It's gotta be a codec somewhere...

The box runs XP home sp2 fully upgraded, winmediaplayer 10 up to date. I've also got MediaPlayerClassic onboard and used to have VideoLan (uninstalled because it stopped starting - kept bugging - piss me off! that was my only dvd decoder too).

My problem:

Vids play in green instead of normal. Everything looks green. I try to colour adjust but it involves a HUGE adjustment to saturation and hue to get it even remotely looking correct.

This problem existed before I reloaded XP the last time (about a month ago) and now it's returned. I haven't added or removed software since about 2 days prior to the foulup, and haven't changed any vid settings since. HJT, AdAware, and Spybot say no spyware, PCCillin says no virii.

Any suggestions?

see if virtual dub can play it and note the codec it uses.

Heh, ok. I didn't know about VirtualDub until today when you mentioned it. It seems like a nice vidplayer package, but on opening generic pron flick number 882 I get the following:

Quote:

---

Not Supported: Microsoft owns US Patent #6,041,345 on the ASF file format, preventing third-party applications from extracting data from ASF files. ASF file format support was removed as of v1.3d at the request of Microsoft and to avoid infringement claims, and as such VirtualDub no longer supports ASF. Please do not ask for versions that do.

---

Now WinMedia shows a wonderful Beta-Hidrii version of this lil pron flick (everything's green). I tried a DVD with VideoDub and had no luck either. Any further suggestions?

gspot will tell you what you need and where to get it if its a codec issue (very useful program)
http://www.google.ca/search?q=gspot&...en-US:official


doesn't like the long url ?

http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

Ok, here we go - I had GSpot on my system already. Loaded the movie in question into it and hit render and got the following:

Quote:

---

Video Src Type WMV3 Audio Src WMAudioV2
Video Path (S) --> ASF ICM Handler --> WMVideoDecoder DMO --> (R)
Audio Path (S) --> ASF ICM Handler --> WMAudioDecoder DMO --> (R)

DirectShow claims to be able to play the file. The following combination of filters were used:

Windows Media Source Filter (Source)

ASF ICM Handler (Video Pre-processor)
WMVideo Decoder DMO (Video Decoder)
Video Renderer (Video Renderer)

ASF ACM Handler (Audio Pre-processor)
WMAudio Decoder DMO (Audio Decoder)
Default DirectSound Device (Audio Renderer)

---

What from here?

[edit]Ok, more update: I got froggy and reinstalled DirectX 9 enduser from M$. No fix - they're still green humans. Now that we've eliminated DX9, should I start replacing other codecs as well?[/edit]

[moredit]Ok, still more update - and this one makes me go hrm?!? - did 'streaming video' from a site using QuickTime. QT was up to the challenge, having no 'alien pictures' - vid was clear. It was the same vid I was trying to play locally on winmedia just under QT format and not downloadable. Now what?[/moredit]

Did you try installing DivX. DivX always played all my movie files perfect.

Tried DivX on your suggestion. No fix - it's green. Like I said it's got to be a codec somewhere that's fuxored.

Hi l3lacklce,

If they don't give you the answer maybe they'll give you a few clues...

Microsoft DV Codec that comes with Windows and Windows Media Player. ...
frame of the clip shows just the green screen, set the scrub bar to that frame, ...

http://www.seriousmagic.com/help/faq...=ULTRA&faqid=2
ULTRA Support

If you are having problems with Full Screen (eg, only a black screen ...
You see video in your RealPlayer but it has a green tint to it and may be ...

http://service.real.com/help/player/...leshooting.htm
troubleshooting.htm

When playing back an Quicktime movie using the Aurora Igniter X Hardware codecs on my G5 all I get is a green screen with a few weird artifacts. But when I remove the Igniter Codecs from the Quicktime Codec Library the file plays fine.

http://www.uemforums.com/2pop/ubbthr...b=5&o=&fpart=1
2-pop forums: Igniter X Codecs output green screen in Qucktime?

[DOC] Frequently Asked Questions on Viewing a Webcast
File Format: Microsoft Word 2000 - View as HTML
... Windows Media has the best codec (better compression than QuickTime or DivX
for streaming) ... Windows Media Player screen is green with pink wavy lines ...
www.tagwsa.org/external/index.cfm?cid=482& fuseaction=EXTERNAL.docview&documentID=57198 -
http://www.tagwsa.org/external/index...mentID=57198 -

Eg ...best I could do...hope it helps ;)

Thanks for the links - it's not a green screen though, and QT seems to be working fine. So far it's Windows Media Player 9, Media Player Classic, and now divX that show a bad green hue in the screen - looks like aliens :P With HARD color adjustments in mediaplayer I can get it to where there's a semblance of normalcy, but it's gone after that one clip plays. I tried using this from MS help and support center, but got nowhere - sorry, add/remove programs and add new hardware don't work that way - details after.

