10-25-2004, 05:40 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Troubleshooting Windows Media Center Edition 2005 MPEG2 Decoder Problems
It's incredibly easy to break MCE 2005 - all it takes is the installation of a video editing program that comes with an MPEG2 codec, and MCE 2005 will fold like a house of cards (that's my experience at any rate). Symptoms of this problem include a black screen when you try to play MPEG files, and a lockup/crash of the MCE interface when you try to play a DVD from within the MCE interface (DVD playback through Windows Media Player will probably still work). So how do you fix it? Here's how...
Step 1: Diagnose the Problem
Click START > RUN then type CMD to get to the command line. Type dvdupgrd /detect and you'll get something that looks like this:
This screen will tell you what decoder is currently active. Odds are, it's not going to be the encoder that you want it to be, nor will it be one that's compatible with Windows Media Center. If it was, you probably wouldn't be having any problems. ;-)
Step 2: Fix the Problem
Now that you've figured out that you're using the wrong codec, the next step is to fix it. When I was first searching for a solution to this part of the problem, I found several sites that suggested I hack the registry - and it wasn't an easy hack either. Thankfully, Barb Bowman came to my rescue and recommended the Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility. This utility is so perfect for this problem I have no doubt Microsoft designed it for this purpose. After installing and running the program, I discovered that when Pinnacle Studio 9 was installed, it somehow wrested control of MPEG2 decoding away from the nVidia codec. When you run the application, you'll see it list off the various codecs:
In my case, the fix was as simple as selecting the nVidia Video Decoder and clicking the SET AS PREFERRED button. Bam! My problem was fixed, and hopefully yours will be too. I didn't even need a reboot - MCE 2005 was fixed immediately after making the change.
It's important to understand that Media Center Edition 2005 uses Windows Media Player 10 to play back video content, and it seems WMP10 is more sensitive to codec compatibility than WMP9. Having a fully compatible and certified codec is incredibly important to system stability with MCE 2005. Now why Microsoft doesn't just provide one is beyond (probably some silly anti-trust concession...)
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