I'm currently running winXP home. THe media player I'm using is 8.

I couldn't play a video file the other day and wondered if it was due to having a lower version of the media player. I am afraid to mess with my codecs since I don't want to screw anything up. Pretty much everything plays like it should 'cept this one set of files. The video "starts" and just plays black with no sound while the counter counts normally... like it's playing but it's not.

Surely someone can offer some input.

You probably need to install additional codecs. Installing them should not mess anything up, but I understand your concerns

I think AdultMovieStar posted instructions a while back for people having problems playing video files. Do a search for "Nimo" and you will find it. I'm too lazy right now to link to it.

Yeah I followed the directions outlined by AM* exactly. Everything else seems to work great. Just this one set of video files.

I wasn't sure if it was a codec issue because I didn't get the codec error that I've seen before. Just black screen and nothing else.

They're dumb video files anyway (some movie & probably a bad rip of it to start with based on file size). I guess it's not worth screwing anything up. Playing 'fix it' can be fun, but it usually isn't.

Any comments on windows media player 9?

They have come out with new video formats (like xvid) and also some older divx movies used a pirated version of MS's codec so Mediaplayer won't play those. You would need to use some other player to play those even if you had the right codec.

I would say just to download a codec pack that has something like Xvid and so won't mess up your other stuff.

Just a FYI, two things about WMP9 that you may not know:

1. Windows Media Player 9 includes Microsoft's brand of "Digital Rights Management", so be prepared to be asked for a license or security certificate for whatever you are trying to play on it, at least at some point, even if what you are trying to play and the reason you are trying to play it might fall under the doctrine of "fair use" (what is left of it) or possibly the "Home Audio Recording Act".

2. Once you install Windows Media Player 9, the only way to get rid of it is Format C:\ (well, that or a REAL low-level format).

Draw your own conclusions.

Nack

Precisely why I haven't upgraded.

I was going to mention that there is no uninstaller for WMP 9, but I heard the info months ago and didn't know if that had been fixed. How nice to know that Microsoft is still...well, Microsoft.

I went ahead and upgraded to 9
I like it alot better.
I have not had the first problem playing anything downloaded (as of yet)

Here's one reason to upgrade to 9.

Media Player flaw peels open PC security
By Robert Lemos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
May 7, 2003, 12:27 PM PT
http://news.com.com/2100-1002-1000355.html

Microsoft warned Windows Media Player users on Wednesday that a flaw in the way the application handles the download of "skins," or interface colors and motifs, could allow an attacker to take over a victim's PC.
The vulnerability could let an intruder create a file that appears to be a Windows Media Player skin, but that in reality is a malicious program. The program can be copied to a location of the intruder's choice when downloaded. An online vandal could, for example, have a Trojan horse loaded onto a victim's start-up folder, so that it executes when the computer is restarted.

"Windows Media Player normally copies into the Internet cache and then into an unpredictable location," said Stephen Toulouse, security program manager for Microsoft. "If it has a skin extension, it can be copied into a predictable location," or one determined by an attacker.

The software giant released an advisory for Windows Media Player 7.1 and Windows Media Player for XP (version 8.0) and urged customers to patch their systems immediately. Windows Media Player 9.0 is not affected by the issue.

Finland-based security firm Oy Online Solutions identified the issue and notified Microsoft on March 14. The security firm on Wednesday released another advisory, saying the flaw circumvents a basic security measure implemented by Microsoft.

"To prevent certain Internet-based attacks, the program uses a random element in the download path so that the exact file name of the downloaded skin file can't be guessed by a potential attacker," the company wrote in an e-mail advisory sent to CNET News.com.

Windows Media Player has had security problems before. Almost a year ago, a vulnerability was found in the way Media Player 6.4, 7.1 and Media Player for XP handle content protected by digital rights management technology. Attackers could modify the code for such protections and cause the Media Player to run a program of their choice.

A flaw found in Media Player 7 in January 2001 also took advantage of the way the program handled skins.

Microsoft's Toulouse stressed that an attacker would have to place the fake skin file on a Web server and convince people to download it or send the skin to users of Outlook 98 or 2000 who haven't applied the Outlook E-mail Security Update. The update restricts what scripts can run in e-mail by setting the application to the default setting for Outlook Express 6.0 and Outlook 2002.

The company said it has posted both its technical and consumer bulletins online and has notified the 52,000 users who have signed up for Microsoft's end-user bulletin.