Vista Media Player 11 plugin problem

[Darthandy]

Some time ago I tried to play a DVD that my B in Law gave me (Shoulda known
better!!) Anyway, it caused media Player to hang so I turned it off. When I
tried to use it again, it wouldn't play .wmv or .mp3 files (and possibly
others; I haven't had a chance to check). There was a message stating that
optional plugins had been diabled for security reasons. I searched the forums
and tried the fixes (sfc / scannow, running several .dll's of which 2 out of
5 didn't work) and so far, no luck. If I set up a new I.D. that works, but
I'd like to avoid having to redo all my files, favorites etc. This whole mess
lasted over several weeks so that by the time I found out about system
restore, the last date before the problem occurred was gone. Is there some
way to copy the necessary files from a new I.D. to my old I.D. to solve the
problem. Vista was built in to this Acer laptop so I don't have a DVD for it.
Or do I just start up a new I.D. and delete the old one? Thanks!

[Tim De Baets]

What's the exact error message that you see when trying to play WMV or
MP3 files? If you installed any codec packs (such as K-Lite), I suggest
you remove these first.

With I.D., do you mean user account? The fact that a new user account
fixes the problem, suggests that you could have a corrupted library.
Follow the instructions, specific to your WMP and Windows version, at
http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html#medialibrary to rebuild it. Note that
rebuilding the library will make you lose all play counts, and possibly
ratings too.

Regards

--
Tim De Baets
http://www.bm-productions.tk

[Darthandy]

Oops ... sorry! Yes, by I.D. I did mean user account.

I don't get an error message. When I try to play .wmv files the video is in
extremely slow motion and I get "snaps" and "pops" on audio. When I try to
play MP3 files, I get a visualation on the media player screen and the same
"snaps" and "pops" as for the .wmv audio portion.

Does this sound like a "rebuild" cure might work?

And thanks for the info.

"Tim De Baets" wrote:

> .
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[Tim De Baets]

This doesn't really look related to the library anymore, but rebuilding
the library is definitely worth a try, because it could have the same
effect as creating a new user account.

Also, try updating your audio and video card drivers to their latest
version. Check the Windows Update site, but also the manufacturer's site
for driver updates.

If that doesn't help, open Task Manager while a video is playing (press
Ctrl+Alt+Del). What's the CPU usage?

[Darthandy]

Well, I'm not used to playing with (and therefore finding) system files, so I
pasted the library location found in the WMP 11 section of Zach's Library
Rebuilding section. This brought up two files "Microsoft" and "microsoft",
each having Media Player in them. I renamed media player in one and nothing
and then in the other and nothing. I ran a video and checked Task Manager and
CPU usage went straight to 100% until I shut down the video. I'm not sure I
went about the library rebuild correctly, so I'll check that out again. I
checked for software updates for my video and audio drivers and the message
was that I had the latest.

"Tim De Baets" wrote:

> .
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[Tim De Baets]

If the library was rebuilt correctly, you should get an empty library
the next time you start WMP, and WMP will be scanning for music files.

Do you also get 100% CPU usage when playing an MP3 without
visualizations? To disable the visualization, right-click it and select
No Visualization.

If you go to WMP's Options - Performance, is "Turn on DirectX Video
Acceleration for WMV files" checked?

[Darthandy]

Well, I renamed Windows Media Player by adding a 1 to the end of the file
folder name. When I tried playing music, it put up a new Windows Media Player
folder (with fewer items in it) and still worked the same. I checked task
manager when running WMP with and without Visualizations and I got the same %
of usage (which this time ran between 52% and 85%...?). The "Turn DirectX..."
is checked under Performance. And I can't replace WMP 11 and I'm fairly
certain that kicking the laptop across the room won't really help...other
than requiring me to buy a new laptop. Right now, it looks like my best (and
possibly only) option is to set up a new user account try to transfer all my
settings across and then delete the old one. Not a pleasant prospect. In
researching this problem, I ran across mention of a product (called VLC Media
Player that others seem to like.) that can replace WMP. I may try that since
MS doesn't seem to want us to be able to easily rectify these problems. Or am
I missing something obvious?

"Tim De Baets" wrote:

> .
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[Tim De Baets]

If you go to the Sounds control panel (under Hardware and Sounds),
double-click Speakers, and go to Enhancements, are there any
enhancements enabled? Disable all enhancements and see if that fixes the
problem. As a last resort, you could also fiddle with the other
(advanced) settings on that dialog.

Also, click Start - Run, type "dxdiag" and press Enter to launch the
DirectX Diagnostic Tool. If you head to Sound, does it find any problems?

[Darthandy]

OK, so I disabled the one enhancement (Loudness Equalization) with no effect
and ran the DirectX Diagnostic that indicated no problems for Sound 1, 2 or
3. So, as a last resort, I fiddled with the "Advanced" settings and lo and
behold, everything runs fine as long as the Hz setting is 48000 or less,
regardless of whether it is at 16 bits or 24 bits. I tried a few MP3 songs
and a WMV video and everything worked!
It looks like that was the problem...thanks a bunch and a half Tim. I
appreciate the help, as I was running out of hair to pull.Why is it always
the last thing you try that works? Oh, wait, yeah, I got it. You stop trying
when you find the solution. Oh well, thanks again!

"Tim De Baets" wrote:

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[Tim De Baets]

Glad to hear that you found the solution. A setting of 44100 Hz should
be enough in most cases. Your sound card or speakers probably don't
support 48000 Hz.