mpeg not playing in Windows Media Player

[Brahma]

hey there. I've suddenly started not being able to play .mpg and .mpeg files in WMP. every time i try and play a movie clip i get the same error message:

"Windows Media Player encountered an unknown error. This can occur when another program or operating system component encounters a problem but does not communicate the nature of the problem to the Player."

I have tried using microsoft's web help and spent hours searching the error code which is "C00D11CD: Unknown error" but had no luck.

it just seems strange that this problem has occurred all of a sudden, and that no other files seem to have been affected by it. ie mp3s and avis etc all still work fine

does anyone have any suggestions?
Cheers

[Ioman]

Do you have DivX installed at all? Reinstalling WMP can be tricky, so perhaps try downloading the latest version of DivX http://www.divx.com/ to see if it will reinstall the codecs you are missing.

You can also try reinstalling WMP here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/AllDownloads.aspx?displang=en&qstechnology= looks like they have WMP 11 beta available for download too, that may be fun to try.

[Brahma]

i tried both of your suggestions but with no luck. i installed an updated version of divx and also WMP 11 (which is terrible in my opinion) but still got the exact same error message. i've managed to roll back to WMP10 which i much prefer but I'm up for re-installing that if you think it will help?

any suggestions at all?

[Ioman]

hmm lets try reinstalling WMP 10 and see if that helps.

Is it just movies? Or do you get the error when playing music too?

Try these:

# You can not play an AVI file. Windows Media Player generates the c00d11cd error.

The most likely cause is that you do not have the correct codec installed to play back the sound and audio. Windows Media Player 9 will only NOT automatically download EVERY codec there is.

Please read this useful article on codec's for Windows Media Player :

http://www.updatexp.com/codec-for-windows-media-player-9.html

# You can not play an MPEG2 file. Windows Media Player generates the c00d11cd error.

The most likely cause is that you do not have the correct codec installed to play back the file. Windows Media Player 9 will only NOT automatically download EVERY codec there is.

In the case of MPEG2 (or DVD) you MUST have an MPEG2 decoder on your system! Read this article to help you resolve the c00d11cd error:

http://www.updatexp.com/dvd-decoder-media-player-windows.html

# You can not play an AVI file you have downloaded from the Internet. Windows Media Player generates the c00d11cd error.

It is possible that you have an AVI file that is encoded with the DivX Codec and that you have a corrupt AVI header.

Search for the utility DivFix105 at Google.com and use this utility to rebuild the AVI header.

Let me know if any of those help.

[dang]

just fyi, i think our sales guy was having the same issue. he couldnt playback some windows media files, but he could others. somehow his codecs for windows media had been corrupted.

we re-installed windows media player (you can download all the versions from microsoft's website), rebooted and it fixed his issue.

[nightowl]

Try Real Player. Its much better.

[dang]

OMG, someone likes realplayer?! :)

[nightowl]

I havent had any problems with it, Ive had similar problems with WMP that Brahma has. And I tried the same file with Real player and it worked........Jim :vivi

[RyanG]

Hello there this is a question for Brahma, I was reading about your problems with regard to MPEG files not playing in Media Player and I have been experiencing exactly the same problem and recieving exactly the same error message, did you manage to find a fix to this problem ?

[Ioman]

Ryan, are you running alarmzone or anything like that? Also did you re-install WMP?

[RyanG]

Not running Alarm Zone, I have tried Media Player 9, 10 & 11 all to no avail. I am starting to think the problem is with Windows XP Media edition because I have tried it on 2 different computers one running windows 2000 & another running XP Professional and they both play MPEG files ok.

[postalemaniac]

Just posted somewhere else about this, get VLC its pwnsause leetness in a can + its free. It plays all file types basically.
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

[ultranet]

well I didnt had any problems of that sort but used to have problem of not playing some mpeg files but when I downloaded some codecs it went fine...

thanks

[fabian_sl]

Hello there this is a question for Brahma, I was reading about your problems with regard to MPEG files not playing in Media Player and I have been experiencing exactly the same problem and recieving exactly the same error message, did you manage to find a fix to this problem ?


RyanG:
The same as you, I have trouble playing MPG files. The thing I find very confusing is that the same files I try opening in my computer do open on another computer, so I'm pretty sure the files are ok. Anothe thing I find interesting is those files can't be played either on Media Player or in RealPlayer...BUT I did managed to play them in CiberLink PowerDVD.
Did you fixed or found out what the error was?

To make things clearer, I'm on a completely new computer, using Windows XP Professional SP2. Everything works fine except for my norton antivirus which I'm having difficulties updating due to an installing problem I guess. I'll try uninstalling it to see if that's the cause of the problem. But I hope you were able to figure out how to solve this problem. Pleas email me if anyone else has a clue!! Thnx!

[dfault]

I have a similar problem. Some mpg's will play in Windows Media Player and some won't.
In classic media player (which can be found in a sub-directory of Media Player 11) they all play, so the codecs must be there. In Winamp the "bad" files play at high speed. In Real Player they play fine. Also I've tried installing various codecs with no improvement.
I don't really get an error message, just WMP 11 will freeze. I tried WMP 10, with no better luck. My guess is that it's some dll file that needs to "registered, but I can't figure out which.

[dang]

that most likely means that the codec for those particular MPEG files are not standard on Windows. Cyberlink has a particular codec installed to playback certain MPEGs for DVDs, which is why it can play back the file and not windows media player. Is your cyberlink player the free version or the one that came with your computer? Sometimes that make the codec exclusive to just that player, typically in the free versions.

I would suggest looking for a good codec pack and seeing if installing one fixes your problems. However, be careful since some people pack spyware in the codec packs. Also, when installing a codec pack, make sure to not install any codecs you dont need.

[dfault]

As I mentioned, the classic Windows Media Player does play the files. So, the codecs must be there. It's WMP 11 and 10 that choke on them.

Also, I've tried some codec packs that we recommend, but no improvement.

Also, I tried re-installing WMP 10 and then 11, bu tno improvement.

That's why I figure it has to be some dll file.

[dang]

By classic windows media player do you mean wmplayer.exe? The one without a library, but it's just a straight media player?

There are a lot of strange things that can happen with codecs. If the old version of wimp (wmplayer.exe) plays the files back, but it doesnt in wimp10/11 (wmplayer2.exe) then there are a couple possibilities. One that pops into my head is that the mpeg file you are trying to play is MPEG2 (what is used in VCDs). Classic wimp will play these, but wimp9/10/11 wont. You need to have the codec installed to play these.

You can get the codec by purchasing one of the dvd software players (windvd, cyberlink, etc). If you have the trial version/freeware version, it wont work.

You can also look for codec packs like here (http://codecguide.com/about_kl.htm). Note: check which version (lite, basic, mega, etc) has the MPEG2 codec in it.

I've had issues with a native windows codec getting corrupted, and a re-install of wimp10 solved it. T

[dfault]

It's the same format that my Sony digital camera saves its movies in.

[dang]

did your sony digital camera come with a driver disk?

[dfault]

It came with a software disk. The only driver is for the USB port (probably for win98).

[dfault]

Curious:
I have a freeware converter that converts one type of file into another. I had it convert a wmv file into a mpegI file and that file played. Ithen had it convert the wmv into a mpegII file and that also played.

[dfault]

Does anyone of a codec package that will allow me to install mpg codecs only. Everything else works and every package I look at wants to install other codecs that I don't want to touch.

[dang]

i havent installed a codec pack in a while, but the ones I used to install typically had a custom install option where you could go through and check/uncheck the codecs/software it installed. Try the K-lite mega codec pack. http://codecguide.com/features_mega.htm