I have WMP version 9.00.00.3250 operating in Windows XP Home edition version
2002 service pack 2.
However, whenever I play a video file, whilst I get perfect sound, the
picture always appears in only 5 or 6 (very bright) colours; red, orange, sky
blue, purple, lime green etc. It is also very 'blocky' ie low resolution.
The computer is a new laptop and thus this has always been the case and I am
wondering whether I have done something in error during setup or pressed the
'wrong' key the first time I have used WMP. Can anyone help?

I have the same problem. It happens sometimes - maybe 20 percent of the time.
On other occasions its fine. Have you found a solution yet?

"Rob T" wrote:

> I have WMP version 9.00.00.3250 operating in Windows XP Home edition version
> 2002 service pack 2.
> However, whenever I play a video file, whilst I get perfect sound, the
> picture always appears in only 5 or 6 (very bright) colours; red, orange, sky
> blue, purple, lime green etc. It is also very 'blocky' ie low resolution.
> The computer is a new laptop and thus this has always been the case and I am
> wondering whether I have done something in error during setup or pressed the
> 'wrong' key the first time I have used WMP. Can anyone help?

This sounds like a video card driver problem - have you checked into that?
http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html#vdriver

--
(speaking for myself and doing this in my free time)
See http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
--

"Rob T" <Rob T@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news376B49E-0BDE-4E24-9188-46DF43C7C46D@microsoft.com...
>I have WMP version 9.00.00.3250 operating in Windows XP Home edition
>version
> 2002 service pack 2.
> However, whenever I play a video file, whilst I get perfect sound, the
> picture always appears in only 5 or 6 (very bright) colours; red, orange,
> sky
> blue, purple, lime green etc. It is also very 'blocky' ie low resolution.
> The computer is a new laptop and thus this has always been the case and I
> am
> wondering whether I have done something in error during setup or pressed
> the
> 'wrong' key the first time I have used WMP. Can anyone help?

Try using another player! I thought it was a problem with my video card
drivers too, but then I started playing AVI and MWV files on PowerDVD and the
diagonal lines and blocky video problems went away permanently. Ironically,
WMP has a problem playing their own WMV format too, but it plays perfectly on
PowerDVD. You might want to try a third-party player first before driving
yourself crazy looking for video card drivers and video codecs. Lots of
shareware and non-Winblows players out there.

"Rob T" wrote:

> I have WMP version 9.00.00.3250 operating in Windows XP Home edition version
> 2002 service pack 2.
> However, whenever I play a video file, whilst I get perfect sound, the
> picture always appears in only 5 or 6 (very bright) colours; red, orange, sky
> blue, purple, lime green etc. It is also very 'blocky' ie low resolution.
> The computer is a new laptop and thus this has always been the case and I am
> wondering whether I have done something in error during setup or pressed the
> 'wrong' key the first time I have used WMP. Can anyone help?

Intriguingly, PowerDVD and WMP display video differently. Switching players
to avoid dealing with your problems is a time-honored tradition, but it's
also a really shoddy method of effectively dealing with your problems. =)

WMP has these interesting "Tools:Options:Performance" settings to control
the video display that are interesting to look into.

I'm personally looking forward to Vista drivers... there's too many bad
drivers out there these days, and it's far far too easy to blame unrelated
applications for those problems.

-Zach
--
(speaking for myself and doing this in my free time)
See http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
--

"ShameOnYouBill" <ShameOnYouBill@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A8555A20-1940-4280-B1BF-1E9260643631@microsoft.com...
> Try using another player! I thought it was a problem with my video card
> drivers too, but then I started playing AVI and MWV files on PowerDVD and
> the
> diagonal lines and blocky video problems went away permanently.
> Ironically,
> WMP has a problem playing their own WMV format too, but it plays perfectly
> on
> PowerDVD. You might want to try a third-party player first before driving
> yourself crazy looking for video card drivers and video codecs. Lots of
> shareware and non-Winblows players out there.
>
> "Rob T" wrote:
>
>> I have WMP version 9.00.00.3250 operating in Windows XP Home edition
>> version
>> 2002 service pack 2.
>> However, whenever I play a video file, whilst I get perfect sound, the
>> picture always appears in only 5 or 6 (very bright) colours; red, orange,
>> sky
>> blue, purple, lime green etc. It is also very 'blocky' ie low
>> resolution.
>> The computer is a new laptop and thus this has always been the case and I
>> am
>> wondering whether I have done something in error during setup or pressed
>> the
>> 'wrong' key the first time I have used WMP. Can anyone help?

Thanks Zach. I actually tried your suggestion, unchecked the 'Overlay'
button, and it cured the problem of the diagonal line running across the
screen. It made the colors all funny, but I can fix that. I really
didn't even think about checking the video settings under Tools. Thanks.

"zachd [ms]" wrote:

>
> Intriguingly, PowerDVD and WMP display video differently. Switching players
> to avoid dealing with your problems is a time-honored tradition, but it's
> also a really shoddy method of effectively dealing with your problems. =)
>
> WMP has these interesting "Tools:Options:Performance" settings to control
> the video display that are interesting to look into.
>
> I'm personally looking forward to Vista drivers... there's too many bad
> drivers out there these days, and it's far far too easy to blame unrelated
> applications for those problems.
>
> -Zach
> --
> (speaking for myself and doing this in my free time)
> See http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
> --
>
> "ShameOnYouBill" <ShameOnYouBill@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A8555A20-1940-4280-B1BF-1E9260643631@microsoft.com...
> > Try using another player! I thought it was a problem with my video card
> > drivers too, but then I started playing AVI and MWV files on PowerDVD and
> > the
> > diagonal lines and blocky video problems went away permanently.
> > Ironically,
> > WMP has a problem playing their own WMV format too, but it plays perfectly
> > on
> > PowerDVD. You might want to try a third-party player first before driving
> > yourself crazy looking for video card drivers and video codecs. Lots of
> > shareware and non-Winblows players out there.
> >
> > "Rob T" wrote:
> >
> >> I have WMP version 9.00.00.3250 operating in Windows XP Home edition
> >> version
> >> 2002 service pack 2.
> >> However, whenever I play a video file, whilst I get perfect sound, the
> >> picture always appears in only 5 or 6 (very bright) colours; red, orange,
> >> sky
> >> blue, purple, lime green etc. It is also very 'blocky' ie low
> >> resolution.
> >> The computer is a new laptop and thus this has always been the case and I
> >> am
> >> wondering whether I have done something in error during setup or pressed
> >> the
> >> 'wrong' key the first time I have used WMP. Can anyone help?
>
>
>