Win Media player 12. Bad resolution with AVI file (XVID codec)

[Rontierra]

Computer : Machine Win 8 64 bit. 6 G RAM. Laptop

Win media player 12 ver 12.0.9200.16578

Problem : I created an AVI video file of Windows screen with text using the XVID codec. When I view the video of the captured text, the resolution is very bad. The text is hard to read.

However, on the same computer I tried playing the same file in VMware workstation on a Win 8 guest that has the same version of media player and the same

video file plays with correct resolution / readability.

I tried the same file on a different computer Win 7 32 bit 2 G RAm with Media player ver 12.0.7601.18150 and the file plays fine with the expected resolution

and readability.

Thanks Ron

[Baldrick]

How does it look in other players like vlc?

Can you make a screenshot so we can how it looks like?

[Rontierra]

pics attached.

Thanks

[Rontierra]

Previous images :

1st image (top) is Win 8 X64 Tosh laptop WMP 12

2nd image is (mid) WIn 7 X86 WMP 12 DELL desktop

3 rd image is WIn 8 Guest VMware Workst WMP 12




this last image is with VLC

[Baldrick]

Probably some crappy video decoder/filter.

Try just (re)install the xvid codec on that computer.

[poisondeathray]

1st pic looks like it's been deinterlaced (Something is triggering WMP to auto deinterlace)

[Rontierra]

I don't think WMP has any options to correct this. I have tried resetting WMP with no results

[Rontierra]

The encoder works since it plays well on WMP on other machines

[poisondeathray]

VM doesn't necessarily access same decoding pathway, splitter, codecs as host system

Other computers maybe setup differently (WMP relies on directshow configuration)

VLC includes it's own splitters/decoders, so will play ok even in the VM or other computers or OS's



What does mediainfo (view=>text) say about the AVI ?

[Rontierra]

attached is media info
Thanks

[poisondeathray]

Have you tried testing other videos? other containers? other formats ? Does this happen only to xvid/avi ? What about something downloaded from youtube (e.g. h264/mp4) . Is it global player issue or limited to certain formats ?

Render the AVI in graphstudio in the host system, and then in the VM . It will show a graph of the current decoding pathway being used

graphstudionext
https://code.google.com/p/graph-studio-next/

[Rontierra]

I converted the same file to WMV using format factory and the text displays correctly

[poisondeathray]

I converted the same file to WMV using format factory and the text displays correctly

That suggestive that it's limited to xvid or perhaps AVI. Try testing a youtube download (or encode the same file to MP4/h264 with format factory) , and the graphstudio/next tool

Did you try uninstalling / reinstalling xvid ?

[Rontierra]

Did not try de-installing and re-installing. Worth a try. I will look at graphstudio later ( not sure what it does )

thanks

[poisondeathray]

I will look at graphstudio later ( not sure what it does )

It's basically a diagnostic tool for directshow codecs. It has the ability to change merits (they are like priorities or "preferred" choices) of codecs and splitters so the directshow players like WMP know what to choose first

If it shows the VM (and/or other computers where file plays ok) are using a certain decoder / pathway, but your host system is using a different decoder / pathway, you probably have your answer

[Rontierra]

re-installing XVID did not help

[Rontierra]

I will have to figure out what I need to do to use graph studio. Thanks.

I will do that a bit later and keep you informed.

[Rontierra]

Attached is the path for the file. I selected play on graphstudio and text is fine.

[poisondeathray]

That was on the host system with the problem? What do other computers look like with graphstudio ?

I don't know why that particular WMP is doing this....

The problem with WMP is it doesn't have very many configuration options.

You can try setting a different codec with higher merit, or even selectic the current one and bumping it up, hoping that WMP will select it (graph => insert filter => find the one you want => change merit button => set it to something higher) . You might have to log out/log in for settings to take effect

There is also another tool called preferred codec tweaker than can help manage system codecs. You migth try changing preferred to xvid or lav for example
https://www.videohelp.com/tools/Preferred-Filter-Tweaker

[Rontierra]

Yes on the win 8 computer with the problem.

[poisondeathray]

But your win8 VM plays ok! You have to test graphstudio in your VM

[Rontierra]

here is what I see on a Win 7 X86 PC where WMP 12 displays text correctly. Is is different

[poisondeathray]

On that last one, the Divx Decoder is installed and has higher merit than the default decoder (The Mpeg4 decoder DMO is the one that comes default with WMP in WMP 11/12). The one that automatically connects in graphstudio is supposed to be the one with higher merit (higher priority). You can can try setting it up the same way on the problem computer. DivX isn't installed by default on Windows, it's a 3rd party decoder

OR - you can avoid all this by avoiding WMP and using another player like VLC, SMPlayer, etc... which include codecs/splitters

[Rontierra]

The config settings for XVID are the same for both computers. Strange that they show differently. Attached.
Thanks , I am off to shopping for a while.

[sheppaul]

The truth is that wmp is not something to make it unreadable.

There seems to be a problem other than WMP in your system: video hardware, driver, directx runtime or whatever.

[poisondeathray]

The config settings for XVID are the same for both computers. Strange that they show differently. Attached.
Thanks , I am off to shopping for a while.

It doesn't matter because xvid is used for one, mpeg4 decoder dmo for the other. (the problem computer isn't using that xvid decoder according to graphstudio). If both used xvid for the decoder , then there might be a config setting you can adjust

And sheppaul could be right as well, culprit might be something else like video driver or hardware. But I think it's less likely - because a system wide hardware issue should affect VLC as well - which didn't exhibit the issue. I think it's more likely related to directshow configuration . VLC runs independent of directshow

[poisondeathray]

What I'd try next is use that procedure described above to set xvid as the preferred decoder (highest merit), and/or use the preferred filter tweaker tool to override the MS default decoder. That way it's set up like the other computer that works. Basically you have xvid decoder installed on both computers, but it's only being used on the one that works. You can have dozens of decoders installed, but that doesn't mean they are all being used. Normally the one with that highest merit gets picked

[Rontierra]

This is what I did :

Preferred : 64 bit XVID use merit (isn't XVID that I installed 32 bit ??)

also need Disable MPG4s Decoder DMO ( what are the implications for other videos that I might run ?)
Graph studio now shows differently but not quite the same as on Win 7 32 bit PC.


Win Media player Now seems to play the text in the video properly on my Win 8 laptop

Attached images


What possible problems may this create. I will have to use it like this for a while to see if something else develops

Thanks

[Rontierra]

Is there a guide on using graphstudio ? A lot of the options seem overwhelming
Thanks

[poisondeathray]

You're using xvid decoder, not divx decoder as in your other computers. It doesn't matter since issue is resolved. Basically the problem is with your directshow setup as the differences in graphstudio suggested. You actually don't have to disable the MS decoder if you don't want to - another option is set a low merit to the MS one, and a high merit to xvid or divx (or some other decoder)

There will be no potential problems, as all MPEG4-ASP videos in directshow will now be routed through xvid decoder. It is very stable. You will find 3rd party decoders are almost always better than MS default ones. The exception might be WMV/ASF family

There are 32bit and 64bit versions of xvid vfw encoder and decoder, but it usually doesn't matter for the ENcoder for playback purposes. (ie. whether you ENcode with 64bit or 32bit version has no bearing on the file itself). But decoder is required to be the same 32bit or 64bit format as the playback software, or there has to be a way for the 32bit-64bit "handshake" to occur

I don't know of any general guides on graphstudio, but if you have specific questions you should do a quick search, or start a new thread if you can't find the answer. These complexities are one of many reasons why people avoid directshow, and directshow based players