After years, I suddenly can't watch MP4 videos

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  • square pegger
    Junior Member
    • Apr 2006
    • 33

    After years, I suddenly can't watch MP4 videos

    PC: Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop
    CPU: Intel Core Duo T2300 @ 1.66GHz
    RAM: 2GB DDR2 PC-5300
    Sound Card: SIGMATEL STAC 92XX C-Major HD Audio
    Video Card: ATI Mobility Radeon X1300
    Windows OS: XP Professional SP3
    DirectX Ver: 9.0c
    Winamp Ver: 5.601
    Winamp Installation Type: Full (not Pro registered user)

    I carefully followed the Full Uninstall/Clean Install instructions posted in this forum and have included more information than what is listed in the "Information required when posting" section of the instructions in my attached zip file.

    Inexplicably, I suddenly can't watch MP4 videos in Winamp after years of being able to do so. What I mean is the video doesn't start and the seeker doesn't appear. In short, nothing happens when I try to play any MP4 file, including ones that I've watched with Winamp for years now.

    What I see as strange is that there's nothing in the Alt+3 file info for an MP4 video file. I tried the command "regsvr32 mp4splitter.ax" and included the results in the zip file.

    I'll sure be grateful for help in solving this weird problem.
    Attached Files
    Last edited by square pegger; 7 January 2011, 16:54. Reason: Forgot PC type
  • evolution76
    Member
    • Apr 2003
    • 90

    #2
    Try this

    Download this codec
    K-Lite Codec Pack is a free software bundle for playing all your audio and video files. It supports all common file formats, such as AVI, MP4, MKV, and FLV.


    You damn near watch any video with that codec.......

    Or go here and it tells you how to watch video on winamp

    What is Winamp? Why is Winamp? How is Winamp? All these burning questions and issues discussed within.

    Comment

    • MrSinatra
      Forum King
      • Dec 2004
      • 5899

      #3
      i saw a similar issue here recently and the culprit was that the extension for the file was mislabeled. something to try looking into anyway.
      PENN STATE Radio or http://www.LION-Radio.org/
      --
      BUG #1 = Winamp skips short tracks
      Wish #1 = Multiple Column Sorting
      Wish #2 = Add TCMP/Compilation editing

      Comment

      • osmosis
        Major Dude
        • Jan 2006
        • 841

        #4
        Hmm not sure why files you used before would stop working, unless it was through DirectShow and the codecs it was accessing are gone.
        Request: A little SmartView Query Language love.

        Comment

        • square pegger
          Junior Member
          • Apr 2006
          • 33

          #5
          This isn't my first post that never got solved

          I don't need help watching MP4 videos in other players. I don't need to download anything. All my MP4 videos play fine in Media Player Classic, which uses ffdshow.

          I'm beginning to think there's no point in posting a problem in Winamp forums. The lack of anyone's ability to solve my problems is a guarantee that I won't upgrade to Winamp Pro ever.

          Comment

          • MrSinatra
            Forum King
            • Dec 2004
            • 5899

            #6
            some apps are better at handling exceptions. winamp isn't a video player naturally imo and i wouldn't use it for that, i'd use VLC or something like that. why it used to work and doesn't now is a valid question but please realize people here are trying to help you. do you want an answer or not? its not immediately obvious what the problem is and so you do have to investigate a bit.

            there is a program out there, a utility, called "gspot" that basically examine a file and tells you what codec it uses. i have had many issues where a file had an improper extension for the codec, and so changing the extension to match the codec fixes the issue. now, some apps handle mis-labelled extensions better than others, so that might explain winamps current failure here.

            of course, it might be something totally different, but you have to eliminate what you can before trying something else.
            PENN STATE Radio or http://www.LION-Radio.org/
            --
            BUG #1 = Winamp skips short tracks
            Wish #1 = Multiple Column Sorting
            Wish #2 = Add TCMP/Compilation editing

            Comment

            • square pegger
              Junior Member
              • Apr 2006
              • 33

              #7
              @MrSinatra: one of the files included in my zip upload is a MediaInfo report on a typical MP4 video that I can no longer watch with Winamp. MediaInfo shows quite a bit of information about a video file, including both the audio and video codecs used to make it. So support knows which codecs are in a typical MP4 video I can no longer view in Winamp.

