# What's wrong with my video codecs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 15, 2004, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-video-codecs/229328 "2004-02-15T08:08:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lando\_Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f17d59/32.png) [@Lando\_Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lando_Griffin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-video-codecs/229328/1 "2004-02-15T08:08:17Z")
For about the past month, I’ve noticed that my video codecs have turned to crap. Trying to watch anything other than MPEG-1 video results in video that flashes on and off like a strobe light. It still plays at normal time, but is EXTREMELY annoying to watch. I think I’m going to have a seizure next time I try to watch some downloaded (legal) video. Anybody else had this problem/found a solution? I’m stuck on a WinXP home box, with WMP 9 (that I can’t uninstall ☹ ) ---
**Author:** ![Lando\_Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f17d59/32.png) [@Lando\_Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lando_Griffin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-video-codecs/229328/2 "2004-02-15T08:11:30Z")
> [@Lando Griffin](#): > > For about the past month, I’ve noticed that my video codecs have turned to crap. Err, that should be **Beginning about a month ago, my video codecs turned to crap.** ---
**Author:** ![Lando\_Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f17d59/32.png) [@Lando\_Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lando_Griffin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-video-codecs/229328/3 "2004-02-15T22:01:26Z")
Anyone?? :sigh: ☹ ---
**Author:** ![mkl12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@mkl12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkl12)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-video-codecs/229328/4 "2004-02-15T22:24:21Z")
You could try installing some new codecs. Ffdshow is a good package of codecs, imo. [http://cutka.szm.sk/ffdshow/](http://cutka.szm.sk/ffdshow/) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-video-codecs/229328/5 "2004-02-15T22:30:48Z")
I’m not an expert in video codecs, but I feel your pain at not getting any response to your question, so here goes. Is anything else hogging your CPU? Try minimizing or closing other background programs or running a utility that shows CPU time used by each. And if your playback routine is using disk access frequently, is there plenty of non-fragmented space? Basically, I’m suggesting that this may be a standard “why is my computer so slow”-type question, not specifically a video question. The DVDRhelp forum might be a better place for this kind of help. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-my-video-codecs/229328/6 "2004-02-15T22:38:31Z")
You first need to determine whether it’s your codecs or your video player. Try playing the videos in another player, and see if you get the same problems. One that i really like is [Jet Audio](http://www.jetaudio.com/), which, despite the name, also plays a variety of video formats, including avi files. If the videos still won’t play in a differnet player, you could try wiping all your codecs and downloading new codec packages. Sorry, that’s all the advice i have. I’m no expert in this area, unfortunately.