NEEDED in order to tell the computer how to translate the binary date into video data for displaying. Without the needed codec's it is IMPOSSIBLE for the computer to display the video content.

Since the ONLY purpose of a codec is to convert the binary data into a viewable form for the user, this means that IF the picture is viewable then the codec is in fact present and working. Loading times would not be something the codec itself deals with. If it's being displayed properly then it's safe to say it isn't the codec, regardless of how long it took to properly display it.

Also it is worth noting that codecs like divX have become VERY CPU extensive over the past years. Where as you can play mpegs on a 100MHZ system, your average avi file will usually require a higher powered processor since they use a better compression algorithm.

Also worth nothing, the higher the bitrate on a video file is the more CPU power it would require processes. So these longer loading times could be a result of you simply viewing higher quality video files then you used too.

 

You're more than welcome to disagree with me, however, using your logic doesn't explain why it's playing QuickTime files? (I also never said you can play without the codec, it doesn't have to be missing, it could be corrupt or conflicting with other codecs)

Anyway, this is getting way off topic so end of "debate" as far as I'm concerned.

 

Re: Play video files gives me a black screen [FIXED]

You got me in the right direction Pyrate. I started digging around in the display options of XP and the refresh rate was at 60 Hertz so I put it up to 75 which is what this monitor can handle and no more black screen when streaming/playing videos. I dimly remember (a certain unease in the air) changing it for some reason a while back.

Thanks to all who posted it's good to discuss, sets one off on different avenues of thought.