using videos starts dshow over and over

[radman202]

I am using proshow producer to make montages. I drop videos that I encoded with wmv and mpg from ulead videostudio in these montages. As I play the montage while making it, it seems to invoke many many instances of dshow and it uses up all my memory.

one detail... I was advised to install cole2k codec pac on my vista machine. could this have screwed me up?

[mats.hogberg]

I was advised to install cole2k codec pac on my vista machine. could this have screwed me up?

Quite likely. Codec packs are evil evil evil. Been there done that - never recovered completely until I reinstalled the OS (XP). You might as well have been adviced to pour a gallon of water into your computer... Try uninstalling it, if possible. Then try some tool like Codec Sniper and remove what's left. That's how I got my system back up from completely hosed, to at least limping (with respect to video playback).

/Mats

[radman202]

but if I uninstall, what will be left? don't I have to put something in their place?

[mats.hogberg]

Basically, all you need (for decoding at least) is ffdshow.

/Mats

[radman202]

pardon my newbie status....

ffdshow is what keeps coming up. I get 15 or so instances of it in my tray at the right bottom of the screen....

are there different dshows? should I uninstall the codec pac and then install ffdshow? If so, how do I do that?

thanks

[mats.hogberg]

are there different dshows?

What's a "dshow"?

should I uninstall the codec pac and then install ffdshow? If so, how do I do that?

Yes, I outlined the general procedure before.
(Links to) Codecs are found under Tools, left: https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/codecs
Basically, what you do when you play a video, and you don't get video or audio, you load the video in GSpot. GSpot will tell you what codecs are used in the particular file. You then download and install the missing codec. Within very short, your computer is equipped with all codecs you'll likely ever need (especially if you have ffdshow), and nothing else. Installing a codec pack to fix playback issues is like hunting an irritating mosquito around your kitchen with a shot gun. You may get the mosquito, but your kitchen will be a mess.

/Mats