              Since MP4 is just a container, there are a whole host of codecs possible for an MP4 video file. Once upon a time, I just watched MP4 videos with Winamp with never a care for what type of codecs were used.

              RE: "winamp isn't a video player naturally imo and i wouldn't use it for that..." Gee, that's funny; I've been viewing practically every type of video file and streaming video with Winamp since ver. 3 (I think ver. 4 was skipped) and haven't had problems. The only video file type I didn't view in Winamp are MKV videos because of a conflict between my MP4 splitter and the recommended MKV splitter. You can read about it here: http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=319701.

              Well, I'm glad someone is supposedly working on it because I'm a non-paying user. As far as how long it's going to take, here's an unresolved problem I originally posted on October 10 2010 : http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=323026

              Comment

              • Batter Pudding
                Major Dude
                • Jun 2008
                • 1656

                #8
                square pegger - 85% of the problems in Winamp are solved on this forum by us USERS. Just like many other forums on the internet. So we are all just volunteers here. Attacking the people trying to help is not going to get you very far.

                Any chance of posting an actual example video?

                When you say "you can't watch ANY MP4" - does this include anything you drag and drop into the playlist? (Not just a double-click file association issue.) Does everything just jam on a black screen?

                Notice the comments in that link above mention that there is newer MP4 decoding in Winamp Pro now, which I notice you don't pay for, so it could just be that you need to turn this off again.

                Comment

                • square pegger
                  Junior Member
                  • Apr 2006
                  • 33

                  #9
                  long-winded post

                  @Batter Pudding

                  "Attacking the people trying to help..." Help me out here; I need additional clarification.

                  "Any chance of posting an actual example video?" The smallest MP4 video I have is
                  16MB. Since the list of acceptable file extensions for an attachment to a post does
                  not include MP4, I zipped the MP4 file and the zip file is still 16MB. My upload
                  speed is a nominal 256Kbps and I've clocked it at several sites as actually around
                  210Kbps. That's over 10 minutes for the upload.

                  I have no idea of who posts here as compared to who is actually working on the
                  problem. I can see from some of the previous posts that there are people who type
                  away without having downloaded and examined the contents of the zip file I have
                  already uploaded. When I hear from someone who is actually working on my problem
                  that they want me to upload a sample MP4 video that no longer plays, I'll upload the
                  zipped MP4 that I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

                  "...does this include anything you drag and drop into the playlist?" Using Winamp's
                  Bento skin, I cleared my playlist and dragged and dropped an MP4 video file onto the
                  playlist box. The MP4 appeared in the playlist but did not start. I clicked the play
                  button and nothing happened.

                  "Does everything just jam on a black screen?" Not sure what you mean by "jam."
                  Quoting myself, "...the video doesn't start and the seeker doesn't appear." All I
                  see in the video tab is the Nullsoft video logo. Nothing changes when I click the
                  play button. Please tell me what additional information you need.

                  "Notice the comments in that link above mention that there is newer MP4 decoding in
                  Winamp Pro now, which I notice you don't pay for, so it could just be that you need
                  to turn this off again." Sorry, but I don't understand what you're saying. Just
                  assume that I'm mentally feeble. I especially don't understand "...you need to turn
                  this off again." What did I turn on?

                  "Notice the comments in that link above mention that there is newer MP4 decoding
                  in Winamp Pro now, which I notice you don't pay for..." Well, there is another
                  program which I did pay for that does an awful lot more than the features available in
                  Winamp Pro that are missing from Winamp free. BTW, the forum for that paid
                  program is not only contributed to by volunteers, but by the software developers
                  themselves. One frequent contributor is the original author of the software.

                  You get more support when you pay. That doesn't mean a non-paying user hasn't
                  uncovered a problem whose solution paying users won't benefit from. Personally, I
                  see no need to buy Winamp Pro when I have this other program which I am completely
                  satisfied with.

                  Now for something I haven't mentioned before. Maybe this doesn't matter. If I temporarily
                  remove MP4 from the in_dshow.dll configuration and add it to the
                  in_mp4.dll configuration, the MP4 video starts to play and I hear the audio in the
                  MP4 video file. Of course the video is absent; no surprise.

