No Video Playback (case 7403)

Hi,
I have been unable to use the movie option in Medialab 2012. I have tried several different video types that are listed as compatible but none of them play back during an experiment. I have tried on Windows 7 and Windows XP. I should also mentioned that the Use Enhanced Video option is grayed out so it does not give me the option to click it. Does anyone have suggestions on how to fix this? I'm lost as to what I am doing wrong. Thank you.

Update: I have tried using the embed html option and that does not seem to work either. I can hear the audio but there is only a black box that appears on the screen with no image.

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]Hi saaindie![/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]Let me see if I can help you with this by trying a few things.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]First,make sure that your computer's media player is active. Although Medialab v2012 should work with most MediaPlayers (which, long story short, is why the Advanced Video feature is greyed out; you shouldn’t need it for MediaLabv2012), try using Windows Media Player as the active program. Try following these steps (these came from Blair in a different forum thread):[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]W ejust finished a remote session with a user having this problem using MediaLabv2012 on Windows 7. Turns out the problem was that the Windows Media Player wa sdeactivated in the set of Windows Features. When we turned it back on, al lworked great. Here's how you do it:[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]1.Open Control Panel -> Programs and Features.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]2.Click "Turn Windows features on or off" in the left pane.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]3.Expand "Media Features", check "Windows Media Player".Click "Yes" to continue, and click OK to quit. Then Restart.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]4.Launch Windows Media Player to ensure it's installed and running ok[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]Or,to try unloading and reloading the Windows Media Player:[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]1.Open Control Panel -> Programs and Features.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]2.Click "Turn Windows features on or off" in the left pane.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]3.Expand "Media Features", uncheck "Windows Media Player".[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]Click "Yes" to continue, and click OK to quit. Then Restart.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]4.Open "Turn Windows features on or off" again. Turn on the features "WindowsMedia Player" and "Windows Media Center". Restart.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]5.Launch Windows Media Player to insure it's running ok.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]If the Media Player of choice is active and you still can’t play the video, can you please tell me if when you say "movie option" do you mean the Movie item type in the MediaLab questionnaire file or playing a video fileusing the backvideo field in the details window of your file? I would suggest that you try running your video in both settings to see if it works for one and not the other. In case you need instructions for using backvideo, I would suggest typing backvideo into the search tab of the interactive user guide in the Help folder of your Medialab program folders.[/FONT][/COLOR]
[FONT=Arial][COLOR=#000000][/COLOR][/FONT]
[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]Try these suggestions first and let me know if they solve the problem.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]Cheers.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR=black][FONT=Arial","sans-serif]Jason[/FONT][/COLOR]

Hi Jason,
Thank you for the advice, but it did not resolve the problem. Media Player was turned on already but I tried unchecking it and rebooting it as you recommended. I've tried using both the movie item within a questionnaire and an instruction item with background video. The file is an avi clip but I have tried others without any success. I can hear the audio but no image appears. The html item type is also giving me the same problems. Any other advice you might have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
S

Does your video file play normally in Windows Media Player?

The wmv files do, but the avi files do not. I am using VLC player to play the avi ones. However, according to the MediaLab item type, it should be able to handle avi files. Does MediaLab default to Windows Media Player, even though it cannot play all files? If so, is there a way I can change the associated media player?

You may need to install a codec program to supply the proper filters needed to play all of the appropriate video file types. Go to wherever you installed MediaLab on your computer and find the Utilities folder. Then open the K-Lite AV Codecs folder. Blair included a version of this freeware program for situations like yours.

All you should need to do is double click on the K-Lite_Codec_Pack_710_Full.exe file to install it. Try that and see if the avi files play in Windows Media Player. Then see if the videos will play in MediaLab by creating a questionnaire with a single movie type item in it.

Just in case you may need a more recent version of the K-Lite codec, you can find the most recent version of the full program at the following link

[URL]http://www.codecguide.com/download_kl.htm[/URL]

A word of caution if you do visit the website: Make sure that you only download something by clicking the bolded blue text that says Download Full on the right side of the screen. Don't click the big blue button that says Download K-lite or the big green button that says Download; they are ads.

Hi,
The K-Lite codec installation seems to have solved the problem. I can now play avi files within media lab using the movie item. Thank you so much for your help!

Glad to hear that worked!