Video playing in four colors

[JoeyII]

Hi all,

I have a general question that I have been fighting for a month now. Some video files I download seem to play in only four basic colors (green, blue, yellow, red). I can't seem to figure out whats going on. Never had this problem before the last month or so.

I have WMP 9 series and Media Player Classic and the latest K-Lite codec pack. MPEG and other files seem to play fine, but playing windows media files is when then this most often seems to occur. Any suggestions on what I may be overlooking or has anyone had similar issues?

Thanks for any advice.

Joey

[guns1inger]

and the latest K-Lite codec pack

I know this will prompt all sorts of "I used this for yearz and never had a problem" type responses, but this is the first place I would look for issues. Aside from installing codecs you will never need and out-of-date codecs, they also have a tendency to contain conflicting settings that cause unpredictable and hard to trace problems, like strange colours during playback.

The other major problem with codec packs is that they are almost impossible to remove cleanly from your system.

[JoeyII]

Thanks for the reply. I upgraded to Windows Media 11 and that seems to have fixed the colors problem, so it must have had something to do with the codecs associated there.

Also appreciate the info on codec packs. The reason I installed them in the first place was that many of my older videos I recorded were done with an ATI AIW video card and their stupid proprietary codecs which they no longer even support VCR1 & VCR2.

Thanks again,
Joey

[redwudz]

I think guns1inger about covered it, but for playback of 'Odd' codecs, I would try VLC Media Player first. It uses it's own codecs, so need to install ones that might cause problems.

Another tool to have handy is Gspot 2.60. It will generally tell you the codec a file uses and if you have it. Both programs are freeware.

[Masutin]

Have the same issue that I posted at https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/326240 (I should have searched for similar threads first and posted here). The responses didn't help. I think codecs have nothing to do with it because playing the faulty file with players that use internal filters (VLC, KMP) produced no improvements. At first, I assumed the hardware was to blame because the file played fine in another PC and even a standalone player. Then one time I copied a file to another medium and it turned out to be a few kilobytes less than the original, although no copying errors were reported. And the shorter file in the other location now had broken colors. I presume these problems are caused by errors in transmission or recording. The file lacks some information that affects the video. Strangely, the file that I originally had problems with, now plays fine, so it is surely complicated!

[guns1inger]

Depending on how size is reported, it is not unusual to find two files having apparently different sizes on different systems, while still being identical. Honestly, if the file didn't copy correctly, you would know it because of the built-in error checking in the process itself.

[PuzZLeR]

Another thing you can try, if it didn't work out for you, is hardware.

Forget the video card a moment and instead output to your monitor from onboard. See if that makes a difference.

As well, try a different monitor.

Video cards and monitors do have a tendency to bust and this could be a sign something is kicking.

[PuzZLeR]

I can't help commenting on "codec packs" when I get a chance.

I'm on the same boat as 'Slinger. I would stay away from them. In fact, I believe they have similar behavior to viruses, and it sometimes takes a clean reformat to finally purge them.

They are evil. They do things to your system. They conflict. They can be outdated and even illegal at times. They prey on n00bs, homemakers and passive "video experts".

But if you do want a "codec pack" then install CCCP. It's well managed with updated, legal and good stuff. They have a strong community following too - proof they don't, or won't, screw around. In other words, I would say their whole point is being a codec pack that isn't a "codec pack".