                  Finally, all the MP4 videos I can no longer watch in Winamp play fine in Media
                  Player Classic. I didn't have to change a thing. I'll repeat that Media Player
                  Classic uses directshow. I'll assume, perhaps stupidly, that this indicates that
                  both my MP4 splitter and directshow settings are fine just as they are.

                  Comment

                  • Batter Pudding
                    Major Dude
                    • Jun 2008
                    • 1656

                    #10
                    @square pegger - I have had a long day. So I'll dig through your text tomorrow. Some useful stuff in there, when my brain works again.

                    I understand that you can't upload the huge files. Are there any examples that you can post a link to that I can download from source? I noticed the filename of the example texts you posted seemed to imply it was an episode of something. (I only ask as I don't have the time available to go digging for examples)

                    H.264 decoding was improved in one of the later releases of Winamp, but I cannot remember the details at this late hour. This is why you are hearing the video through in_mp4.dll as this is how I play that video using Winamp Pro. A non-Pro version of Winamp needs to use in_dshow.dll instead.


                    I do not work for Winamp. I have just been using it as my digital music player since the 1990s. From what I understand Winamp is a tiny team now, with a parent company of AOL. And as AOL is strapped for cash, I can't seeing there be huge amounts spare for Winamp. This is why I expect you are seeing such patchy support on these forums. There is just no cash in the pot to fund a full support system. So you see a few devs at times, but most of the answers come from random Winamp users who are strolling past. This also means it is unlikely that you would see a Winamp Support Person dedicating time to solve your problems. Though they will often drop sort things out. As you so rightly note yourself - you get what you pay for.

                    Comment

                    • scorpiomoon
                      Junior Member
                      • Jan 2011
                      • 2

                      #11
                      thanks evo for the links. i've always had problems playing video in winamp, but then i have problems playing videos in vlc too,

                      Comment

                      • Batter Pudding
                        Major Dude
                        • Jun 2008
                        • 1656

                        #12
                        "Attacking the people trying to help..." Help me out here; I need additional clarification.
                        If you read your posts back to yourself, you will see that a little too much anger is being directed at the anonymous people who are about to help you for free using their spare time. Already you have said yourself you don't want to pay the rather small fee to turn Winamp Pro, even though that would directly be of benefit in this instance. As no one here is paid to help, then that rapidly shrinks the amount of help you will get.

                        Note here: http://www.winamp.com/help/Player_Features you will see the Pro version includes native H.264 decoding. This is why you hear some reaction from in_MP4.dll. As you don't want to pay for that, you are going to be using the older in_dshow.dll.

                        "Any chance of posting an actual example video?" [waffle and excuses cut] That's over 10 minutes for the upload.No link, then I can't help much. There is the choice of uploading the video to some free hosting like Sendspace.com or mediafire.com etc. These are free. Yes, it will take a little while to upload. But it is quicker than nothing. No point in zipping up your compressed video file as it won't get much smaller. A much easier answer is tell me where you are getting these videos from and find me a link at source I can test from.

                        Your answers to the drag and drop questions \ jam questions \ etc. Confirmation of videos running fine in Media Player Classic, etc are useful as that means I don't need to look too deep there.


                        The swapping you did of in_dshow.dll and in_MP4.dll are useful to know. Mainly because this is where we will be concentrating - once you have supplied me with a video I can work with.

                        On my PC, I use the 32-bit K-Lite Mega Code Pack (as linked above by Evolution76). This is on a Vista Business 64-bit PC. I have Winamp Pro here, but to trouble shoot this issue I am hoping that won't make enough difference. My aim is to get you running through the in_dshow.dll.

                        I have just tested this on my PC and swapped the "MP4" between the two input plug-ins and it is working here happily on both. Trouble is the test file I am using is very different to your MP4 file.

                        When I am playing through the in_dshow.dll, I can see that ffdshow's audio and video filters have popped up in my task tray along with the Haali Splitter. Never changed any of the configuration of these, just accept the default of K-Lite's installer.

                        When did you last update your codecs? I know I don't have the very latest on this PC, but would be less than three months old.

                        Comment

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