Sudden playback problems in VLC and PowerDVD

[ecc]

Just today, videos are playing back with blue skintones in VLC Media Player (they were fine before) and when I try to play a DVD with PowerDVD I get the menu audio but no video. Once again, these DVDs played fine before. The only program I have installed recently was TheFilmMachine (which installed a different version of ffdshow but that shouldn't do anything to DVD playback). The only other difference I've noticed is that my screen resolution has changed. The 1440 x 900 resolution is suddenly no longer available in ATI's Catalyst Control Center or the XP Display tab.

[Baldrick]

Blue skintones sounds like an overlay problem. Check the avivo video color settings in ati's catalyst control. Check also if your monitor is the primary/main monitor.

[ecc]

I'll do that when I get home. I tried playing the same DVD on VLC and it also played with the blue skintones so hopefully once I fix that, PowerDVD will also function normally instead of refusing to display anything at all.

[ecc]

I reinstalled the ATI drivers and that seems to have resolved the playback and skintone problems but I still have to figure out the screen resolution issue.

[redwudz]

I'm assuming you have a video card that is capable of outputting to a second monitor? I have the problem of my ATI cards losing the widescreen setting for my monitor, 1680 X 1050. What I do is select the second monitor in my ATI settings, even if there is none connected. Then go back and select the primary monitor and the 1680 X 1050 setting is now available. No idea why this happens, but in my case it is probably my KVM switch.

You can also go to your video card settings>Advanced Settings>Monitor and uncheck 'Hide modes that this monitor cannot display', and sometimes the correct setting is there.

[ecc]

Thanks. I will try this when I get home. I did notice that 'Hide modes that this monitor cannot display' selection but did not bother to try it out.

[ecc]

Where do you select the secondary monitor in the ATI settings?

[redwudz]

Your screen may be different, but this is common to dual monitor setups. (From my laptop)



If you don't see two monitors with your setup, then try something different. Changing the 'modes' is worth a try. You might also try different ATI drivers. Sometimes the older ones work better with a particular card.