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  1. First, sorry if this is the wrong forum but I couldn't see any 'playback' or 'codecs' forum.

    I recently installed a crappy codec pack and couldn't uninstall it (it was "XP Codec Pack"). Since then I can't seem to play any wmv files that use codecs such as wmv2, wmv3 and wvc1. I've tried installing all kinds of things since then but Media Player Classic just can't render wmvs any more.

    My machine isn't exactly clean — I've installed a few codec packs over the years — but I don't want to reformat, I just want to get Microsoft files playing for now until I buy my new PC next year. And before anyone asks, I wouldn't even consider downloading Microsoft's Media Player. (That thing is evil!)

    Can anyone please help?
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  2. Banned
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    You could give a try to WMV9 Video Compression Manager (only 678 KB):

    http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/8/a/98a6cb2d-6659-485e-b1f9-2c0d9bf6c328/wmv9VCMsetup.exe

    \\\\\
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  3. VH Wanderer Ai Haibara's Avatar
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    You could also try using mplayer or VLC, which use their own codecs, and have some support for WMV/WMA (but not complete support). Same for installing ffdshow, but I'd recommend trying Midzuki's suggestion, first.
    If cameras add ten pounds, why would people want to eat them?
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  4. Midzuki, thanks but that didn't have any effect.

    Ai, I downloaded VLC and now some WMVs work (generally smaller ones), but some play as garbled flashing colours!

    I had already installed ffdshow and that didn't make any difference to the problem.

    Any way to get all my wmvs working?
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  5. Did you set the ffdshow video decoder configuration to play wmv? (It is usually disabled by default)
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  6. Knows a few things Stiiv's Avatar
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    Have you tried reinstalling Windows Media Player? Yeah, I know, I'm Captain Obvious, but it worked for me in a similar case, after trying so many complex solutions.
    Stiiv
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    He doesn't want to do the simplest most obvious thing to make them work. Reinstalling Windows Media Player.

    He said it is evil. He wants a different solution than the best one. I don't know what is so evil about it. Works for me for most anything. For those that it doesn't, VLC generally works for them.
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  8. Member ebenton's Avatar
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    When you say that Media Player Classic just can't render wmvs anymore, does this mean that when you double-click the files, some other player tries to play them, or that they won't play at all in any player?

    If it is just that some other player is trying to play them, try right-clicking on the file and choosing the "Open with" menu selection from the context menu. If Media Player Classic is not on the list in the context menu, choose the last item on the menu, which should be "Choose program". Then you should be able to choose Media Player Classic from the subsequent list. Check the "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" checkbox at the bottom. This should change your file/program association for wmvs.

    If this isn't your problem, then nevermind.
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    You'd better also check these:

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  10. Originally Posted by poisondeathray
    Did you set the ffdshow video decoder configuration to play wmv? (It is usually disabled by default)
    Nothing seems to work with FFDshow. FFDshow reports three wmv codecs: wmv1/7 wmv2/8 and wmv3/9. I've set them all to "libavcodec" and "WMV9" (the only two options other than "disabled", but none of the settings work.

    edit: Midzuki, it is set up to play in MPC, too. Thank for all your ideas though!

    Originally Posted by ebenton
    When you say that Media Player Classic just can't render wmvs anymore, does this mean that when you double-click the files, some other player tries to play them, or that they won't play at all in any player?
    Thanks, but that wasn't it. None of my players opened wmv files, including BS player and an out-of-date VLC. I installed the latest VLC and now some of them work, but not all.

    Originally Posted by kimco52
    He doesn't want to do the simplest most obvious thing to make them work. Reinstalling Windows Media Player.
    I'm not trying to be difficult. I just don't want to install Windows Media Player. I don't like Microsoft applications, and I've seen WMP on other people's machines in the past and absolutely hated it. It's bloated and intrusive, and I really wouldn't like to have it on my machine. When I first installed XP a few years ago, there was an old version ofWMP that came with the installation and it took me absolutely ages to get my PC to play my files with anything other than WMP, or to uninstall it. For all I know, it's still on there. I think all in all it took me about 6 months of tweaking to get my movies to play with MPC instead of WMP. So I have a very strong aversion to downloading WMP. Call it irrational if you like, but I simply do not like Microsoft applications. Microsoft Word is pretty good evidence that Microsoft doesn't have a clue about making functional applications. I only use it's OS because of compatibility and support.

    Originally Posted by kimco52
    I don't know what is so evil about it. Works for me for most anything.
    Quite simply, I want a movie player that plays movies in the simplest and quickest manner, without saying to me: "Ah, I see you're watching porn, would you like some assistance in masturbating?". (That was satire by the way.)

    Here's an analogy. There are a lot of mobile phones that have big colour screens, built-in cameras, can connect to the Internet. And they're fine, if you want to do all those things. But if you only wanted a mobile phone to do what a mobile phone should do (i.e., make phone calls), then you'd be a bit foolish to buy a big, heavy, bulky thing with 1/10th the battery time that does things you don't want it to do.

    Personally, I rarely make phone calls, so I don't even own a mobile phone. You might say I'm a minimalist. Or, I don't just spend money for the sake of it.

