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What's Wrong with my Media Player?

18 years ago

I've used Real Player for years with no problems. Then this week someone sent me a .wmv file. When I tried to play it, everything was like a psychedelic movie - vivid colors, indistinct visualizations, etc. I thought that was the way the movie was, so I deleted it. Then I received a second movie and the same thing happened. I noticed both times after trying to play the movie that a notepad icon would appear on my desktop with the title dx 1 or something like that. After the second one, I decided something was wrong, so I uninstalled Real Player and downloaded it new. This time the two movies I had saved appeared with the Windows Media Player icon instead of Real Player. So I tried playing them with WM, but got the same psychedelic effects. So I tried selecting Real Player for viewing them, and this time I got the sound only with no picture. I'm confounded as to what's going on, and would like to know how to solve this problem. (I also tried to play a very old movie I had saved, and that played perfectly - it just seems to be things I'm receiving now).

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Comments (2)

mikie_gw
18 years ago
hmmm

.wmv is Windows Media Video file.

You said something about DX, which some use to refer to DirectX , but I'm wondering from your description if it may actually have said.. DivX ...which if a compression format that maybe you dont have, which possibly will play that .wmv files video in Windows Media Player.

DivX is available here and is about 17 MegaBytes.

.wmv files, normally most people wouldnt use Real player to play a .wmv file . Kind of suprised it does.
DA_Mccoy
18 years ago
Leslie,

Have you recently installed Microsoft updates? You're not the first I've heard of who have had recent trouble with .wmv files and Windows Media Player itself. MS's basic answer is to reinstall Media Player with the most current version.

DA
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