can anyone assit please

L

Liz

My friend is using a touch screen computer and the OS is Wndows 7.
I use XP Home and I sent her a video today of WMV and she says her computer
says ‘Windows Media Player cannot play the file

Can anyone assist as to how she can view these files?
thank you in advance,
Liz.
 
P

Paul

Liz said:
My friend is using a touch screen computer and the OS is Wndows 7.
I use XP Home and I sent her a video today of WMV and she says her computer
says ‘Windows Media Player cannot play the file

Can anyone assist as to how she can view these files?
thank you in advance,
Liz.
The whole error message might have been like this:

"Windows Media Player cannot play the file.

The Player might not support the file type or
might not support the codec that was used to compress the file."

And that would mean, that a CODEC on the receiving computer
is not available to decode the content.

There are solutions to this, but they're far from automatic.
You'd think an idiotic operating system, would have an
option to "save in a default compatible format", any movie
you could see, so that you could send it to any other person
using the same OS.

But that is too much to expect. Instead, we wallow in a
sea of incompatibility. If you wanna watch movies, you'd
better be "an expert".

*******

Where I'd start, is with this program. It gives information on the
CODEC used by the movie. By using this program on your (working) computer,
you should be able to identify the CODEC being used. It's an awfully
busy screen.

http://gspot.headbands.com/v26x/GSpot270a.zip

Now, for example, if I drag and drop a DVD movie file onto
the open tool window, it might look like this.

http://img.brothersoft.com/screenshots/softimage/g/gspot-190045-1.jpeg

You could always take a snapshot of what shows up in the window
of that program, and post the picture on imageshack.us , and then
send the URL of the resulting Imageshack web page in another
posting.

The problem is, you have to interpret what is being said in that
window. You'd have to know (somehow), that Windows doesn't typically
include a DVD player by default, and if an MPEG2 CODEC was
provided with the computer, someone would have had to pay a licensing
fee. Most companies don't want to pay that fee.

So anyway, I'd start with that tool, because even if the file extension
on the movie is wrong (it's not really a .wmv movie), that program will
give some hints as to what it is.

*******

Once you have some foggy notion as to the movie type, you have two options.
Do a conversion on your end, to a format your friend's computer can read.
Or, tell your friend what CODEC file needs to be downloaded. Neither
approach is really guaranteed to work out well. One conversion tool
I have here, doesn't tell you what a "default guaranteed compatible"
format is. I've got in trouble before, by selecting the wrong output
format, and *none* of my other tools could read it.

If you get the recipient to download a CODEC, there is no guarantee
that will work out well either. CODEC packs sometimes trash the video
playback setup on the computer, so downloading wads of them isn't
always the best choice. And some CODEC packs, have the odd bad CODEC
in them, which gives poor playback qualities.

A second best choice, is to ask the recipient to download a new
media player. For example, Media Player Classic. I haven't used
this one myself (I don't play a lot of movies).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_player_classic

The ones that use DirectShow here, should be able to tap into the
CODECs already in Windows. Ones based on ffmpeg, would be more oriented
towards things like DVD movies perhaps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_media_players

I don't think any of these ideas is really foolproof, and if I had
to help one of my own family members remotely, to enable them to
play an arbitrary movie, I doubt I'd be successful at it. Too many
things could go wrong, and they'd probably be in too much of
a hurry, to get it working.

Paul
 
J

Justin

"Liz" wrote in message
My friend is using a touch screen computer and the OS is Wndows 7.
I use XP Home and I sent her a video today of WMV and she says her computer
says ‘Windows Media Player cannot play the file

Can anyone assist as to how she can view these files?
thank you in advance,
Liz.

Hi Liz.
I think Paul may have mentioned it in one of his links, but I suggest you
try VLC media player.
It is free, opensource, available on just about all OSes, and can play just
about anything.

If it doesn't play the file, it may be corrupt.
 
L

Liz

Thank you for your reply Paul,

It was a joke I sent to my friend and I do not think that it is the same
thing as a DVD movie then again I could be wrong.

I really appreciate your answer but you have lost me.

I am using Windows XP Home and have no problems viewing WMV files.
this was a short video of a joke that I had received and sent to her. I have
sent her a few WMV files and so far she has had no trouble until this one.

Thank you again Paul for answering.
Liz.
 
L

Liz

Thank you Justin for your reply,
I use Windows XP home but I also have VLC on my computer but so far have not
needed to play a file that someone sends me that has the WMV extension.
Thank you so much for replying.
Liz.
 
P

Paul

Liz said:
Thank you for your reply Paul,

It was a joke I sent to my friend and I do not think that it is the same
thing as a DVD movie then again I could be wrong.

I really appreciate your answer but you have lost me.

I am using Windows XP Home and have no problems viewing WMV files.
this was a short video of a joke that I had received and sent to her. I have
sent her a few WMV files and so far she has had no trouble until this one.

Thank you again Paul for answering.
Liz.
Well, this program will tell you what the movie is.

http://gspot.headbands.com/v26x/GSpot270a.zip

If you need help interpreting the screen of that program,
post a screenshot on imageshack.us , then post a link here
and someone can help you. There are lots of people here
who know more about movies than I do.

Paul
 
J

Jaypie

The free IrfanView program will open WMV files...

Jaypie
- - - - - - - - - - -
"Paul" a écrit dans le message de groupe de discussion :
[email protected]...
Thank you for your reply Paul,

It was a joke I sent to my friend and I do not think that it is the same
thing as a DVD movie then again I could be wrong.

