WMV Video Playback Help

I am having problems playing wmv files in playback. i have downloaded the videos to my local PC drive. I playback in wmv player, and 3 to 4 seconds into the clip(s) they freeze.... then sometimes randomly start again, sometimes not. I can move the slider bar further into the timeline on the video and see that there is more video in the clip as it will once again start playing for another 3 to 4 seconds then freeze again.

I was thinking it was a video acceleration problem so I lowered from full acceleration to full, then none, with no better results..

I also tried adjusting the buffering time, no different.

Is this a result of the encoding of the clips? If so what may be causing this?

is this the fault of my wmv player settings? If so, what should i adjust?

I've tried to search for answers but hope that someone on this board will be a wmv expert and offer some productive and useful advice.

thank you

Hmm..

I honestly dont know although to me, this sounds like a question Jasun may have the answer to :)

Regards,

Lee

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tombarr

I am having problems playing wmv files in playback. i have downloaded the videos to my local PC drive. I playback in wmv player, and 3 to 4 seconds into the clip(s) they freeze.... then sometimes randomly start again, sometimes not. I can move the slider bar further into the timeline on the video and see that there is more video in the clip as it will once again start playing for another 3 to 4 seconds then freeze again.

I was thinking it was a video acceleration problem so I lowered from full acceleration to full, then none, with no better results..

I also tried adjusting the buffering time, no different.

Is this a result of the encoding of the clips? If so what may be causing this?

is this the fault of my wmv player settings? If so, what should i adjust?

I've tried to search for answers but hope that someone on this board will be a wmv expert and offer some productive and useful advice.

thank you

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Some of my members have had this problem. It's (in my case at least) due to the latest ms media 9 codec. Be sure you have it installed on your system..or you could have problems. Not saying that THIS is what is happening to you..but could be a possibility. If you have the latest version of media player also, installed, then you should not have to go get the latest codec as it will be installed when you install media player.

For what it is worth.

Definitely make sure that your system is up-to-date. I think they just released a few updates to the player about a week ago. Usually if it is local - there really should be no problems.

Have you also just ran a scandisk / defrag lately?

Generally, video playback problems have todo with your system.

Make sure you have the latest version of windows media player (They're up to 10 for PC, 9 for Mac), and make sure that you have enough RAM for the file size... the only way to solve that is to either buy more RAM or download a clip at a lower bit rate.

I wasn't much of a fan of wmv files until recently, but now that we've started our live shows at Fratmen.tv, I'm blown away by the quality.

We're also doing some cool stuff with streaming and... ok... more on that later.. we'll chat in Phoenix.

HI Jasun

I'm not much of a streaming video expert, but I think i would disagree that it is a player based problem, and would suggest it might be in the encoding.

(yes i have a defragged disk)
(yes i have plenty of local memory)

I am using version 10 of WMP, and I also have tried the Real Player and the Quick Time player. In the Real Player, it freezes exactly in the same spot, and acts the same way. In the Quick time player the clips run for about 5 to 6 seconds (up from 3 - 4 seconds in the WMV and Real Player), before also freezing.... and once again, I can move the slider bars, and then press play again, and get more play on the video clips.


Wouldn't this suggest perhaps some problems in the codec used to convert the video clips from avi to mpeg? I also used the Mplayer2.exe player which is just a bare bones player that is recommended to see if the problem is in the connection or the content..... still could not play the videos...

I also was able to play other videos and clips from other sources without interruption

so it seems to me to be pointing to a problem in the encoding.

your thoughts?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tombarr

HI Jasun

I'm not much of a streaming video expert, but I think i would disagree that it is a player based problem, and would suggest it might be in the encoding.

(yes i have a defragged disk)
(yes i have plenty of local memory)

I am using version 10 of WMP, and I also have tried the Real Player and the Quick Time player. In the Real Player, it freezes exactly in the same spot, and acts the same way. In the Quick time player the clips run for about 5 to 6 seconds (up from 3 - 4 seconds in the WMV and Real Player), before also freezing.... and once again, I can move the slider bars, and then press play again, and get more play on the video clips.


Wouldn't this suggest perhaps some problems in the codec used to convert the video clips from avi to mpeg? I also used the Mplayer2.exe player which is just a bare bones player that is recommended to see if the problem is in the connection or the content..... still could not play the videos...

I also was able to play other videos and clips from other sources without interruption

so it seems to me to be pointing to a problem in the encoding.

your thoughts?

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Congrats..you now have one of the more amazing internet bugs I've heard of in years.
Hmm..does the SAME thing on ALL players? WEIRD.
The ONLY thing I can think of is that your video memory/access is screwing up for some reason since the video screws up at the same place each time.

What codec are you using to make your clips? Should have asked that one from the start I guess.

hmm.. that is werid.

And these are not clips you've created yourself, right? That would suggest a problem with your encoder, but if it's happening with every clipfrom every place, it suggests that you've got a hardware problem.

Finally, if it's only happening with videos from one creator or site,it seems that they have the problem.. where are these videos from?