Please help resolve this format/codec issue

Factual Questions
1

I used the built-in DV source input method under Vista SP1 that saved the captured video with an extension of .wmv

It seemed as if they played fine under Vista, but under XP Pro SP3, some players only show gibberish. Windows Media Player plays them reasonably well, but even so the display shows lots of ghosting and bars of wrong colors.

When I used either the Agile or the Avex video converters to convert it to mpeg 2, the output was exactly the same gibberish I saw under most players other than Windows Video Player (in other words, it made it worse).

Nothing asked me to download a different codec, so what’s up? For what it’s worth, GSpot says the format is ASF (.WMA/.WMV)

What can I do to fix this under XP?

2

I’ve just confirmed that the video plays perfectly under Vista SP1 without any ghosting or wrong color bars. They only work fine under Vista.

What the hell is up with that?

3

WMV sucks.

Could you have chosen a different file format when originally encoding, such as mp4 or divx avi?

4

The Gom Player. Best media player. Ever. From the standard avi/mpg/wmv to flv and even swf (ie flash files), this does them all. Lightweight, easy keystrokes. I analogize (did I just verb that, or is it a real word?) to winamp. Those Koreans sure knew what they were doing.

You’ll never go back, I promise.

gom means bear in Korean. just in case you were curious

5

Yes, I could have chosen differently, but wmv consumes 2GB / hour, while the other’s consume at least 12 GB/hr or more. What’s special about this issue is that I no longer have the source material I so desperately need, so I’m stuck with making this work. So I must come up with a solution to get the WMV material processed.

6

I absolutely agree that the GOM player is very good. I’ve had it for some time now, but thanks for getting the word out to others.

Unfortunately, not even the GOM player will play the wmv file in question under XP (under Vista, it’s fine). The only player under XP that handles it – and even then with ghosting – is Windows Media Player.

And one thing I forgot to add is that I need to edit that wmv material to make a DVD, and the only Vista machine I’ve got is a notebook that doesn’t have enough horsepower to run my video editor, Ulead VideoStudio 11.5 Plus. Only my XP Pro boxes can handle that. And when I load the wmv file into the editor, I’m back to the same ghosting and other visual problems.

No, this seems like the Vista codec is different than the XP codec. And I haven’t been able to find such a codec.