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Problems with Windows Media Player

PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 6:33 pm
by Radical Dreamer
Ok, so I'm on my dad's laptop, and for some reason, his computer (not to mention a number of my friends' computers) will not play video from a data disk in Windows Media Player (there are no other programs availiable). I've had his computer play video before on a data disk in WMP, so why is it suddenly not working? When I try to play the media, I'll see a little message at the bottom of the screen that says "Error Downloading Codec," and I'll be able to hear the video, but not see it. Any help with this problem would be greatly appreciated! :)

PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 6:36 pm
by Authority3000
Which version of WMP is it?

PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 6:39 pm
by Radical Dreamer
The latest version; it's a relatively new computer.

PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 7:48 pm
by jieshi
Maybe you need the codec? Go to http://www.free-codecs.com and download the latest codec pack. After downloading one of the packs you should be able to play 99% of video files on the computer

PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:37 pm
by Slater
yeah, a lot of times the location of the codec is embedded in the actual video, and often it is a relative path name. If it's not on the CD where it should be (according to the video's specifications), then it'll try to download and fail. So, if you get the codec installed on your computer, you won't have to worry about it.

PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 5:57 am
by Warrior4Christ
What type of file is it?

PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 7:10 am
by Mithrandir
Yeah. If we had access to the file, we might be able to help find an appropriate player and/or codec (short for coder/decoder, btw).

PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 9:16 am
by Radical Dreamer
I'm pretty sure it's an .avi file. Thanks for the free-codec site, though, Jieshi, I'll try to download them next time I'm on his computer. :)

PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 9:58 am
by ShiroiHikari
Get a video player called VLC instead. >_> You'll probably never have to download another codec again. *dislikes WMP with a passion -o-;*

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 12:49 pm
by Mithrandir
ShiroHikari: That's a good point, too. WMP doesn't work very well for most stuff.


RD: The "avi" doesn't accutally mean it's one type of file. There are a LOT of formats that fit inside an AVI file. VLC (what ShiroiHikari said) might make it easier to use the file.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 06, 2006 3:36 pm
by MorwenLaicoriel
ShiroiHikari wrote:Get a video player called VLC instead. >_> You'll probably never have to download another codec again. *dislikes WMP with a passion -o-]http://www.videolan.org/vlc/[/url]



That's what I use for avis, too. VLC's free and doesn't take up much space, and it's fairly easy to use, so I recommend it! ^^