What happened to my XVid playback capabilities?

[eggles]

Recently my computer had an error after I blocked some spyware from making registry changes. The registry reset itself and that seemed fine. Then I realised that basic programs like WMP 9 Series wasn't working and neither was XVid.

I have tried uninstalling XVid off my system about 4 times and putting the most recent codec on but I am getting neither sound nor picture in Windows Media Player or RealOne. The file loads but then the movie doesn't start; that is, no progress is made on the time bar and when I skip the movie, nothing happens.

Does anyone know what is wrong with my computer? It isn't the files themselves, I have played them over the network on my laptop and they work perfectly well on the same Media Player.

What can I do? How can I watch these XVid movies again?

No other FAQ site seems to be able to help me. Any help at all will be much appreciated.

[Enchanter]

One or more of these may need reinstalling:

-. DirectX
-. Windows Media Player (have you tried the older and more reliable WMP 6.4?)
-. Codecs (Try FFDShow to decode XviD videos for an alternative)

Have you tried other players, such as BSPlayer?

[eggles]

I have tried the older Media Player and that one also fails to work.

Why would DirectX need reinstalling? Where can I find out which version I am running?

What is FFDShow and BSPlayer?

[Enchanter]

Originally posted by eggles
Why would DirectX need reinstalling? Where can I find out which version I am running?

Often problems like these are solved by reinstalling DirectX. DirectX 9 is the latest version available for download.

Originally posted by eggles

What is FFDShow and BSPlayer?

FFDShow is an alternative decoder that is capable of handling a number of MPEG-4 compression formats, including DivX and XviD. BSPlayer is a media player.

Both are excellent software and I highly recommend them.

[eggles]

Thank you - my files work again in BSPlayer - I reinstalled DirectX but that hasn't helped in terms of running my movies in Windows Media Player. Do you know why this program still wont run the files?

[Enchanter]

It's good to see that you can finally get the files playing again in your system.

As with WMP, have you tried playing the files after installing and configuring FFDShow to play XviD contents?

[eggles]

Have you tried playing the files after installing and configuring FFDShow to play XviD contents?

How do I configure ffdShow to play Xvid files and which version should I download? There are 2 files:
ffdshow : 2002-06-17
ffdshow-alpha : 2003-05-23

[Enchanter]

Install FFDShow. Under Configuration, go to Codecs and enable the format entry of XviD (XviD or libavcodec, for decoder).

Use the latest Alpha version.