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Can't play videos in windows media player classic

Discussion in 'Video playback problems' started by marsbar1, Nov 11, 2007.

  1. marsbar1

    marsbar1 Guest

    Hey all.
    Firstly, apologies if i've posted in the wrong forum. I have looked around for solutions to my problems and I can't find a single answer. I hope you can help me *fingers crossed*.
    Basically I own a digital camera that I use to take pictures and do video. If you wish to know it is a Hitachi HDC-851E camera (it is pretty good I must admit).
    Now, this is what happens. I will take pictures and record video as you do, download it to my PC with no trouble at all. I can view my pictures no problem, then I attempt to play my vids using windows media player classic or just windows media player. Both are installed and run well. What happens is this - in windows media player classic I get sound but the picture is black. On some videos both the sound and picture will not load at all, it will just freeze, then I get the "error report"!
    I will try to play it in normal windows media player by going to the file then selecting "properties" and choosing "Play with windows media player". Sometimes it will play the files great and some others will play then crash or the pic will go pixalated and stop but sound continues.
    This is driving me wild! Im sure there is a simple solution but Im a novice when it comes to codecs. I have installed the K-LITE codec pack (latest version) and that has all the relevant codecs (at least I thought so) I need. I can watch downloaded movies fine. Not from my camera. I have been into options on windows media player classic so many times i've lost count and changed options over and over again - nothing. Also, If I transfer my vids into windows movie maker and try to do a film presentation with audio - the flippin thing freezes again. So it happens in another program. Before you wonder my camera is perfectly fine and it is not faulty as I can watch the vids off the camera. I just want to play it on my pc. Pleas help me please!
    PS. So sorry for ranting on, one more thing - this is from my camera instruction booklet:
    File format - JPEG, DCIF, EXIF 2.2, DPOF, Motion JPEG
     
  2. tripplite

    tripplite Guest

    have you updated windows media player?
    get the xp codec pack http://www.xpcodecpack.com/
    (during installation it might blabber on about getting ride of the k-lite
    or it won't work properly, thats rubbish tell it to shut up, they wont interfere)

    you've said that some work, then some don't, this leads me to believe that the files are corrupt, and the fact that some are and some aren't leads me to my second belief that your transfer method for the videos
    is causing your problems,

    1) do you have programs running when transfering videos? (DON'T)
    2) I'm guessing it's through usb/firewire, switch ports/connection cables
    3) ARE you using software to transfer the videos? update or reinstall it. Even better (it might not allow this option) go my computer> click on the drive that is the camera> open it> there will be many folders, skim around until you find the video files and just drag and drop them to your desktop, once again it might not allow you to do this.
    4) this is the less likely option, is your memory card damaged, badly formated, wip it then reformat it.

    is this it
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 11, 2007
  3. marsbar1

    marsbar1 Guest

    Yes, that is my camera in the pic. To try to help you better, Im runing windows XP SP2 media centre edition. It is all up to date and absolutley fine. I doubt very much that my transfer method is causing the problems because my leads are in perfect nik as is all my other hardware also my antivirus (which is bullguard btw) does not interfere with this procedure. As I have said before, it is not possible that my memory cards are faulty (i have 4 x 1GB) as I can transfer and view pics fine. The memory cards are fine too as they work brill with the camera and store many minutes of vid. I will try to download latest XP media player codecs and tell you how I get on. Thansk for your advice.
     
  4. tripplite

    tripplite Guest

    you can't just rule out certain options, even if a usb cable looks fine it might be damaged (although it doesn't happen very often), please try all that i suggested, also i apologize i didn't think of this possibility last time, your usb drivers might be corrupted (happens), follow below

    REINSTALL USB DRIVERS (damage can be caused if step 3 is not followed correctly)
    1)boot into safe mode, login into the administrator account
    2)right click my computer>properties> hardware tab> device manager>
    scroll down and you should see your usb drivers
    it will look like this
    [​IMG]
    3)(USB ROOT HUBS LAST) uninstall all the drivers in this order, universal host and usb peripherals (ipod,massive hard drive)and any other drivers then the usb root hub's last.
    4) reboot into normal windows,
    5) you will be prompted at login to install new drivers node you head and do what it asks,
    6) If it doesn't ask you to install new drivers then go to control panel> printers and other hardware> add new hardware option

    if you can't find a solution then convert the video you have to another format (avi,mp4,divx), if the videos don't play right after being converted it means that the files were corrupt to start of with

    if you need any more help or need further explanation just ask
    -tripplite
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 12, 2007
  5. marsbar1

    marsbar1 Guest

    Ok. Did what you suggested. No problems with my hardware (believe me ive checked through and through) and did your reinstall process. My problem is this, I don't know absolutley anybody (including friends and family) who own my camera. So, How am I meant to know if this camera works at all? lol, So, this is what im going to do. I will take some video footage and I will try to download it and play it via a friends PC. If the files won't work on another system then yes you may be right in the fact that the camera or lead could be to blame. Im sure you will agree by trying it elsewhere I can eliminate that it is the camera and perhaps maybe my computer is the trouble here. Many thanks for your time.
     
  6. tripplite

    tripplite Guest

    marsbar1 your are absolutely correct, my problem is i have to many much faith in industrial goods, for all's we now the usb mini port or some other part of the camera maybe faulty, post back your results
     
  7. marsbar1

    marsbar1 Guest

    Remember me?
    Had problems viewing my vids in wmp and wmp classic. I couldn't upload them to the web either i.e. youtube or view them as they played on a black screen. I seem to have fixed it now, although, a different way in which I didn't expect it. A friend told me to download a program called Virtual Dub which basically contains its own nifty codecs and tools to transfer your vid into another format i.e mpeg, xvid etc. I have absolutely no idea how codecs work, what they do or different formats to use for different problems, but I know this, I can now watch the vids I upload to my PC if I use this program to convert them and not only that mate, it compresses them to a much smaller file to save space and speed up upload time to the net. Trouble is, without this program, I can't watch them on their original MJPEG format. Imust firstly change it. What do you think?
     

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