Windows Media Player

[Joy]

My computer is a laptop, but I use it in a docking station, so that I can
have a big (external) monitor, full size keyboard, mouse, etc. Last year
when people would send me a .wmv file attachment (that opened with Windows
Media Player), if the laptop was OUT of the docking station, I got audio and
video. But with the laptop IN the docking station, I only got audio, not
video.

A knowledgeable relative who was visiting at the time, found some sort of
setting and was able to 'fix' it so that I got both audio and video on both
screens. But my computer crashed a couple of months ago and although my
computer man was able to save my data, (including e-mails) he had to
reinstall Windows (XP) and we are gradually reinstalling my various
programs. But I just noticed yesterday (I received another .wmv
attachment) that once again, I am not getting video in such attachments.
I e-mailed said relative, but not being here, he can't remember what he had
done at the time. Any help with this will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]]

On Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:08:00 -0400, "Joy" <nospamjoymp2@bellsouth.net>
wrote:

>My computer is a laptop, but I use it in a docking station, so that I can
>have a big (external) monitor, full size keyboard, mouse, etc. Last year
>when people would send me a .wmv file attachment (that opened with Windows
>Media Player), if the laptop was OUT of the docking station, I got audio and
>video. But with the laptop IN the docking station, I only got audio, not
>video.
>
>A knowledgeable relative who was visiting at the time, found some sort of
>setting and was able to 'fix' it so that I got both audio and video on both
>screens. But my computer crashed a couple of months ago and although my
>computer man was able to save my data, (including e-mails) he had to
>reinstall Windows (XP) and we are gradually reinstalling my various
>programs. But I just noticed yesterday (I received another .wmv
>attachment) that once again, I am not getting video in such attachments.
>I e-mailed said relative, but not being here, he can't remember what he had
>done at the time. Any help with this will be greatly appreciated!


The secondary monitor which is used when the laptop is in the Dock,
might not support the overlay feature which is used to accelerate
video playback - graphics cards only have one overlay which can be
either on the primary or secondary monitor, so this might explain why
displays a black video area when it's docked.

Assuming media player 11 on XP, head to the small dropdown menu below
Now Playing and choose "More Options" then Performance tab.

Click Advanced... and try it with "Use overlays" turned off (or try a
combination of that, "use primary surfaces" or "use video mixing
renderer"

OK out of that and re-try video playback.

Another way to try this might be to reverse the order of monitors - in
windows dDisplay Properties (right-click desktop for this menu), you
might see two monitors listed - drag the right-hand (external) monitor
to the left and see if that helps on playback, as that should switch
it to being the primary monitor, which should support overlays.

Also make sure you have the most up to date graphics card driver
software available for your laptop - head to the video card
manufacturers website (should be listed on the Display Properties
panel somewhere - one of NVidia, ATI/AMD or Intel) and head to the
Support /Downloads section of thei respective manufacturers website.

HTH
Cheers - Neil
------------------------------------------------
Digital Media MVP : 2004-2010
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs

 

[Joy]

Neil, that worked, thank you SO much! I have version 9, so found
Performance under Tools, but otherwise turning off Use Overlays did it.

"Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]" <neil@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:u44vq59a6lempf8mesko8movmatftgj88u@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:08:00 -0400, "Joy" <nospamjoymp2@bellsouth.net>
> wrote:
>
>>My computer is a laptop, but I use it in a docking station, so that I can
>>have a big (external) monitor, full size keyboard, mouse, etc. Last
>>year
>>when people would send me a .wmv file attachment (that opened with Windows
>>Media Player), if the laptop was OUT of the docking station, I got audio
>>and
>>video. But with the laptop IN the docking station, I only got audio, not
>>video.
>>
>>A knowledgeable relative who was visiting at the time, found some sort of
>>setting and was able to 'fix' it so that I got both audio and video on
>>both
>>screens. But my computer crashed a couple of months ago and although
>>my
>>computer man was able to save my data, (including e-mails) he had to
>>reinstall Windows (XP) and we are gradually reinstalling my various
>>programs. But I just noticed yesterday (I received another .wmv
>>attachment) that once again, I am not getting video in such attachments.
>>I e-mailed said relative, but not being here, he can't remember what he
>>had
>>done at the time. Any help with this will be greatly appreciated!
>
>
> The secondary monitor which is used when the laptop is in the Dock,
> might not support the overlay feature which is used to accelerate
> video playback - graphics cards only have one overlay which can be
> either on the primary or secondary monitor, so this might explain why
> displays a black video area when it's docked.
>
> Assuming media player 11 on XP, head to the small dropdown menu below
> Now Playing and choose "More Options" then Performance tab.
>
> Click Advanced... and try it with "Use overlays" turned off (or try a
> combination of that, "use primary surfaces" or "use video mixing
> renderer"
>
> OK out of that and re-try video playback.
>
> Another way to try this might be to reverse the order of monitors - in
> windows dDisplay Properties (right-click desktop for this menu), you
> might see two monitors listed - drag the right-hand (external) monitor
> to the left and see if that helps on playback, as that should switch
> it to being the primary monitor, which should support overlays.
>
> Also make sure you have the most up to date graphics card driver
> software available for your laptop - head to the video card
> manufacturers website (should be listed on the Display Properties
> panel somewhere - one of NVidia, ATI/AMD or Intel) and head to the
> Support /Downloads section of thei respective manufacturers website.
>
> HTH
> Cheers - Neil
> ------------------------------------------------
> Digital Media MVP : 2004-2010
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs

