Why Don't Any Videos Play Anymore?

Zepman · 09-19-2008, 03:15 AM

Hi, Zepman here, new to this site, and hoping someone here can help...several days ago, a problem developed (just before my laptop display went dead, using an ext. monitor now, but don't think it's related) where I can't see any video, no matter what format, whether I use Windows Media Player, or Winamp, or VLC, or others. I can view them if I use certain video processing programs like VidSplitter. I can hear the audio, but can't see the video, no matter what media viewer I choose and no matter what format (.avi, .mpeg, etc.). What happened? I checked drivers and such and ran anti-virus (found some problems but didn't fix the video one) to no avail.

Any help would be really appreciated!

Thanks,
Zepman

asartini · 09-19-2008, 03:37 AM

Hi Zepman, you might need to disable graphics overlays. As far as i'm aware you can't do this in Windows Media Player 9, but if you have a later version you should be able to do this via Tools -> Options and something like Video tab. In here you'll have an option which lets you tick a box to use Overlays... untick this box and see if this resolves your problem

Zepman · 09-22-2008, 11:57 PM

Well, I'm running Win2K Professional, so WMP 9 is the latest one I can run...and the problem exists, where it didn't exist before, no matter what media player I use...thanks, asartini, but still looking for an answer here...

Cheers,
Zepman

Zepman · 09-23-2008, 12:04 AM

Fixed it!!! Thanks to Asartini, you led me in the right direction! You can do this in Windows Media Player 9 - go to Tools, Options, Performance, then under Video Acceleration hit the Advanced tab, and under Video Acceleration, I unclicked Use Overlays, and that did it!!! Wonder how it got tweaked to begin with, but sure glad it's resolved...I bet it works with all media players now.

Thanks a bunch again for the help!

Cheers,
Zepman

asartini · 10-01-2008, 01:56 AM

^ sorry i've been on holidays since last week so only seeing this now. No idea why the setting got automatically clicked, same thing happened to me out of the blue as well. Glad to hear you got it sorted tho, oh and thanks for the info regarding WMP9 :)

09-19-2008, 03:15 AM	#1 (permalink)
Zepman Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 3 OS: win2k sp4	Why Don't Any Videos Play Anymore? Hi, Zepman here, new to this site, and hoping someone here can help...several days ago, a problem developed (just before my laptop display went dead, using an ext. monitor now, but don't think it's related) where I can't see any video, no matter what format, whether I use Windows Media Player, or Winamp, or VLC, or others. I can view them if I use certain video processing programs like VidSplitter. I can hear the audio, but can't see the video, no matter what media viewer I choose and no matter what format (.avi, .mpeg, etc.). What happened? I checked drivers and such and ran anti-virus (found some problems but didn't fix the video one) to no avail. Any help would be really appreciated! Thanks, Zepman

09-19-2008, 03:37 AM	#2 (permalink)
asartini Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 10 OS: Windows XP SP2	Re: Why Don't Any Videos Play Anymore? Hi Zepman, you might need to disable graphics overlays. As far as i'm aware you can't do this in Windows Media Player 9, but if you have a later version you should be able to do this via Tools -> Options and something like Video tab. In here you'll have an option which lets you tick a box to use Overlays... untick this box and see if this resolves your problem

09-22-2008, 11:57 PM	#3 (permalink)
Zepman Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 3 OS: win2k sp4	Re: Why Don't Any Videos Play Anymore? Well, I'm running Win2K Professional, so WMP 9 is the latest one I can run...and the problem exists, where it didn't exist before, no matter what media player I use...thanks, asartini, but still looking for an answer here... Cheers, Zepman

09-23-2008, 12:04 AM	#4 (permalink)
Zepman Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 3 OS: win2k sp4	Re: Why Don't Any Videos Play Anymore? Fixed it!!! Thanks to Asartini, you led me in the right direction! You can do this in Windows Media Player 9 - go to Tools, Options, Performance, then under Video Acceleration hit the Advanced tab, and under Video Acceleration, I unclicked Use Overlays, and that did it!!! Wonder how it got tweaked to begin with, but sure glad it's resolved...I bet it works with all media players now. Thanks a bunch again for the help! Cheers, Zepman

10-01-2008, 01:56 AM	#5 (permalink)
asartini Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 10 OS: Windows XP SP2	Re: Why Don't Any Videos Play Anymore? ^ sorry i've been on holidays since last week so only seeing this now. No idea why the setting got automatically clicked, same thing happened to me out of the blue as well. Glad to hear you got it sorted tho, oh and thanks for the info regarding WMP9 :)