Video Codec problem

Hi,

I do hope someone can help me here. Things were fine until I decided to download a media file converter utility and tried to convert rm's to wmv files. I was using Media player 7.01, have Divx 5.05 installed, and installed Xvid for a few of the avi's that needed it. I have not installed any other codecs. The utility needed DirectX 8.0 installed, so I d/led it and installed. I previously had DirectX 7.xx installed. Now all my avi files will not play smoothly in my media player. The audio is fine, but the video now jumps many frames at a time, instead of a smooth running stream. I upgraded media player to 9.0, but still no change in video play. When I click on details of one of the avi's, this is what it gives me:

MPEG Layer-3,256 kBit/s, 44,100 Hz, Stereo
708 x 576, 24 Bits, 685 Frames, 25.000 Frames/Sec, 274 KB/Sec

Another thing I don't understand is when I view the video in preview under properties, the avi's play almost exactly like they played before I installed DirectX 8.0, except there's a little less sharpness in the objects in the videos. Does anybody know what video codecs I need now to view correctly, or like it was before? Thanks for any help on this.

 

Hi and welcome to MajorGeeks.

I'm a great believer that needlessly installing codec packs can cause problems.

There are great freeware programs like GSpot, avicodec, and video inspector etc, which will scan the video file and tell you if you have the required codec, and if not, supply a download link.

Only install the codecs you need.

BTW, why are you only using DirectX 8? You should really update to the latest one, 9c.

Also, what operating system are you using, and have you tried another media player?

 

That's good advice Most of these codec packages come with an array of DivX codecs, which is useless to many folks.

I'd recommend K-Lite Codec Full, as you can custom install as per your needs, and also installs Media Player classic, which will allow you to play Real Player & Quicktime files without having to install their bulky and invasive programs

 

I'm a great believer in not installing ANYTHING that I don't need, which is why I don't have realplayer or any other media player and this problem came up. So I guess that's why I don't have the latest version of DirectX. But I guess also because every media file I've downloaded hasn't required it so far. I have windows ME which gives me enough problems, so I'd rather not install anything I don't really need. Anyway, thanks for the info and link. I will definitely give Gspot a try!

I do have another question I'd like to ask. I'm using a proxy service that my brother felt best I use wherever I go on the net. The only problem is I don't get to view all the web pages I visit correctly because it tells me that javascript needs to be enabled. I have IE 5.5. I installed Opera to see if the web pages would load correctly, but it doesn't seem to work either. I don't know if my browsers are configured correctly or not. I know that my proxy subscription has a javascript filter which I check to enable javascript, but it doesn't seem to have any effect on some of the webpages. Does anybody know what I need to do to get this fixed?

 

Star17,

I'll look into k-lite as well. Wasn't figuring on installing more utilities or software, but if it will save me from having problems in the future...

 

Major problem here guys,

Installed KLCODEC254F...no improvement. Installed DirectX9.0c for the heck of it...video picture got worse. Ran Gspot, AVIcodec, Videoinspector...AVI and Video were easiest to use and both pointed to Divx Player 2.6 (DivX 6.0 is not compatible with ME). Unfortunately, it doesn't play multiple files and overheats my laptop as if it had a virus or a malicious program running in the background. Gspot had the most info, but didn't know what to do with it and failed and crashed and closed when I tried to render the vids. Any players that can play multiple avi's, rm's, or even qt's and not overheat my laptop and doesn't require any more codecs?

At any rate, I got really frustrated and tried a system restore, but that failed too. Any ideas why?

If I can't even get system restore to work, if I reinstalled windows, would I lose everything on the drive?

I was fine with DirectX 7.x, Media Player 7.01, and DivX 5.05 playing my avi's. Had I known it was going to be this much trouble, I would've just installed realplayer to view the friggin rm's. Apparently ME is too fossil-like to be compatible with the latest technology.

 

I was hoping you wouldn't say you had Windows ME, one of the cr@ppiest operating systems made, and more than likely the cause of your problems.

Anyway, for media player, you can try VLC.

Not sure if it's ideal for what you want, but worth a try.

 

Insomniac,

Thanks for the suggestion on the media player.

Will look into it once I do a fresh re-install of windows and get the rest of my system re-installed this weekend.