Color Playback Problem?

[magikalfly]

First off, I don't know where else to turn to for a problem like this. I can't think of a specific description for this problem and I'm basically stuck. If this is the wrong forum for this kind of problem, please let me know or move it to the proper place. I figured this place is good as any. Thanks.





Now, first picture we have the video file info. Picture 2 is what it SHOULD look like. Picture 3 is what I see during playback. What's going on? I click on a menu option and the color corrects itself? But that's only when I choose old style renderer output I think. I have K-Lite Codec pack, the latest and ffdshow 2006-02-02 SSE2 build.

In MPC settings in output, I've tried all of them, system default, old renderer, VMR7/9 windowed and renderless. I think 2 options give me the correct colors but give me little static black blank pixels all over the place. I also see this when viewing anything with VLC and also see it with WMP10. Other modes of output in MPC give me red and blue pixels jumping in and out all over the place. The black blank pixel problem is also quite irritating and if anyone knows the answer to that, I'd GREATLY appreciate it.

Now, this color problem seems to come up only in 720(P?) format videos. I'm not sure which codecs were used but other 720(P?) videos I have seem to work fine. This particular video seems to use WMV3 according to mediainfo, other videos I have had this problem with used MPEG2.

I recently downloaded another file in 720P that was encoded in XviD. It also exhibited this problem. After messing around in the XviD settings, I found that forcing RGB24 or RGB32 output seemed to correct this error. That's great and all but where do I go to force RGB output of MPEG2 or WMV3? Or is that even the root of this problem?

Please help people. This place seems to be full of smart, knowledgable people and I would be eternally grateful for help. The CCCP codec pack also results in the same problems so I dunno if that makes any difference.

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Codec_Pack.htm

You can see the list of codecs installed with this pack. Thanks for reading. Here's to hoping someone can help! Thanks again.

[guns1inger]

As a general rule, codec packs are bad news. They often contain conflicting codecs and settings, you have no control over what they put where, they often do not uninstall cleanly, and are more trouble than they are worth.

A better approach is to use something like G-Spot or avicodec to determine what codec is required for a prticular video, then install just that codec from it's original source.

Have you tried using VLC for playback ? It generally uses it's own codecs, and avoids many of these problems.

[magikalfly]

Yea codec packs are a pain sometimes but the K-lite codec pack seems to work pretty well and is alright. Nothing really conflicting. Divx is setup to decode divx, xvid decodes xvid, and ffdshow handles others.

VLC does play it fine but like I said, it shows all these little black, blank pixels. They are just static, don't move and just distract you constantly. That's another problem that I've experienced and could use some help on.

[mikiem]

Just a guess, but I think I'd look at the files/filters used for playback. Don't know of any easy way to check, other then trying a reinstall of wmplayer 10, which might get the windows end of things in order.

Forceing rgb 24/32 is more along the lines of if your editor doesn't accept YUV input. Normally I think any player would just accept the output from the vid decoder, which is why I suggested the prob might be with the direct show stuff windows is using by default.

Guessing that WMV3 refers to early M/Soft mp4, might be tailored like later versions to degrade gracefully to maintain fps. Could verify using Task Mgr, checking CPU usage, but if 720P is stressing system, and there is a problem with D/Show video, perhaps problem display could be the result? In wmplayer playing with the advanced settings might give a clue if this is what's happening?

[magikalfly]

I think the filters are fine. I mean, all the videos play right? It's just the output format that's screwing up.

With Media Player Classic, using certain out modes cause the picture colors to be incorrect while others it's right on. However, the correct color output modes have other defects, specifically the red and blue jumping dots or the blank static black pixels.

Renderless VMR9 seems to provide the best output but it causes the reverse color problem.

The only reason I suggested the forced RGB was because as I was watching a 720P video encodec with xvid, checking that option in xvid properties fix it.

The problem doesn't lie with the fact that it's 720P and CPU usage. The other videos I've been having problems with were 1280x720 but I don't think they were progressive.

I would like to check out the settings for the direct show filters windows is using but how do I go about doing that? Thanks.

[mikiem]

"I would like to check out the settings for the direct show filters windows is using but how do I go about doing that?"

Again, *really just guessing that it might be a problem*...

One way to check is use DXMan to locate video related files installed on your system. And can use Gspot to see what files it finds to use for playing a video. To temporarily keep a file from getting used for playback, rename it or the folder it's in. What to look for is the hard part...

I've seen problems where windows tries to just use 1 or 2 files from one prog., and they won't work with the other software used for playback -- for example parts of Nero can be used to play Xvid.

I've seen problems where there were two or more sets of files to playback a video format, and windows got confused, using part of one, part of another. This can be a bigger hassle when the files are registered with the same name or function -- have to choose one set of files, and re-register (regdrop.exe) those not listed in DXMan.

And I've seen software replace files that were part of windows with incompatible but higher numbered versions. With luck reinstall of wmplayer will fix, but otherwise I've always had to check another PC or backup copy of windows.

[magikalfly]

thanks for trying to help people but I guess I'm just gonna have to suck it up and just live with it...Nothing I've tried has helped..I mean NOTHING. Thanks though guys.

[Pixels303]

Magicfly, I have a similar problem with Windows Server2003. I do not have this issue on my XP machines, and for what reason, I am not certain, but here is a solution which helped me.

In media Player classic or VLC player, both had the same effect when playing the file. I had color ghosting and sometimes I had a colored dotted vertical bar which didn't move. Now, most videos would work just fine, but some AXXO releases and some other movies had the issue. It was something like 1 out of 100 movies which were affected.

After I made the following change in Media Player Classic, everything looked great:
Select the View menu - Options
Select the "Playback - Output" tree option
In the "Directshow Video" selection area, choose VMR7 (Renderless)
Click the "OK" button.

Oh, you will need to re-open Media player classic to accept the changes.
I don't know why Windows Server2003 has issues with the VMR9, but I would only guess it is because it was never designed to play video, much less do anything else fun. But I actually prefer using it over XP.

Hope that helps.