Windows Media Player 12 on Windows 8

[JerryFerreira]

I'm in the process of capturing video of VHS tapes with my EasyCap device. I've had my EasyCap device for several years now and it worked well in XP. Now I can't use the original software (keeps crashing), but luckily I have Nero Video 11 and it captures the video.

When I first went to test the capture in MPEG2, I played it back in Windows Media Player 12. Video didn't play, but sound did. I thought it was a capture problem, so I tried MPEG1. Video and sound played!

From what I've read, WMP 12 doesn't play MPEG files. I'm wondering why I can play MPEG1 files, but not MPEG2 files.

Any thoughts?

[TSJNachos]

Perhaps there's some MPEG-2 bug in Nero Video. Try playing your file in another non-directshow player, such as VLC. If it plays there, your system might have developed some codec issue. In such a case, you can consider the problem solved, unless you prefer to dig deep and find the exact cause of the issue.

If that's what you prefer to do, see what happens when you open the file with either GraphEdit or GraphStudio. Tell us what happens when you do, as that might give us some clue as to what's going on. Also, posting details from MediaInfo can help.

[usually_quiet]

I'm in the process of capturing video of VHS tapes with my EasyCap device. I've had my EasyCap device for several years now and it worked well in XP. Now I can't use the original software (keeps crashing), but luckily I have Nero Video 11 and it captures the video.

When I first went to test the capture in MPEG2, I played it back in Windows Media Player 12. Video didn't play, but sound did. I thought it was a capture problem, so I tried MPEG1. Video and sound played!

From what I've read, WMP 12 doesn't play MPEG files. I'm wondering why I can play MPEG1 files, but not MPEG2 files.

Any thoughts?

Microsoft didn't include MPEG-2 decoders with the standard version of Windows 8 to avoid paying the licensing fees. You will need to find a compatible third party MPEG-2 decoder for Windows Media Player or use third-party media players like MPCHC or VLC or PotPlayer, that use their own internal MPEG-2 decoders.