WMP pixelates???

[TravisFan]

Hey, guys -

Thank you all for all your help with my journey with this new laptop (an HP Pavilion g6) so far.

One thing I noticed on my old laptop (same make, earlier generation) was that videos from certain sites pixelated in a fleeting way from time to time, when you played them back. (No sound problems, just picture.)

It happened seriously on videos from Sean Cody and once in awhile on videos from Corbin Fisher. (On CF, the problem was fleeting and usually self-resolving.)
Oddly, it never happened while playing back videos from anywhere but these two sites.

Now that I am trying to put my video library back together, I noticed that just about every other CF video I download seems prone to this weird pixelated picture problem. I wonder why that is? The computer is new, and a little search suggested that my WMP is version 12.0.7061. 17514. . . not that that means anything to me!!!

I was wondering if anyone knows why this is? (#1) And, would I be better off just doing all my downloads using Quicktime??? (#2) I've never had a problem with QT, over the last ten years!

Thanks for your advice!

TF XOXOXOXOXO

 

[trinket]

Hey TravisFan. Are you on Windows 7? Check out this link for information about the differences from a system perspective with rendering video on Windows 7.

What format are these, BTW? WMV's? You might also try a third-party like player like the great VLCPlayer and see your results, assuming they're not DRM'd and not in a DRM method that WMP is needed specifically for viewing them and see if your results improve!

The other thing about pixelated videos is that the encoding method/algorithm from the originals as prepared may just suck. It would seem unlikely for a significant content provider like SC and CF who would presumably know what they're doing, but I've seen it before from news sites or those otherwise hosting online video who don't know what they're doing. It's also possible the video file is a lower resolution meant to be a preview or play in a small window within the web browser, and you're seeing the pixelization when viewing at a larger or full screen size.

Lastly, it might be your local PC (beyond any rendering issues from the start of my post above). As you say, you saw it on the older laptop. Sometimes if you're pushing the hardware with a lot of open applications, you'll get pixelation when alt-tabbing around or changing applications and using more CPU cycles - my prior machine would do this when really pushing it. When I sat on the viewer (VLCPlayer) for a few seconds, the pixelization cleared.

 

[TravisFan]

Thanks, Trinket - Irfanview works better

Thanks, Trinket!

This was really helpful and informative I don't think I really "push" my computer all that much, and I did notice this problem occasionally on the previous one. . . but it seems much more frequent now. (Though it is early days.)

Just like you suggested, I tried playing these wmv videos on another player - in this case, the Irfanview player, which I have installed on my computer. I haven't tested every one, but I've tried several of the "problem" videos, and they played like a charm: not only was the picture quality brighter and richer, but there was no hint of instability or transitory pixelation.

So, if that continues to be the case, it is no big deal - I will miss the "full-screen" immediacy of WMP (when it's at its best) but. . . nothing is a bigger buzzkill to me than being RIGHT into a video, and then, at the crucial moment - Travis suddenly breaks up into a nasty patchwork of little black squares!!!

Just out of interest - when I started out with WMP, aeons ago, I thought it was the greatest, and never experienced any problems of this kind at all - and my computers then were much lower-capacity than these last couple have been. It's only in the last couple of years that it seems to have become a problem, and usually only with the bigger, richer, wmv videos.

It kind of makes me wonder whether the more recent versions of WMP are less capable/stable/tolerant than the older versions used to be. . . or whether big files just give them "indigestion"?

Anyway, thanks for your kind and helpful response. And I love your avatar - Shia is the CUTEST!

Hugs, and have a great weekend,
"TF" XOXOXOXOXOXO

 

[trinket]

Re: Thanks, Trinket - Irfanview works better

I do love me some Shia, yes.

I remember Irfanview from back in the day, heh - glad your vids look better using it! You could probably associate your file type extensions (like .WMV) with the program, so you can click the file and jump into it just like you do today with WMP.

It's only in the last couple of years that it seems to have become a problem, and usually only with the bigger, richer, wmv videos.

It kind of makes me wonder whether the more recent versions of WMP are less capable/stable/tolerant than the older versions used to be. . . or whether big files just give them "indigestion"?

Yeah, compression algorithms/codecs/schemes are always improving and the constant "sweet spot" is trying to provide ever higher-resolution files and codecs that preserve as much detail as possible into smaller file sizes as possible for distribution/streaming. I generally don't have an issue with the job WMP does on content it does well on, but there are lots of player alternatives out there that are authored differently (and I love VLC for its compatibility and flexibility and some cool features, like screen snapshotting) and as you've seen, your results may vary for the better with other software. Plus, that first link I linked to with WMP changing rendering displays on Windows 7 (for the worse) might be part of it.

 

[TravisFan]

Thanks, Trinket!

Thanks, Trinket!

I really appreciate the help of sympathetic computer-knowledgeable people like you. Because I am (in the immortal words of the great Canadian author, Robertson Davies) a technomoron.

I know that the Tech Forum guidelines gently advise to do one's research, so as to pose intelligent and meaningful questions (and to avoid posting STUPID ones) but - though I think I have learned a little about computers in the last few years: I don't think I am ever gonna catch up with all of YOU!

It's still sort of mystifying to me, how WMP seems not as reliable as in the past, but, as long as some other player works (and Irfan seems to): I guess it's all good

BTW, did you ever see Shia's first interview on Letterman? It was a SCREAM, especially when he talks about growing up as the child of hippies, who were also CLOWNS. (I HOPE I am allowed to post a link:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srKO1LxQBwI[/ame]

Thanks again, Trinket, and HUGS!

"TF" XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 

[TravisFan]

OOPS =

Apparently no YT links here - or I just didn't do it right. Sorry about that.

"TF" :-(((

 

[trinket]

Glad you got it sorted! Thanks for the YT link. Yeah, the phrase that stuck with me for Shia was a USA Today interview that introduced him as "the only son of a 6-foot-4 Cajun circus clown / former backstage
joint-roller for the Doobie Bros. and a 4-foot-2 Jewish Ballerina". Love it, what a colorful and maybe unlikely couple.