Xvid and VLC

[rock.freak667]

I have this videoclip on my pc that VLC plays but without the video. VLC says it uses the Xvid codec so I downloaded it but yet it doesn't play the video. Although WMP11 plays it but without subtitles (there is an associated .srt file in the avi's directory)

[jman98]

VlC uses its own codecs so anything else you download and install will not help.

VLC is known to have issues on Vista. Your profile says your PC runs XP, but if you neglected to mention that you're trying to play this on a PC running Vista, that might be your problem. If you go to the main VLC webpage I think they have suggestions on how to make it work under Vista.

If you are really trying to play it back on an XP system, the download and install Gspot and try to post a screen capture of what Gspot says about the clip. It might help us to figure out what's going on.

[rock.freak667]

Screenshot of GSpot with my clip loaded.

[redwudz]

I've never had any playback problems with VLC and Vista. I use it all the time on three Vista computers. But the OP is apparently using XP.

But I have seen this problem not necessarily related to Vista about the output module that may be set wrong.

Start VLC Media Player
Click on Settings and select Preferences
Now, Expand Video and just click on Output Modules
Check the Advanced Option in the lower right corner and set the output module to OpenGL.
Finally, you should restart VLC Media Player to reflect these changes.

Alternately, if VLC plays back your video with a blank screen, try this: Open a second instance of VLC while the first one is still running. If one instance of VLC has a picture and the other doesn't, you have a overlay problem. Check your video card settings in that case.

If that's not it, maybe get a new copy of VLC as yours may be corrupted. VLC doesn't need and won't use outside codecs, but should play back Xvid or Divx files with no problems.

[rock.freak667]

Alternately, if VLC plays back your video with a blank screen, try this: Open a second instance of VLC while the first one is still running. If one instance of VLC has a picture and the other doesn't, you have a overlay problem. Check your video card settings in that case.

That fixes the problem, but how exactly do I check my video card settings?

[redwudz]

Try this: In VLC, go to 'Preferences>Video'. Check or uncheck 'Overlay video output', and see if that helps. VLC usually handles overlay quite well.

If no change, in Windows, go to 'Control Panel>Displays>Advanced>Troubleshooting', and reduce the hardware acceleration to about 1/3 to 1/4 and see if that helps. This isn't the best solution as it reduces graphics performance. This isn't really a VLC problem, more a overlay problem. Sometimes updating the video card driver is the best fix. If your card is a Nvidia as in your computer details, look here for updated drivers: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx

Overlay settings can be a PITA with any player. You may also need to reboot when you change some of the settings. The good news, once you get it right, is you shouldn't have to mess with it again.

More info about overlay: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_overlay

[rock.freak667]

Try this: In VLC, go to 'Preferences>Video'. Check or uncheck 'Overlay video output', and see if that helps. VLC usually handles overlay quite well.

Thanks that worked. Only problem now is that the video shows with a kind of yellow column to the left and replays some if the video in that column (hard to explain sorry)