Quote:

---

Multimedia: How to Reinstall Audio and Video Codecs in Microsoft Windows 2000
Article ID : 276423
Last Review : November 24, 2003
Revision : 1.0
This article was previously published under Q276423
On this page
SUMMARY
MORE INFORMATION
REFERENCES

SUMMARY
This article describes how to uninstall and reinstall audio and video codecs in Microsoft Windows 2000.

When you install Windows 2000, audio and video codecs are not installed by default. To reinstall the codecs, you must first remove any codecs that are installed on the computer, and then reinstall Windows Media Player.

NOTE: You must also reinstall any programs that install their own codecs.
MORE INFORMATION
To uninstall specific audio and video codecs, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Sounds and Multimedia.
3. Click the Hardware tab.
4. To uninstall an audio codec, double-click Audio Codecs, click the Properties tab, click the codec that you want to uninstall, and then click Remove.
5. To uninstall a video codec, double-click Video Codecs, click the Properties tab, click the codec that you want to uninstall, and then click Remove.

REFERENCES
For additional information about how to reinstall audio codecs or media control devices in Windows 2000, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
254354 Reinstalling Audio Codecs or Media Control Devices in Windows 2000


Reinstalling Windows Media Player does not reinstall all the Codecs.

---

It's made for win2k not winxp - I attempted the hardware reinstall of codecs hoping it would overwrite them, but no luck. There isn't a 'media' button on add/remove programs for me to remove codecs though...

Hi l3lacklce,

This may or may not help...

http://support.microsoft.com/default....asp#video_bad
default.aspx

gotta go to bed ... girl's back to school tomorrow .... if you don't have the problem solved by the time I get back...I'll take another look around.

Eg ;)

Thanks again for the link - here's an update of what all I've done as well:

Extracted audstub.sys (drives the codecs) from driver.cab on winxp cd and replaced the existing one on my hd. - no luck.

Ran DXDiag and retested everything. - all working properly, so no luck there either.

I'm still getting these green people when I playback this (and any other) known good vid.
I think I'm going to try uninstall/reinstall winmediaplayer next and see if that works. I'll edit here and let yas know.

[edit]Grrr. No luck. I think windows lied to me when I tried to uninstall though - here's the steps I took:

Start>control panel>add/remove programs>add/remove windows components> uncheck win media player > click ok. The little wizard went through it's bullshit and returned me to whence I began. I then reinstalled using the same procedure, and got the same bullshit. My XP cd was in the cd-rom when all this took place and it didn't access it at all, so I don't think it uninstalled, just made it 'disappear'... any other suggestions on how to do this?[/edit]

[moreedit]Ok, so I get pissed off at the whole thing, download a clean copy of windows media player 10 from Microsoft, and go through reinstall. I'm pretty sure it overwrote the files this time.

No fix - the people are still green... grr. [/moreedit]

Hi l3lacklce,

I do remember coming across another forum where they talked about how angry they were at MS for Windows Media Player 9 because you couldn't uninstall it, and that fact wasn't readily known and was later confirmed by MS that they did that on purpose...the only way to get rid of it, they were saying, would be to do a System Restore...or something to that effect... of the OS...but you have a series 10 and so far I haven't found anything on that...

or, at least, that was the gist of what they were saying.

Eg ;)

EDIT: HERE:
http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/20...0913016322.htm
Geek.com Geek News - Windows Media Player 9: no uninstall

Dammit, here: try these :)

http://codecs.necromancers.ru/

This may well be totally irrelevant, but it sounds as if the problem has turned up without you changing the codecs?

You might check your resolution and refresh rates. I have certainly found that helpful with data projector problems.

Try a refresh rate of 72 :)

Tried XVid mpeg4 decoder codec from that site - no fix, still green.

Tried intel indeo i263 decoder codec even though it's old - no fix, still green.

Tried AngelPotion codec for Windows - no fix, still green.

Hrm.

[edit] Ok, we hit something - now we just have to find out the WHY and the FIX. Lowered video acceleration to half for troubleshooting, and Bingo! it cleared up nicely. You must spread your AntiPoints around before giving it to nihil again.[/edit]

Hmmmm,

What is the video card and MoBo?

Have you looked for updated drivers for the video card and monitor?

I have this feeling that it is a bit more fundamental than codecs, after all you have tried different ones with the same result?

