MPEG playback problems on my computer - Please Help!!!!!

[dacostpa]

Hi Everyone,

I am writing this because I am having some serious video playback problems with my computer, and was hoping someone out there might help. Essentially, the issue is that I just recently noticed that the playback of video on my computer had sharply degraded, and I can't understand any reason why. The issue seems to be focused on MPEG-2 videos mainly, and to a lesser extent with Real Media videos (Windows Media videos and AVI's seem to work fine). The videos start and play correctly, but I notice a significant amount of slight jittering in them that was never present before. Additionally, when I click on a part of the time bar (to jump to a different place in the video), the video has a significantly difficult time transitioning to the new point. It always makes the transistion, but freezes for a long time while the time bar still advances, and has to speed up to correct itself. In addition to this, I noticed that the viewing resolution of some of my MPEG-2 videos seem to have changed (they appear to be wider than they normally were, a short rectangle instead of a perfect square resolution on my laptop widescreen). I have had these videos for a LONG time and never experienced ANY of these problems with them before. I have tried several options, including using multiple media players (Real Player and Windows Media Player), trying different MPEG decoders, turning off hardware acceleration, and ensuring that my DivX, DirectX, and video card drivers are up to date, but nothing seems to work. I would GREATLY appreciate any assistance that anyone can give me. My comptuters specs are noted below. Thanks Very Much!

Computer Type: Toshiba Qosmio G35-AV600 Laptop

Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP - Media Center Edition w/ Service Pack 2

DirectX Version: 9

DivX Version: 6.6

 

[BlameCanada]

Freezes of any kind on a computer often mean there are processes
running elsewhere,that are using a lot of CPU or memory.

Spyware can do that.Run some scans.Uncheck everything except firewall/AV, in msconfig\start up.

You could also try System restore.

 

[dacostpa]

Freezes of any kind on a computer often mean there are processes
running elsewhere,that are using a lot of CPU or memory.

Spyware can do that.Run some scans.Uncheck everything except firewall/AV, in msconfig\start up.

You could also try System restore.

Thanks very much for your reply BlameCanada. I really appreciate it. I don't think it is a resources related issue (CPU, memory, etc.) as I am running these videos on a fairly powerful PC. It has dual precessors and a significant amount of memory, and the issues occur even when no other resource heavy applications are running and CPU/memory availability is high (which I observed in task manager). It seems really strange, as these same videos were running perfectly before (under the same conditions), and now seem to have stopped functioning correctly even though no major changes to my computer have been made since the time they were working.

A system restore would have been an awesome option if I could still perform it. I had tried doing a system restore (to a much earlier date) earlier during this issue and it successfully fixed the problem. Unfortunately, I undid the system restore (hoping to find a restore point closer to the current date that still fixed the problem) and since that time nearly all my system restoration points have been overridden. The only restore points available are extremely recent and still include the current problems. Thanks Again.

 

[dacostpa]

Hi All,

I felt I should clearify my discription of the video playback problems I am having. When I said that the "viewing resolution" of some of the videos has changed, what I actually mean is that the aspect ratio of the videos when viewed appears to have changed (from a perfect square aspect ratio to more of a rectangular one, but NOT a full widescreen). I didn't mean that the actual resolution of the videos changed (as in dpi - dots per inch). I hope that this clarifies my description of the problems I am having. Doesn't ANYONE know how to fix this? If you do, please post a reply as soon as you possibly can. THANKS VERY MUCH!!!!!

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

What codec packs do you have installed? Try installing the K-Lite Mega Codec pack (full) from http://www.free-codecs.com and then running the file. If the problems still occur, run the Media Player Classic that comes with the pack and press O. This will bring up the Options window. Click the Internal Filters option in the left-hand pane of the window and uncheck MPEG Audio, MPEG-1 Video and MPEG-2 Video under the Transform Filters pane that appears on the right. Click OK and close the player. Run any MPEG video then and it should run fine.

 

[BlameCanada]

Whenever I have video problems with other players,I use VLC media player.

That seems to have it`s own way of doing things.

 

[1bellb]

I used to have the same problem with my old laptop, but the only difference was it would jump with all formats, first i would check the performance in the task manager (your can find this by pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL, then go to Performance), then see if your processor or RAM is running at full speed, that was the problem with mine and i had it taken back to the store where i got it and they took 4 months and still couldnt find the problem with it, so if it is that i would consider contacting the store where you purchased it.
Soz i carnt give you any more but that is all i know on this issue