Video quality is bad in Windows 2003

[Olympus]

Hi, I'm experiencing poor video quality when playing xvid AVIs in fullscreen mode on my Windows 2003 SP1 machine. The same file runs with great quality on my friends WinXP machine. I tried installing the latest xvid codec, but it didn't help. Changing player software didn't help either. Can anyone please help me on this one?[/u]

[gadgetguy]

Since you confirmed that the file plays fine elsewhere, I would try hardware settings. Try to make the settings on your video card and monitor match the computer that showed the video fine. If the settings match, then try swapping monitors. If the problem moves with the monitor, then the montitor is probably the problem, replace your monitor.

If the problem stays with your computer, then try swapping the video card. If it moves with the video card then the problem is probably there. I say probably because some videocard/monitor combinations perform better together than others. Also keep in mind that there could be huge differences between your friends computer and yours as far as memory, drive speed, cpu, etc. All of which could also contribute to the problem. But swapping the hardware is the easiest first steps in troubleshooting this type of problem.

If these steps don't uncover the problem, then give us more info about your computer (video card, monitor, settings, etc.) and if possible, about the computer that it shows fine on.

[Olympus]

Thanks for the prompt reply.

I have enabled Hardware Acceleration and set it to Full. Changed resolutions, played around with color depths...no use.

As to changing hardware, I'm pretty much convinced it's not a hardware problem. That's coz I'm trying this on my company PC. And the problem is duplicated on every win2k3 machine I have tried this on. And it works on every winxp machine. All machines are p4 2.8 Ghz with intel onboard video cards. I'm beginning to doubt that there is a problem with the default graphics driver installed in win2k3. what do u think?

once again, thanks a lot.

[gadgetguy]

See how much more information changes everything? It does seem to point to win2k3 doesn't it? I'm not really familiar with win2k3. Will it allow you to use 3rd party drivers? If so, see if you can use the winxp drivers on it.

I'd also be interested in what would happen if you installed winxp as a dual boot on the same system. Seeing as this is a company PC that's probably not an option. But it would definately rule out hardware.