 

[Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]]

OK cool. The overlay is a useful performance benefit though, so it
might be the video stutters or plays back a bit poorly.

Be sure to turn remember to turn overlays back on when you undock and
want to play on the laptop monitor, for best playback experience.

If you *do* get time to checkout updates to the graphics card driver
(software) you'll probably gain additional stability and smoothness
with the most recent drivers you can find on the manufacturers website


HTH
Cheers - Neil


On Mon, 29 Mar 2010 225:02 -0400, "Joy" <nospamjoymp2@bellsouth.net>
wrote:

>Neil, that worked, thank you SO much! I have version 9, so found
>Performance under Tools, but otherwise turning off Use Overlays did it.
>
>"Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]" <neil@nospam.com> wrote in message
>news:u44vq59a6lempf8mesko8movmatftgj88u@4ax.com...
>> On Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:08:00 -0400, "Joy" <nospamjoymp2@bellsouth.net>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>My computer is a laptop, but I use it in a docking station, so that I can
>>>have a big (external) monitor, full size keyboard, mouse, etc. Last
>>>year
>>>when people would send me a .wmv file attachment (that opened with Windows
>>>Media Player), if the laptop was OUT of the docking station, I got audio
>>>and
>>>video. But with the laptop IN the docking station, I only got audio, not
>>>video.
>>>
>>>A knowledgeable relative who was visiting at the time, found some sort of
>>>setting and was able to 'fix' it so that I got both audio and video on
>>>both
>>>screens. But my computer crashed a couple of months ago and although
>>>my
>>>computer man was able to save my data, (including e-mails) he had to
>>>reinstall Windows (XP) and we are gradually reinstalling my various
>>>programs. But I just noticed yesterday (I received another .wmv
>>>attachment) that once again, I am not getting video in such attachments.
>>>I e-mailed said relative, but not being here, he can't remember what he
>>>had
>>>done at the time. Any help with this will be greatly appreciated!
>>
>>
>> The secondary monitor which is used when the laptop is in the Dock,
>> might not support the overlay feature which is used to accelerate
>> video playback - graphics cards only have one overlay which can be
>> either on the primary or secondary monitor, so this might explain why
>> displays a black video area when it's docked.
>>
>> Assuming media player 11 on XP, head to the small dropdown menu below
>> Now Playing and choose "More Options" then Performance tab.
>>
>> Click Advanced... and try it with "Use overlays" turned off (or try a
>> combination of that, "use primary surfaces" or "use video mixing
>> renderer"
>>
>> OK out of that and re-try video playback.
>>
>> Another way to try this might be to reverse the order of monitors - in
>> windows dDisplay Properties (right-click desktop for this menu), you
>> might see two monitors listed - drag the right-hand (external) monitor
>> to the left and see if that helps on playback, as that should switch
>> it to being the primary monitor, which should support overlays.
>>
>> Also make sure you have the most up to date graphics card driver
>> software available for your laptop - head to the video card
>> manufacturers website (should be listed on the Display Properties
>> panel somewhere - one of NVidia, ATI/AMD or Intel) and head to the
>> Support /Downloads section of thei respective manufacturers website.
>>
>> HTH
>> Cheers - Neil
>> ------------------------------------------------
>> Digital Media MVP : 2004-2010
>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs
>
------------------------------------------------
Digital Media MVP : 2004-2010
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs