Windows Media Player 9 not playing some videos correctly.

Tim

I've run Windows Media Player9 for a long time and I like it. I haven't upgraded to 10 or 11 because I don't like the way the display skin looks.

I have some various videos on my computer (mpg, avi divx, xvid, etc), and recently I noticed that some of them don't play correctly any more. On some of them, the sound will run but not the video. On some it says "Windows Media Player has encountered an unknown error" and they won't play at all.

Some videos (episodes of South Park) play with the video UPSIDE DOWN and the sound still plays correctly.

I tried reinstalling WMP9 but that didn't fix it.

Any idea on what to look for and modify?

kryyst

Upgrade your codecs.

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Mega_Codec_Pack.htm

Tim

I've had some of these videos for 2-3 years and they've never had a problem before.

But I'll try adding the new codecs and see if that makes any difference.

Tim

I installed the codec pack and it seems to be working properly again now.

I wonder why videos I've had for years suddeny quit playing properly, with no other known software changes?

kryyst

No 100% reason why but things that happen. Codec's get broken when video programs get updated. So if you did any MS updates and it updated Media Player or if you've updated/installed Quicktime or real player that can break codecs that were linked to the players.

stoopid

I've had nothing but hassles with codecs of late. Thanks for the link to a good package. Some of the "vista codec packs" and such have been buggy, some formats start playing but others that were previously working don't. I'm going to give these a try. I'm trying to find a good source so I don't have to keep going through this every 3 months.