Audio has issues with Windows Media Player but not in Virtualdub or SoundForge.

[muzician21]

I'm including RAP since I imagine you've run into audio issues with
Windows. I'm having an oddball problem I've never encountered before.
Running XP Pro SP3, I find that when I play video with Windows Media
Player there's static & popping in the audio. The same video plays
fine in Virtualdub and with SoundForge.

I tried uninstalling WMP and reinstalling, seemed to work at first but
then developed the same issue.

It used to work fine on this Windows install, the issue seems to have
cropped up recently. What's the difference between how VirtualDub and
SoundForge accesses/plays video audio and how WMP plays it?

This is the first time I've run into this. I had some problems with
DRM wmv video that I initially thought was the fault of the file, but
now I sense the bug is in the system.

I'd like to solve this without doing an O/S reinstall. Any input will
be appreciated.

 

[Les Cargill]

I'm including RAP since I imagine you've run into audio issues with
Windows. I'm having an oddball problem I've never encountered before.
Running XP Pro SP3, I find that when I play video with Windows Media
Player there's static& popping in the audio. The same video plays
fine in Virtualdub and with SoundForge.

I tried uninstalling WMP and reinstalling, seemed to work at first but
then developed the same issue.

It used to work fine on this Windows install, the issue seems to have
cropped up recently. What's the difference between how VirtualDub and
SoundForge accesses/plays video audio and how WMP plays it?

This is the first time I've run into this. I had some problems with
DRM wmv video that I initially thought was the fault of the file, but
now I sense the bug is in the system.

I'd like to solve this without doing an O/S reinstall. Any input will
be appreciated.

I have all but dropped WMP in favor of Media Player Classic Home Cinema.
This is mainly because there seems to be nothing
that Classic will not decode, and without installing reams of codecs.

http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/

 

[Carey Carlan]

I'm including RAP since I imagine you've run into audio issues with
Windows. I'm having an oddball problem I've never encountered before.
Running XP Pro SP3, I find that when I play video with Windows Media
Player there's static & popping in the audio. The same video plays
fine in Virtualdub and with SoundForge.

I tried uninstalling WMP and reinstalling, seemed to work at first but
then developed the same issue.

It used to work fine on this Windows install, the issue seems to have
cropped up recently. What's the difference between how VirtualDub and
SoundForge accesses/plays video audio and how WMP plays it?

This is the first time I've run into this. I had some problems with
DRM wmv video that I initially thought was the fault of the file, but
now I sense the bug is in the system.

I'd like to solve this without doing an O/S reinstall. Any input will
be appreciated.

I can't address your specific issue. I've never seen WMP play
incorrectly. IME, it either works or not.

The usual culprit in static and popping is a disagreement over data
rates (sample size and rate) If, for instance, you're playing a track
sampled at 48K, but your audio card will only accept 44.1K, the software
must convert in real time. If it doesn't convert, the sound either
doesn't play at all (most common) or it sputters and skips. If the
software can't convert fast enough it will also sputter and skip, just
not so much.

In the case of WMP, I find that it's such a hog of system resources and
so nosy about DRM that it's better to just retire it for something
simpler like Media Player Classic.

 

[Paul]

I'm including RAP since I imagine you've run into audio issues with
Windows. I'm having an oddball problem I've never encountered before.
Running XP Pro SP3, I find that when I play video with Windows Media
Player there's static & popping in the audio. The same video plays
fine in Virtualdub and with SoundForge.

I tried uninstalling WMP and reinstalling, seemed to work at first but
then developed the same issue.

It used to work fine on this Windows install, the issue seems to have
cropped up recently. What's the difference between how VirtualDub and
SoundForge accesses/plays video audio and how WMP plays it?

This is the first time I've run into this. I had some problems with
DRM wmv video that I initially thought was the fault of the file, but
now I sense the bug is in the system.

I'd like to solve this without doing an O/S reinstall. Any input will
be appreciated.

Use the program "GSpot", to check what CODEC is being requested for audio
in the movie.

http://gspot.headbands.com/v26x/GSpot270a.zip

Paul

 

[david gourley]

-snippage-

A quick shotgun approach might be to install a large scale collection of
encoders and decoders such as the "K-Lite Mega Codec Pack" which is a free
download and IME remarkably effective as a codec problem solver despite the
fact that it is more like using a shotgun to solve the problem, than to use
a rifle which would be my preference.

I'd try the XP Codec Pack first, as I've had some things go wonky in the
past using K-Lite (or some elements therein).

YMMV, of course,

david

 

[Gavino]

It is quite possible that Virtualdub and Soundforge are decoding your video
files using their own private codec libraries, while it is expected that
Windows Media Player would use the main shared system codec libraries.
...
One approach would be to try reinstalling any other audio playing or editing
software including Virtualdub and SoundForge. They were probably installed
after the previous OS service pack was installed and may have beneficially
overlaid some of the codecs that came with your PC.

VirtualDub does not instal any codecs (shared or otherwise), and has no
private codec library. It uses the ACM (Audio Compression Manager) interface
to decode audio.

 

[muzician21]

A quick shotgun approach might be to install a large scale collection of
encoders and decoders such as the "K-Lite Mega Codec Pack" which is a free
download and IME remarkably effective as a codec problem solver despite the
fact that it is more like using a shotgun to solve the problem, than to use
a rifle which would be my preference.

The thing is, I've never had this problem before - in 98, 98SE, XP
Home, XP Media Center - which I understand is supposed to be plagued
with issues. It wasn't an issue on previous installs of this same XP
Pro disc that came with the machine. I've always found WMP to be
dependable. I've now done a fresh install with the same XP Pro disc
and it's doing it again.

What I'm finding is if I bring up WMP first thing after a reboot, it
appears to behave normally for a while. Plays .mp3, .wav,
DV .avi, .mpg. However, at some point it starts doing it
spontaneously. In fact I found it just did it playing through a
playlist of 44.1 16 bit .wav files. Played through about the first 3
okay, after transitioning to the 4th track, the problem developed.

I also find that if it's showing up in WMP it also shows up in Kmedia
player and in Pinnacle Studio but *not* in Vegas Pro 8, Virtualdub or
Soundforge.

 

[muzician21]

What I'm finding is if I bring up WMP first thing after a reboot, it
appears to behave normally for a while. Plays .mp3, .wav,
DV .avi, .mpg.  However, at some point it starts doing it
spontaneously. In fact I found it just did it playing through a
playlist of 44.1 16 bit .wav files. Played through about the first 3
okay, after transitioning to the 4th track, the problem developed.

I also find that if it's showing up in WMP it also shows up in Kmedia
player and in Pinnacle Studio but *not* in Vegas Pro 8, Virtualdub or
Soundforge.

I'll try the same list of audio files in a fresh boot and using only
Kmedia player and see if it crops up.