I had a problem with my media PC. Thought the drive went bad, but long story short, I played around with everything and it was a bad memory chip. I took out 1 chip (1GB) out of 2GB, and my PC was fine. 

When I went into Media Center, I can play divx, avi, etc no problem (under Video library) in VMC. However, I cannot play DVR-MS under recorded tv, watch live tv,  or play DVR-MS in WMP.  In media center I get the error in the title, in WMP I just get a general error that it couldn't play the file and then the program exits.


I searched high and low on this error.  My conclusion was, since I have onboard video and made no changes to codecs or drivers or anything, that my video memory was low. Since I downgraded to 1GB, less was probably devoted to onboard video. Sure enough, it was set to "auto" in the bios.  I kept stepping it up all the way to 256MB, and still had the problem. I upgraded the video driver, still had problem.

It obviously can't be a codec problem as DVR-MS is a microsoft format and the codec is built into windows. I did boot in safe mode, but don't see how that would permanetly affect things (resolution is same as always now). Any other ideas?

BTW- I can play DVR-MS in VLC and record tv no problem.

Did you install the June rollup from Windows Update?  This seems to be a common problem with that patch.

No, I haven't installed any updates lately. I have auto updates off. It is directly related to my fooling with the bios, memory, etc.  I just can't figure out what specifically.

Actually it can be a codec problem. Sounds to me that MS's codec isn't working. And besides, DVR-MS is a container, not a codec.

Use this utility to see which codec would be used.
http://mediacenterexpert.blogspot.com/2006/07/vista-media-center-decoder-utility.html

I see Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder.

bjdraw:

Actually it can be a codec problem. Sounds to me that MS's codec isn't working. And besides, DVR-MS is a container, not a codec.

Use this utility to see which codec would be used.
http://mediacenterexpert.blogspot.com/2006/07/vista-media-center-decoder-utility.html

I see Microsoft MPEG-2 Video Decoder.

One thing I also noticed is that under Recorded TV under VMC, all recordings after the problem started 2 days ago show a blank instead of a thumbnail.  All recording prior to that show the right thumbnail.  As I said, all the files (DVRMS) can be played using VLC or on another machine.

First thing I would do is get you pc back up to 2 GB of memory.  Vista needs 2 just to run efficiently.  If you could bump it up to 4GB even better (Vista can only use 3.5GB)

Just my 2 cents

porkshanks:

First thing I would do is get you pc back up to 2 GB of memory.  Vista needs 2 just to run efficiently.  If you could bump it up to 4GB even better (Vista can only use 3.5GB)

Just my 2 cents

I did that last night. I have 4GB memory now. I set the onboard video (ATI radeon)  to auto select the amount it needs.

Since it is WMC and WMP having the problem, it seems like it is a codec problem specifically with DVRMS since I can play divx and regular mpegs. 

Maybe I will try a Windows repair. Don't know if that will do more harm than good though since everything else seems to run fine.

I'm guessing that you have a codec problem.  Are you using a codec pack?  If so, I would look for an update to that pack or uninstall it - reboot - and reinstall it.

I'm using the vista codec pack from shark007 and have no problems.

I tried installing that codec pack and it didn't fix the problem. 

The thing is, DVRMS is native- no coded is required.  That is what is so odd. 

I have read hundreds of msgs on the web regarding this error. They seem to fall into:

-Video card driver or not enough memory
-Codec missing (but not on a DVRMS)
-Audio driver problem

The thing is, I haven't changed any drivers (knowingly). 

The FFSDHOW I have installed has been installed forever.  I don't think that has anything to do with DVRMS though which windows can handle with no 3rd party codecs.

have you tried updating the driver for the onboard video?  Since it is on board, you're at the mercy of the motherboard's manufacturer for the latest driver...maybe.
you can try the latest driver from ATI or Nvidia (whom ever made the video portion on the MB), but that doesn't always work.  Check the windows update and see if Microsoft is offering an updated driver.  I know first hand that an improperly config'd codec can cause weird  - sometimes - random problems.
If all else fails, you could try a diferent video card if you MB allows it - but that seems kind of extreem...

if you are getting an error code from WMP try this site.  It list the error codes and possible fixes for it.

porkshanks:

have you tried updating the driver for the onboard video?  Since it is on board, you're at the mercy of the motherboard's manufacturer for the latest driver...maybe.
you can try the latest driver from ATI or Nvidia (whom ever made the video portion on the MB), but that doesn't always work.  Check the windows update and see if Microsoft is offering an updated driver.  I know first hand that an improperly config'd codec can cause weird  - sometimes - random problems.
If all else fails, you could try a diferent video card if you MB allows it - but that seems kind of extreem...

I did try that. There was an updated driver. Still had the problem so I rolled it back. 

michaeljc70:

porkshanks:

have you tried updating the driver for the onboard video?  Since it is on board, you're at the mercy of the motherboard's manufacturer for the latest driver...maybe.
you can try the latest driver from ATI or Nvidia (whom ever made the video portion on the MB), but that doesn't always work.  Check the windows update and see if Microsoft is offering an updated driver.  I know first hand that an improperly config'd codec can cause weird  - sometimes - random problems.
If all else fails, you could try a diferent video card if you MB allows it - but that seems kind of extreem...

I did try that. There was an updated driver. Still had the problem so I rolled it back. 

Unfortunately, in WMP I get the error "Windows Media Player Encountered a problem playing the file. For additional assitance click web help".    There is no error code.

I must be getting old...

I had the exact same error when I was using driver 185.85 from Nvidia.  Instead of the usual flow when you change from the tv strip to audio or whatever it would jump to it and the screen color was a little washed out.  Nothing would work.
The latest driver from Nvidia fixes this, but has other stability issues so I rolled way back to 182.08
Everything is working great now.  I would assume it's your video driver.  try going to an older one than the one you're currently using - if possible