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    I'm certainly no Microsoft fanboy. I work in IT and work with Unix and Linux and it would be fair to say that I hate Microsoft. I don't think WMP is evil though. However, I respect your opinion. Try installing the VLC Media Player and maybe it can play all the files you have. It has it's own codecs built into the player, so it won't mess up your system to install it.
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    I am no fan of Microsoft, either. Having said that, I agree with jman98 in that WMP isn't really evil. I think Real Media's Real Player is more evil than WMP. Everytime I would use Real Player for a file that is a real media file, it wants to access the internet. To just play a file, it should have no reason to access the internet. If it is just sitting there not being used, it randomly tries to access the internet. I use zone alarm and have it ask me to allow any application access the internet. When I first started using WMP, I told it to deny access and to remember the setting. It hasn't tried since. Even though I tell it to remember to deny RMP, it still tries to access the internet at times. So I just removed it.

    I can understand your frustration. I have been through similar things as well. But WMP, on my XP machine, is quick and plays anything I ask it to. If I double click and mp3 file it starts playing almost instantly. video files take a few seconds but play just fine. The only problem I have is that Premiere encodes to a different extension that is not recognized by WMP so I just change the extension to mpg and it works. I then change it back to do anything with it. I must say that I do not use WMP for anything major, just a quick look. I play DVD's or VOB files with Power DVD. WMP is just used for a quick and dirty look-see and whatever I download or collect from individuals or the net.

    Unlike you, however, I do not particularly care for Microsoft Word. I prefer Word Perfect. I started with WP when it was just DOS and stayed with it. It was much easier to use for generating proposals, indexing, etc. It's show hidden characters is better than Word's and easier to work with. It is what I started with and am most used to using. But I do use Excel and other apps. Basically, you use what you prefer based on your preferences.

    I wish you luck resolving your player problem. I can't offer any more ideas than what has already been stated. Ebenton's ideas is what I would start with......
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    Nothing seems to work with FFDshow. FFDshow reports three wmv codecs: wmv1/7 wmv2/8 and wmv3/9. I've set them all to "libavcodec" and "WMV9" (the only two options other than "disabled", but none of the settings work.
    Try setting it to disabled and see what happens. I was having problems with WMV files and that's what I did. I had set it to WMV9 at first so Virtualdub could open WMV7 and WMV8 (VFW config is still set to WMV9) but started having problems so I changed it to Libacodec and some played with Ffdshow's help so I went back in and changed it to disabled and now all my WMV files play like they should in MPC. Ffdshow helps with files that will not play without it but can raise havoc with other filetypes that have their own codecs.

    I did have a strange thing happen last night. I was trying to watch mpg and avi files on line and none of them would play in WMP. All I would get was a "The Page Cannot Be Displayed" page. I restarted my computer to see if it helped and a warning popped up stating that I had a dangerous file on my computer and wanted to know if I wanted to rename it, I said no and waited till Windows loaded and went back online. I tried to watch these movies again and they still would not play so I went into C:\ and found the file that I got the warning about and renamed it. All the mpg and avi files that wouldn't play online started playing. The name of the file was program. I have another file in C:\ that looks suspiciuos called drmHeader.bin that was created a month ago. The "program" file which is 0 bytes was created yesterday.
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  14. Knows a few things Stiiv's Avatar
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    It's bloated and intrusive, and I really wouldn't like to have it on my machine.
    Bloated, maybe, but "intrusive"? Any intrusive behavior is totally under YOUR control, pal....you can easily tell WMP what you want it to play, & what you want left alone. As mentioned above, RealPlayer (though better now) was THE poster child for bloated, intrusive media monsters...QT's no innnocent bystander either, with its sneaky QTTask.exe phone-home junk.

    Also note that even the alternatives, like MPC, VLC etc. often require the MS codecs installed with WMP to be fully functional, just as Quicktime Alternative, Real Alternative, et al need QT or Real Player installed on the machine to function properly.

    Let's not get into the whole "MS is eeeEEEeeeevil" mythology; when Apple can write an OS for machines they don't manufacture themselves, then & only then can honest comparisons be made. Plus, of Bill Gates & Steve Jobs, which guy looks more like an anti-christ? lolol (I'm j/k folks, let's keep all our panties unbunched.)
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  15. All I can tell you is that I found WMP to be extremely intrusive on my machine. I'm not lying. It literally took me months to get Windows to stop files from playing in it. (And no, selecting my preferred player and selecting "always use this program" did not work.) In the end, it took really drastic measures to get WMP to shut up. Maybe most people don't have these problems, but I did, which is why I hate the thing.

    Perhaps I'm being a tad melodramatic when I use the word "evil". I'm not trying to suggest MS is actually evil. But in my opinion Microsoft doesn't have a clue about making applications, and the phrase "MS Word" is a swearword to me. I find it utterly detestable, and I have no respect for someone who can spend so long producing a piece of sotware that is still complete rubbish. That is my opinion.
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  16. Originally Posted by Gameshow Host
    Nothing seems to work with FFDshow. FFDshow reports three wmv codecs: wmv1/7 wmv2/8 and wmv3/9. I've set them all to "libavcodec" and "WMV9" (the only two options other than "disabled", but none of the settings work.
    Some of the newer .wmv use VC-1; did you set that to libavcodec as well?

    You might try running a registry cleaner like ccleaner (free) or registry mechanic...

    or

    A lot of the gurus are not going to like this suggestion (and because a codec pack seems to have caused this problem in the first place!), but I suggest you install k-lite mega codec pack because it has a "codec tweak tool" that detects, repairs, fixes, deletes missing .dlls and mismatched codecs. It uses MPC for default player.

    or

    (last resort) reinstall windows
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  17. Aargh! Nothing works.

    I really appreciate all the suggestions, and I have tried them all (including installing the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack, which is actually quite a nice pack as packs go). But nothing.

    Oh well. I'll just have to put up with it a bit longer till I get a my new PC next year.
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