I am trying to watch a video, but it only shows black screen; however, the
sound is there. I have all the default settings on my computer. The video
plays normal on different computers. Please, help.

On Wed, 4 Jan 2006 13:36:02 -0800, "Lora"
<Lora@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>I am trying to watch a video, but it only shows black screen; however, the
>sound is there. I have all the default settings on my computer. The video
>plays normal on different computers. Please, help.

Online video ? What's the exact web address ?

Cheers - Neil

The video is not on-line. It's a local file. I think my settings are messed
up. Please, help!!!


"Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]" wrote:

> On Wed, 4 Jan 2006 13:36:02 -0800, "Lora"
> <Lora@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >I am trying to watch a video, but it only shows black screen; however, the
> >sound is there. I have all the default settings on my computer. The video
> >plays normal on different computers. Please, help.
>
> Online video ? What's the exact web address ?
>
> Cheers - Neil
>

I am having the same issue. I have noticed that if I let the video (or at
least sounds) play at least load once, the next time I open the video, it
will play normally. Also, this problem affects video clips from the
internet. Thanks for any suggestions you can offer.

"Lora" wrote:

> I am trying to watch a video, but it only shows black screen; however, the
> sound is there. I have all the default settings on my computer. The video
> plays normal on different computers. Please, help.

Do you know what video codec your file uses (and if you have the codec
installed)? It's possible your file is encoded in Divx or Mpeg2 format (both
are popular video formats that are not bundled with Windows or Media Player).

Alternatively, I would disable all video hardware acceleration.
In the WMP menus go to:
Tools -> Options -> Performance
Then slide the bottom slider all the way to the left.

"Lora" wrote:
> I am trying to watch a video, but it only shows black screen; however, the
> sound is there. I have all the default settings on my computer. The video
> plays normal on different computers. Please, help.

On Wed, 4 Jan 2006 16:50:06 -0800, "Lora"
<Lora@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

OK well it's going to be hard to tell without knowing more about the
file. For example. at the end of the file name, does it finish in one
of these extensions :

..mpg
..wmv
..avi

One shot if it's an AVI file is to *try* the DivX codec. Often, AVI
video downloaded from the web has been coded to use DivX decoder

http://www.divxmovies.com/codec/

If it's a WMV then quite possibly your settings *are* messed up. If
it's an MPEG (.mpg) then probably you need an MPEG decoder, which
you'd have to buy - it's the same for watching DVDs on the PC too.

HTH
Cheers - Neil


>The video is not on-line. It's a local file. I think my settings are messed
>up. Please, help!!!
>
>
>"Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]" wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 4 Jan 2006 13:36:02 -0800, "Lora"
>> <Lora@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>
>> >I am trying to watch a video, but it only shows black screen; however, the
>> >sound is there. I have all the default settings on my computer. The video
>> >plays normal on different computers. Please, help.
>>
>> Online video ? What's the exact web address ?
>>
>> Cheers - Neil
>>

Dan, disabling video h/w acceleration worked! I can see the video now. Thank
you very much!!!

-L

"Dan Corban" wrote:

> Do you know what video codec your file uses (and if you have the codec
> installed)? It's possible your file is encoded in Divx or Mpeg2 format (both
> are popular video formats that are not bundled with Windows or Media Player).
>
> Alternatively, I would disable all video hardware acceleration.
> In the WMP menus go to:
> Tools -> Options -> Performance
> Then slide the bottom slider all the way to the left.
>
> "Lora" wrote:
> > I am trying to watch a video, but it only shows black screen; however, the
> > sound is there. I have all the default settings on my computer. The video
> > plays normal on different computers. Please, help.