MP4 plays audio only

[lanafaith]

Ok so pardon me if I sound like an complete idiot here, but I'm totally stumped and need all you great geeky guys to help me out.

I downloaded my an episode of Smallville, in MP4 format, thinking it would play just fine, even though I've never tried playing an MP4 on my computer before. What happens is rather odd... I hear the audio just fine, but absolutely no video plays at all. It's like it's not there.

I downloaded a copy of Gspot to see if I could find and fix the problem myself, only to get MORE confused. Here's what Gspot says, word for word:

Partial Render failure: Following is the error reported by DirectShow.
0x00040242: [unknown]
More specifically, the audio could be rendered, but the video could not.
(Src) -->>--[A]-->>[CoreAAC Audio Decoder]>--(B)-->[AC3Filter]>--(C)-->[Default DirectSound Device]


That's it. So basically, GSpot is going "WTF??" too! Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the state of my codecs, is it?

I do hope someone here has some idea of what's going on, because I'm at a dead end... I've tapped into all the resources I know of, and nothing is helping at all.

~Lana

[Krispy Kritter]

The gSpot error is likely because you don't have the correct drivers installed to play the files (which you already know because you don't see any video). In gSpot, ignore the error, and look to see what codec is needed for playback. gSpot tells you what is needed, what is installed, and whether or not rendering is successful. Find what is needed, then download and install that codec.

[jman98]

Try installing QuickTime if you haven't done so already. I think it provides codecs to play back MP4 files. GSpot is a good tool, but on certain containers it doesn't provide much help.