I've always had this problem. I use Realplayer (also have VLC but it doesn't handle WMV). WMVs don't play at normal speed, they speed up and hesitate for quite a few seconds. I have all Windows Media codecs (version 9 and I tried 10 I think) installed on my PC. Not sure what's wrong. Using Athlon XP Thoroughbred 2.7 GHz CPU, 768 MB RAM, over 1.2 GB Virtual Memory. ATI 9500 Pro Graphics Card, 1280x960 @ 100 Hz Monitor (also had same problem at smaller resolution and refresh rates), ABIT VA-10 FSB333 MHz mobo. I've never had any problems playing other video (XviD, MPG, DivX, etc.) on Realplayer or VLC.