Windows Media Player: Trouble with net streams

[MnkyOf[-]ate]

ok, im starting to get really annoyed!

everytime I visit a website and try to watch a video windows media player cannot play the video. This happens to ALL websites with network streams.

So, I attempted to open the network stream by entering the URL into VLC media player(Video Lan Client), but it will only play for a few seconds before the color gets all distorted and the screen goes black but it continues to play.

So, I tried opening the network stream with winamp, and it repeatedly reconnects and i was able to catch a glance at the error "Error syncing to mpeg"

so, what could this problem be?
I have no hardware firewall, or software firewall; trust me.
I have screwed around with the connection settings in windows media player many times but still have no luck.

If I download the network stream to my harddrive I can play it perfectly on my computer once it is saved to my hard drive. however, it is often difficult to do this because there is nothing I can right click to save target as to do so.

could it be I need codecs?
a hardware problem?
network settings need configured somehow?
?!?

any help would be greatly appreciated!!

thanks!

 

[Logical_1]

If it plays normally when downloaded, I'd look more at the network side of it than the codecs. What other things use the internet connection and how is your latency?

 

[MnkyOf[-]ate]

Latnency is good, my speed is good, and there is 0% packet loss

other internet applications are internet explorer, AIM, msn, and whatever windows components are hidden in the backround.

I tried safe mode with networking to eliminate conflicting software as a problem, and still had the same problem.

 

[1JadedJen]

Be sure to check and make sure you have the latest version of windows player. My husband had a problem where it wouldn't play the baseball games he had signed up to watch online and he was getting super mad too. Turned out they had put out a new version of the player and he didn't know. A simple free download of the new version fixed the problem.

 

[Dtere]

First off, what program played the program perfectly when it was on your harddrive?

Secondly, this question is more pointed for Logical_1, is it different codecs for streaming than not streaming?

Third, does this happen with EVERY movie you stream off the internet, or just from a particular website?

 

[Logical_1]

Dtere, the way he talked about how he could do a "Save as..." of the movie and then play that file would indicate that it's not likely a codec problem since playing the movie while you get it and playing a movie that you already have downloaded from the same source wouldn't change the format of the movie. MPG is MPG rather it's streamed or local. Same for AVI, MOV, etc. I'm pretty sure that the codecs will handle the buffering of the movie differently though depending on the source being local or remote, so maybe the buffering algorithm is where the problem lies.

Mnky, do all computers at your home do the same thing with the same video, or just one computer? What format are the movies? Real Media, QuickTime, Windows Media (WMV), AVI, MPEG? In the buffering properties for each of the software you use to play the videos, what is your connection type set to? Is it set correctly or are you like most people I've seen and set it to T1 regardless of your real connection type?

 

[MnkyOf[-]ate]

It seems to be just my computer that wont play movies. I have another computer that gets its internet connection through connecting to a second network card in this computer; the 2 network connections are bridged.

I seem to only have this problem after formatting a couple months ago.
I set my connection speed to use the same settings as internet explorer, and ive also tried using all the other connection settings but nothing seems to work.

Its strange.. VLC will be able to play the first few seconds of a network stream if i enter the URL, but then the picture goes all blotchy in color then freezes, and if you move the slider back it wont do anything, the only way to get it to play the first few seconds of the clip is if you hit stop /play and sometimes it will crash VLC.

Also went to windows update and installed a bunch of updates, still no luck.

the files im trying to play are .wmv format, the website http://www.big-boys.com would be a perfect example of streaming video that doesnt work.

I right click the windows media player box in the window, and I selected error details; it says "network problem occured, please ensure you are connected to the network and try again"
When it firts loads the play button is shaded gray, and if I hit stop it will someitmes crash the browser.

 

[MnkyOf[-]ate]

AHH!!

I managed to fix it,

under the options / network setting MMS and RTSP protocols were disabled, so i set them all to auto detect and it seems to work now.

Thanks for your time trying to help me!! its greatly appreciated!

 

[Logical_1]

Just remember, we helped by making you look at your settings again. Sometimes you miss the simple things.