Cheers :)

Might be video driver - been getting BSOD's pointing to it - but here's the rub...

Video is S3 Graphics ProSavage DDR - and is resident on the MoBo (grr.)
Mobo is an Asus but I can't remember the model number and I'm too lazy to crack the box just yet.

All video drivers are up to date.

Is it a 226 or a 400? I took this off another site...maybe you have the wrong drivers....that's what another guy had with his resolution...it seemed to fix the problem.

Quote:

---

This might not be a S3 problem but rather a VIA CastleRock, since VIA has bought out S3 they are now allowing PC Vendors to attach the S3 name to VIA`s own graphics engine.

---

Quote:

---

I wasn`t clear from reading your specs if you are using the Prosavage DDR 266 or the Prosavage DDR 400. If it is a DDR 400 this is not an S3 but Via graphics engine. Due to this misnaming the CastleRock is often misidentified by the system as a genuine S3 Prosavage and the incompatible savage driver is loaded.

---

apparently the company was bought out after the 226.

The funny thing is...I've checked out at least a dozen sites and I've yet to come across one that deals with XP...seems everyone that has the S3 Prosavage DDR 226 & 400 that I've come across has a Linux system...including the one I quoted.

Eg :)

Hmmmm. curiouser and curiouser - I got to digging into which of the ProSavage models it was in sysinfo and found...

Model: S3 Graphics ProSavageDDR
Driver: s3gnbm.sys
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Supported

Ummmmm.... hrm. I didn't do a damn thing to my video driver since it updated back when I did full win reinstall/update back in January...

[edit] ok, I rolled back the driver. I'm 99% sure that was the problem. Downloading a movie now and In about 84 more Megs I'll tell you how it went with full refresh... Thanks for pointing me at the problem![/edit]

[moredit] Bad news - full refresh == green actors still. Ah well. Sorry Egal dunno the model number from sysinfo. You see here above precisely what it gave me.[/moredit]

hi l3lacklce,

Have a look at these and see if you can find another driver that may be more compatible...

http://www.s3graphics.com/
S3 Graphics Co., Ltd.

http://www.sharewareconnection.com/titles/preview13.htm
Software Download: Preview

http://www.techspot.com/drivers/inde...formation/1757
S3 Graphics ProSavageDDR (Windows 2000/XP) - TechSpot Driver

http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/GRA...433-WHQL.shtml
Download S3 graphics ProSavageDDR 13.94.33 WHQL Driver for Windows 95/98/9X/ME/NT/2000/2K/XP/2003 - Softpedia.com

http://radarsync.ecnext.com/coms2/ra...phics,%20Inc._
S3 Graphics, Inc. Drivers List, S3 Graphics ProSavageDDR, S3 Graphics Twister K + S3Hotkey, S3 Graphics Twister Gateway, S3 Graphics ProSavageDDR, S3 Graphics ProSavageDDR, S3 Graphics ProSavageDDR, S3 Graphics SuperSavage/IXC 1179, S3 Graphics ProSavageDDR, S3 Graphics Savage/IX, S3 Graphics ProSavage Compaq

http://drivers.soft32.com/driver/dow...DDR-66243.html
Download S3 graphics ProSavageDDR 13.94.25 WHQL free driver for Windows 2000/XP

Eg :)

Thanks for trying guys. I can live with the lower refresh rate on this box - it's a secondary system anyways that I klunk around on sometimes. (In fact, I always klunk around on this one - my GodSystem is net-isolated and will remain that way until it's replaced with newer and better.)

Getting the driver rolled back to the Win Reinstall seemed to clear up the bsod problems though...

Hi,

This looks like the answer (from the MS XP SP2 release notes):

Green Distortion with S3 Graphics Video Adapter

When Windows Media Player plays some .avi files, the video might not display properly in the Video and Visualization window: a green color might obscure the video. This distortion can occur if your computer uses an S3 Graphics video adapter, and you have not installed the latest video drivers.

To update your video-driver software, go to the S3 Graphics Web site to download and install the most recent drivers that are available for your video adapter.

If you have the most recent video drivers, and the problem still occurs, try either turning off the video acceleration overlay or viewing the entire screen. You can change these settings in Windows Media Player.

The following two procedures explain how to change these settings.

To turn off video acceleration overlay

1.


On the Tools menu, click Options.

2.


In the Options dialog box, on the Performance tab, click Advanced.

3.


In the Video Acceleration Settings dialog box, clear the Use overlays check box.

To view the video using the entire screen
•

On the View menu, click Full Screen.
In order for the Full Screen command button to be available, the video must be playing or paused.

:)