Just a new HP computer with XP.. Videos don't look sharp,

[Jason B]

I got a new pc a week ago. I couldn't view some avi's and wmv's. I installed some codecs I had that were a few years old from my 98 machine, one was xvid one was divix, indeo, etc. but they were older.

My video seem to be off. If I'm video a video with people in it, there faces or skin isn't sharp and you can see some artifacts and it's just not sharp like it used to be, on 100% or 200% viewing. Also, when the video moves or pans to a different area in the movie, it looses it's focus it seems.

What can I do to get back the sharpness.

Thanks!

[yoda313]

Hello,
Why did you install old codecs? Just click the tools section on the left of the screen <----. Go to codecs and you'll find links for all the latest video codecs. Uninstall your old ones and put the new ones in. That should clear up your problem.
Kevin

P.S. Last resort - update your video card drivers.

[Jason B]

Hello,
Why did you install old codecs? Just click the tools section on the left of the screen <----. Go to codecs and you'll find links for all the latest video codecs. Uninstall your old ones and put the new ones in. That should clear up your problem.
Kevin

P.S. Last resort - update your video card drivers.

I guess I didn't think before hand.

I did what you said, but it's about the same as before. I have a new HP with a new HP LCD monitor. I plugged in my old box monitor and you don't notice it. Is my LCD magnifying the inconsistencies in my videos/mpegs? It's a great monitor, super sharp, but maybe too shape for encoded videos?

[yoda313]

Hello,
Well I can't tell you since I don't have an lcd monitor. You'll have to ask other forum members. I'm glad they look ok on the standard monitor. If your planning to convert them for dvd it sounds like they're intact. Good luck.
Kevin

[Jason B]

Thanks again. I think the LCD is just so sharp it's seems to magnify the encoding of the video. These aren't the best quality mpeg's, but everything is so CLEAR, that I didn't NOTICE it before.

One another note, I still can't play certain AVI files. I have latest version of Divx and xvid. Any ideas?

[sacajaweeda]

I use an LCD monitor and if I can get stuff looking good on this thing it usually looks great on a TV.

[Jason B]

Yea, dvd's from Blockbuster play awesome, it's just crappy net videos that look even crappier on a LCD since it seems to magnify the noise in the video.

[Poppa_Meth]

install ffdshow codec for all types of MPEG4 playback. also use Gspot to determine exactly what codecs those files you can't play need.