Win XP/SP2 video don't work but sound is OK.

"It will usually play with this program which uses approximately 181 different codecs. After playing a video file with GSpot then minimize it and open Win Media Player or another player and the video works normally."

This means it's the usual missing codec issue. There are however some video content that will never again play in WMP 11 since the codecs have not been updated to work with WMP 11 (the latest?)

For this you should explore VLC PLAYER and MEDIA PLAYER CLASSIC.

There is no sign that Microsoft will undo the changes in WMP 11 that caused this issue.

Bob

Thanks Bob, that sounds pretty good but if it's a WMP 11 problem then why did my other players not work? I'm sure my WMV files are not damaged. What I didn't mention previously was I tried rolling back WMP to v 10.0 and 9.0 and none of the older versions worked either. That's why I think it's an XP problem. I still use WMP 11 for playing my MP3 files and I can work around the problem.

There is however no way to force MS to correct this so we have to wait for the person who created the CODEC (it's not Microsoft) to update it.

For now, try the other players.

Bob

Not to prolong the discussion but it can't be a codec problem either. As I said earlier, WMP will play normally if I have both GSpot and WMP loaded. Both GSpot and WMP identify the same audio and video codecs for the same file. You can verify this in WMP by right-clicking on a video file while it is playing and selecting properties. I would ask for Microsoft's assistance but it is not worth the $59.00 it would cost me. I'll just work around the problem. I don't need any more video players because I have two other players that work well. Thanks for your advice though.

I haven't had a bunch of time to test this out but I updated my Nvidia drivers about the same time as I updated to SP2 and started getting the same problem. It's been driving me nuts trying to figure it out. I downloaded free codecs and purchased other proprietary ones all the while thinking it wasn't just the codecs. Sure enough some times the codecs would work and some times they wouldn't even with the same videos. It was completely random. So I went tinkering around with the Nvidia display plugin and noticed that the monitor the plugin was displaying was a CRT instead of a flat panel. I switched it to have the flat panel selected and things started magically working. I've only tested it with a few DVDs and some online videos but it seems to be working for now and since I feel your pain I hope it will help.

Directx tends to do that on the secondary displays. Sorry I missed clues about your video setup. http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html#projecter and other entries will help you understand and workaround this in the future.

Bob

Thanks for the tips guys (R. Proffitt and Dreaux), I very much appreciate it. I think my problem was partly due to my video card and partly due to the video acceleration slider in WMPlayer. When I moved the slider down and back up again, my WMPlayer worked as normal, so half the problem is now gone. But my other video players still have the same problem. I am using a NVIDIA 7300GS video card with their latest driver for XP/SP2 and I'm not aware of any plugins for that driver but I'll do some more research.

I wonder if you have some machine with onboard video and added that card. If so, we might find it fixed by changing the bios to have your better card be the primary display. I'm a bit hampered since I can't find your machine details in these posts.

It's all still working great. I haven't had any problems with any videos or DVDs since I made the change.

I found the Nvidia setup plugin under the Display Properties dialog. Dialog->Settings Tab->Advanced Button->GeForce XXXXXX Tab->Start the NVIDIA Control Panel Button.

I also found the Nvidia Control Panel listed under the Control Panel folder.

Under the Nvidia Control Panel there was a section titled Setup Multiple Displays. I selected the single display option with the Flat Panel selected instead of the CRT.

I should probably also note that I downloaded the NVidia driver/control panel installer from NVidia. I have a different card so not sure if this will all apply to you or not.

Hope it helps,
-Dreaux

Great work guys, video acceleration was the problem after all. When I turned it down in WMPlayer it worked only for WMP. Then based on your suggestion to go to control panel I turned it down there and it worked for my other video players as well. I didn't select single display either because I have my PC plugged in to my plasma TV as a clone screen. The NVIDIA 7300GS video was already selected as my primary video and I do have a machine with built in video. Sorry I didn't provide those details from the start. I hope my experience might benifit someone else. Thanks again.

Art