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General

Q:My game crashes during playback of an in-game video
A:

Most common solutions:

  • Update your graphics card drivers.
  • Some modern games require Media Foundation codecs from Microsoft. If your version of Windows does not include Windows Media Player, then it is also missing those codecs. You can acquire them by installing the Media Feature Pack from Microsoft.
  • Add the game to the blacklist of LAV Filters, ffdshow, and DirectVobSub. For details about the blacklisting functionality look HERE.
    With the Codec Tweak Tool it is possible to (temporarily) disable specific DirectShow filters and codecs. That allows you to test whihc one(s) are causing trouble.
    Visit our forum if you need help.

Other solution for rare cases:

  • Disable the Elecard MPEG-2 demuxer. This is a third party filter that might be present on your computer.
    Codec Tweak Tool > Codec & Filter Management > DirectShow
  • Disable the Nero audio decoder filter. This is a third party filter that might be present on your computer.
    You can do that this way:
    Start -> Run -> regsvr32 /u "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Ahead\DSFilter\NeAudio.ax"
    Alternatively, you can use the Codec tweak Tool to disable it.
Q:I have no sound in Flash movies on websites like YouTube
A:

Here are some things you can try to solve the problem:

  • Flash stores its files in a temporary files folder. A corrupt download can cause the sound problems.

    Delete the following folder:
    C:\Documents and Settings\%UserName%\Application Data\Adobe\Flash Player
    C:\Documents and Settings\%UserName%\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player
  • Empty your temporary internet files.

    Internet Explorer: Tools -> Internet Options
    Firefox: Tools -> Clear Private Data
    Opera: Tools -> Delete Private Data
  • Empty your temporary files folder.

    Use this command to empty your temporary files folder:
    Start -> Run -> RMDIR /S /Q "%TEMP%"
  • Install the latest version of the Flash plugin. You can download it HERE. If you have problems upgrading the plugin, then uninstall your existing version first with this tool. Close your browser(s) before you run the uninstall tool.
  • Run the K-Lite Codec Tweak Tool. Near the top you should see an option to fix the sound (Midi, WaveOut). Select that and press Next. If the option is grayed out, then that particular registry fix is not needed.
  • Go to the Flash Player Settings Manager website. Click HERE.
    Check the box called "Allow third-party Flash content to store data on your computer."
  • Go to the Flash Player Settings Manager website. Click HERE.
    Click on the button to remove the data that the Flash plugins has stored for websites that you have visited.
  • Check if your sound device settings are correct:
    Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Sound and Audio Devices -> Audio
  • If you have QuickTime installed, then go to the QuickTime control panel. On the Audio tab, set "Default Music Synthesizer" to "General MIDI".
    On the Advanced tab, disable "Enable playback of Adobe Flash tracks".
    On the browser tab, click on "MIME Settings". Under "Miscellaneous", make sure "Flash media" is unchecked.
  • Check if the file msacm32.drv is present in your Windows system32 folder. If not, copy it from another PC (that has the same version of Windows) and place the file in the system32 folder.
  • If you are also having sound problems with other applications, then re-installing your audio drivers might solve the problem.
Q:I am unable to play .m2ts files in Sony Picture Motion Browser
A:

This application seems to be incompatible with Haali media Splitter.

Disable "MPEG TS splitter (Haali)" with the Codec Tweak Tool. Then you should be able to open your files in Sony Picture Motion Browser.

Q:Where can I find some tutorials for encoding?
A:

Take a look at the guides section of Doom9.org

Q:Many ffdshow icons appear in the system tray when editing video in Adobe Premiere
A:

Premiere loads a new instance of ffdshow for each video segment that you play. But it fails to properly unload those instances. You can solve this problem by adding 'premiere.exe' the the ffdshow blacklist. Then ffdshow will no longer be used by Premiere.

ffdshow video decoder configuration -> DirectShow Control -> Click on the Edit button behind "Don't use ffdshow in:" and add "premiere.exe" to the list.

You do need to have an alternative decoder installed that Premiere can use instead of ffdshow. For example the DivX and Xvid VFW codecs.

Q:Subtitle Workshop crashes when loading subs
A:

The solution is to (temporarily) rename your subtitle file so that it does not have the same name as your video file. When it has the same name, it will get auto-loaded during playback, which causes troubles when trying to edit that subtitle file with Subtitle Workshop.
This workaround is no longer needed with any recent versions of (xy-)VSFilter.

Q:How can I prevent ffdshow from being used by certain applications or games?
A:

ffdshow has blacklisting and whitelisting functionality for this purpose.

If ffdshow causes some kind of problem or incompatibility with a another program, then you should add that program to the blacklist.

First determine what the executable name of the program is. For example "powerdvd9.exe".

Then go to: ffdshow video decoder configuration -> DirectShow Control. Click on the Edit button behind "Don't use ffdshow in:" and the executable name to the list.

The same step can be repeated for ffdshow audio decoder if desired.

Q:I get an error when attempting to import a file with Windows Movie Maker
A:

The information below applies only to old versions of Windows Movie maker. The new Windows Live Movie Maker usually does not require any special tweaks to import files.

Windows Movie Maker (for XP/Vista) will normally only import AVI, MPEG, and WMV files. It will refuse to import any other file types.

It can show an error message like this: "The file X is not a supported file type, and it cannot be imported into Windows Movie Maker."

There is a trick to make it import other file types, which works in most cases. All you need to do is rename your file so that it has the file extension .avi. Using this trick you should be able to import FLV, MP4, and other file types. Don't forget to rename your files back to their original extensions when you are done using them in Movie Maker. Renaming may not always be necessary. You should always first try to import using the original filename!

Another configuration tweak you you might need to make is to adjust the compatibility settings of Movie Maker.

Movie Maker menu -> Tools -> Options -> Compatibility -> enable "ffdshow video decoder" (and other audio/video decoders from the codec pack that may be listed there)

 

Q:My PC completely freezes or gives a BSOD when playing a file on Windows 7 x64 with a 2.1 speaker setup
A:

This is a bug in the Realtek HD Audio driver. It only occurs on Windows 7 x64 and only when configuring audio decoders to output 2.1 audio channels.

Updating your driver should solve the problem.

Q:I have a Creative X-FI audio card. Which speaker configuration is recommended in the codec pack?
A:

Since the X-FI can do its own channel up- and downmixing it is recommended to select "AS IS" as speaker configuration. You then should configure the desired speaker configuration in the X-FI settings.

Q:I get black video or only audio when importing a video file in Windows Movie Maker
A:

Movie Maker menu -> Tools -> Options -> Compatibility -> enable "ffdshow video decoder" (and other audio/video decoders from the codec pack that may be listed there)

The information above applies only to old versions of Windows Movie maker. The new Windows Live Movie Maker usually does not require any special tweaks to import video files.

 

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