I really appreciate your answer but you have lost me.

I am using Windows XP Home and have no problems viewing WMV files.
this was a short video of a joke that I had received and sent to her. I
have sent her a few WMV files and so far she has had no trouble until this
one.

Thank you again Paul for answering.
Liz.
Well, this program will tell you what the movie is.

http://gspot.headbands.com/v26x/GSpot270a.zip

If you need help interpreting the screen of that program,
post a screenshot on imageshack.us , then post a link here
and someone can help you. There are lots of people here
who know more about movies than I do.

Paul
 
N

Nil

The free IrfanView program will open WMV files...
Only if you already have the proper codecs installed. That seems to be
the real problem in this case, so Irfanview probably wouldn't play it
either.

The permanent solution would be to figure out what codec is needed and
installing it. The simplest thing would be for the user to install VLC,
which includes a whole bunch of codecs (for its own use) and will play
almost anything.
 
R

relic

Liz said:
My friend is using a touch screen computer and the OS is Wndows 7.
I use XP Home and I sent her a video today of WMV and she says her
computer says ‘Windows Media Player cannot play the file

Can anyone assist as to how she can view these files?
thank you in advance,
Before anything else, install a Codec Pack:
http://www.free-codecs.com/Codec_Packs.htm

Personally, I prefer the Cole2K Standard Codec Pack:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Cole2k_Media_Codec_Pack.htm
 
J

Jaypie

In the site of IrfanView, you download the program and the plugins/addOns
too which
allows the viewing of wmv files. I can view these files every time.

http://irfanview.com/

Jaypie
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Nil" a écrit dans le message de groupe de discussion :
[email protected]...

The free IrfanView program will open WMV files...
Only if you already have the proper codecs installed. That seems to be
the real problem in this case, so Irfanview probably wouldn't play it
either.

The permanent solution would be to figure out what codec is needed and
installing it. The simplest thing would be for the user to install VLC,
which includes a whole bunch of codecs (for its own use) and will play
almost anything.
 
N

Nil

In the site of IrfanView, you download the program and the
plugins/addOns too which allows the viewing of wmv files. I can
view these files every time.

http://irfanview.com/
From the notes on the the FAQ page, I believe that Irfanview's plugins
help it to call upon installed system codecs. I don't think that
Irfanview can play video formats on its own, without those appropriate
codecs being installed.
 
J

Jaypie

I didn't install any codecs of any sorts on my machine. Windows 7 with IE
8.

I just installed IrfanView and after that install, I installed the plugins
and
everything was fine. So !

Try it yourself and you'll be able to judge the performance of the program.
- - - - - - - - - - -

"Nil" a écrit dans le message de groupe de discussion :
[email protected]...

In the site of IrfanView, you download the program and the
plugins/addOns too which allows the viewing of wmv files. I can
view these files every time.

http://irfanview.com/
From the notes on the the FAQ page, I believe that Irfanview's plugins
help it to call upon installed system codecs. I don't think that
Irfanview can play video formats on its own, without those appropriate
codecs being installed.
 
N

Nil

I didn't install any codecs of any sorts on my machine. Windows 7
with IE 8.

I just installed IrfanView and after that install, I installed the
plugins and everything was fine. So !
Windows comes with some common codecs already included with the OS.
So far, that's all you've needed. But you may come across a format
that needs another codec. Irfanview won't be able to play it until
you install it.
Try it yourself and you'll be able to judge the performance of the
program.
I've been using Irfanview for many years.
 
C

choro

Windows comes with some common codecs already included with the OS.
So far, that's all you've needed. But you may come across a format
that needs another codec. Irfanview won't be able to play it until
you install it.


I've been using Irfanview for many years.
IrfanView is a superb little freeware, I must say. It does most things
photographic software will do and more! I called it little software
because it doesn't hog the machine either.

Highly recommended!
 
N

Nil

IrfanView is a superb little freeware, I must say. It does most
things photographic software will do and more! I called it little
software because it doesn't hog the machine either.

Highly recommended!
I agree! It's a great image viewer - very fast, lots of nice features,
and it does a very good job at lots of simple editing tasks. I
especially like its "set as desktop" feature. It has one important
option that nobody else seems to have: "Stretched Proportional". That
blows up an image to fill the screen as much as it can horizontally or
vertically, keeping the correct proportions.

But it's just an OK, albeit convenient, video and audio player. That's
not its strength, and it does rely on the system being set up properly.
IOW, if Irfanview can play it, so should Windows Media Player.
 
G

Gene E. Bloch

My friend is using a touch screen computer and the OS is Wndows 7.
I use XP Home and I sent her a video today of WMV and she says her computer
says ‘Windows Media Player cannot play the file

Can anyone assist as to how she can view these files?
thank you in advance,
Liz.
So to summarize the advice I like best from what the others provided:

Tell your friend to find, download, and install VLC Player.

It has its own codecs.
 
K

Ken Blake

I agree! It's a great image viewer - very fast, lots of nice features,


I also agree with that.

and it does a very good job at lots of simple editing tasks. I


However, I think Windows Live Photo Gallery does a much better job at
editing.
 
J

Justin

I think I understand now.
I thought somebody send you a WMV file and you couldn't play it for some
reason.

Whatever the case, I install VLC on every machine I own, no matter what the
OS.




"Liz" wrote in message
Thank you Justin for your reply,
I use Windows XP home but I also have VLC on my computer but so far have not
needed to play a file that someone sends me that has the WMV extension.
Thank you so much for replying.
Liz.
 

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