Video portion of .avi files doesn't play on Outlook

P

Peter Danes

I bought my girlfriend a Logitech webcam for Christmas. When she emailed a
video created with the camera to her secretary, secretary's Outlook called
MediaPlayer to run the file, but only the audio portion worked. When I
copied it to a local folder, it worked the same way. I updated from
MediaPlayer 9 to 10, which didn't help, but then found some codecs which
did.

Now, when I copy the .avi file to a local folder and run it, MediaPlayer
loads and plays it correctly, audio and video both. But when I click the
attachment icon in the Outlook pane, it still plays only the audio portion.
Outlook is loading and executing the updated (10) version of MediaPlayer, I
checked that, but the codec fix which allows it to play correctly from a
local folder doesn't seem to have 'taken' when called from Outlook instead
of directly.

This webcam is not going to be very useful if every recipient has these kind
of problems. Any ideas? Secretary is running WinXP, SP2, Office 2K.

--
Pete

This e-mail address is fake to keep spammers and their auto-harvesters out
of my hair. If you need to get in touch personally, I am 'pdanes' and I use
Yahoo mail. But please use the newsgroups whenever possible, so that all may
benefit from the exchange of ideas.
 
R

Roady [MVP]

See if clearing the Outlook Temp folder works for you;
http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/securetemp.htm

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-FREE tool; QuickMail. Create new Outlook items anywhere from within Windows
-Properly back-up and restore your Outlook data

-----
I bought my girlfriend a Logitech webcam for Christmas. When she emailed a
video created with the camera to her secretary, secretary's Outlook called
MediaPlayer to run the file, but only the audio portion worked. When I
copied it to a local folder, it worked the same way. I updated from
MediaPlayer 9 to 10, which didn't help, but then found some codecs which
did.

Now, when I copy the .avi file to a local folder and run it, MediaPlayer
loads and plays it correctly, audio and video both. But when I click the
attachment icon in the Outlook pane, it still plays only the audio portion.
Outlook is loading and executing the updated (10) version of MediaPlayer, I
checked that, but the codec fix which allows it to play correctly from a
local folder doesn't seem to have 'taken' when called from Outlook instead
of directly.

This webcam is not going to be very useful if every recipient has these kind
of problems. Any ideas? Secretary is running WinXP, SP2, Office 2K.

--
Pete

This e-mail address is fake to keep spammers and their auto-harvesters out
of my hair. If you need to get in touch personally, I am 'pdanes' and I use
Yahoo mail. But please use the newsgroups whenever possible, so that all may
benefit from the exchange of ideas.
 
P

Peter Danes

Thank you, Robert, but that didn't do it. I tried clearing it out (there was
only about 10 meg in it) but the behavior continues. Also, I did not get any
error messages like that website mentions, MediaPlayer opens and plays the
video with no complaints, but only plays the sound. Instead of the video it
displays the acid-trip visualizations that normally go along with a CD or
something that has no video track.

And it's not just that machine. My girlfriend has Office 2003 on WinXP and
her machine does that same thing as her secretary's.

Pete
 
R

Roady [MVP]

Do you get the same behavior when using another video with another codec? It
could be that Windows Media Player has some security restrictions for
playing files out of a Temp folder. I don't think Outlook itself has any
effect on it.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-FREE tool; QuickMail. Create new Outlook items anywhere from within Windows
-Properly back-up and restore your Outlook data

-----
Thank you, Robert, but that didn't do it. I tried clearing it out (there was
only about 10 meg in it) but the behavior continues. Also, I did not get any
error messages like that website mentions, MediaPlayer opens and plays the
video with no complaints, but only plays the sound. Instead of the video it
displays the acid-trip visualizations that normally go along with a CD or
something that has no video track.

And it's not just that machine. My girlfriend has Office 2003 on WinXP and
her machine does that same thing as her secretary's.

Pete

Roady said:
See if clearing the Outlook Temp folder works for you;
http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/securetemp.htm

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-FREE tool; QuickMail. Create new Outlook items anywhere from within Windows
-Properly back-up and restore your Outlook data

-----
I bought my girlfriend a Logitech webcam for Christmas. When she emailed a
video created with the camera to her secretary, secretary's Outlook called
MediaPlayer to run the file, but only the audio portion worked. When I
copied it to a local folder, it worked the same way. I updated from
MediaPlayer 9 to 10, which didn't help, but then found some codecs which
did.

Now, when I copy the .avi file to a local folder and run it, MediaPlayer
loads and plays it correctly, audio and video both. But when I click the
attachment icon in the Outlook pane, it still plays only the audio portion.
Outlook is loading and executing the updated (10) version of MediaPlayer, I
checked that, but the codec fix which allows it to play correctly from a
local folder doesn't seem to have 'taken' when called from Outlook instead
of directly.

This webcam is not going to be very useful if every recipient has these kind
of problems. Any ideas? Secretary is running WinXP, SP2, Office 2K.

--
Pete

This e-mail address is fake to keep spammers and their auto-harvesters out
of my hair. If you need to get in touch personally, I am 'pdanes' and I use
Yahoo mail. But please use the newsgroups whenever possible, so that all may
benefit from the exchange of ideas.
 
P

Peter Danes

Good idea, thanks. I don't have any handy and this rat-hole is closing for
the weekend, so I'll have to wait until Monday to try it. I'll get back to
you then with the results. I'll also try registering some other AVI player
and see what that does.

--
Pete



Roady said:
Do you get the same behavior when using another video with another codec? It
could be that Windows Media Player has some security restrictions for
playing files out of a Temp folder. I don't think Outlook itself has any
effect on it.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-FREE tool; QuickMail. Create new Outlook items anywhere from within Windows
-Properly back-up and restore your Outlook data

-----
Thank you, Robert, but that didn't do it. I tried clearing it out (there was
only about 10 meg in it) but the behavior continues. Also, I did not get any
error messages like that website mentions, MediaPlayer opens and plays the
video with no complaints, but only plays the sound. Instead of the video it
displays the acid-trip visualizations that normally go along with a CD or
something that has no video track.

And it's not just that machine. My girlfriend has Office 2003 on WinXP and
her machine does that same thing as her secretary's.

Pete

Roady said:
See if clearing the Outlook Temp folder works for you;
http://www.howto-outlook.com/faq/securetemp.htm

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
www.howto-outlook.com

Tips of the month:
-FREE tool; QuickMail. Create new Outlook items anywhere from within Windows
-Properly back-up and restore your Outlook data

-----
I bought my girlfriend a Logitech webcam for Christmas. When she emailed a
video created with the camera to her secretary, secretary's Outlook called
MediaPlayer to run the file, but only the audio portion worked. When I
copied it to a local folder, it worked the same way. I updated from
MediaPlayer 9 to 10, which didn't help, but then found some codecs which
did.

Now, when I copy the .avi file to a local folder and run it, MediaPlayer
loads and plays it correctly, audio and video both. But when I click the
attachment icon in the Outlook pane, it still plays only the audio portion.
Outlook is loading and executing the updated (10) version of
MediaPlayer,
I
checked that, but the codec fix which allows it to play correctly from a
local folder doesn't seem to have 'taken' when called from Outlook instead
of directly.

This webcam is not going to be very useful if every recipient has these kind
of problems. Any ideas? Secretary is running WinXP, SP2, Office 2K.

--
Pete

This e-mail address is fake to keep spammers and their auto-harvesters out
of my hair. If you need to get in touch personally, I am 'pdanes' and I use
Yahoo mail. But please use the newsgroups whenever possible, so that all may
benefit from the exchange of ideas.
 

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