Can't open almost any video anymore

[Phunction]

It has happened, somehow I can't watch almost any video anymore. Not with MPC, Windows Media Player, PowerDVD also refused a while ago. I have ffdshow installed (uninstalled and installed over and over again), together with XviD, nothing seems to work. It even can't do audio !

It's always the same error. MPC says: "the following pins failed to find a connectable filter". It stays that way also if I choose to let ffdshow render it. It is, as if it can't seem to split the video properly anymore. With MPEG it gives this error in MPC with the above error message:

Stream 0
Mpeg Splitter (low merit)
MPEG-1 Video Decoder (low merit)

Even after removing all codec-related stuff and just installing ffdshow, it still gives me the same error. I'm so not in the mood for a reinstall :)

I uninstalled and reinstalled my ATI Catalyst drivers, still to no avail.

[LightningFire]

A reinstall of directX might be able to resolve your problem as it seems a renderer can not be found.

You might want to download graphedit from the full software page (http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/software2.htm) in the filters section. Start it and open a video file in it, report the rectangles it displays and the connections between them (a sreenshot would be really handy).
With that information it should be instantly obvious what the problem is.

Greetings.

[Phunction]

It gives me this when I open a mediafile:


---------------------------
GraphEdit
---------------------------
Could not construct a graph from this file.

- Have you installed all necessary filters?
- Note that the 'Render File' menu option cannot render *.GRF files.

Er kan geen combinatie van filters worden gevonden om de gegevensstroom te genereren. (Return code: 0x80040218)
---------------------------
OK
---------------------------

Rough translation of the latter, which is in Dutch: "no combination of filters could be found to generate the datastream"

I tried reinstalling DirectX but it does about nothing. Also DXDIAG doesn't report any problems. I'm gonna see if I can find a DirectX remover and reinstall it.

So I tried removing DirectX with various methods. Firstly with DX Eradicator. Didn't do squat. Than with another Direct X removing program, same shizzle. After that I tried deleting the key which held the version info in the registry (tip from a site). Now even DX setup can't finish the setup ! So I'm even more screwed now... Argh this is so bad...

[setarip_old]

Hi!

If your O/S is WinXP, perform a "System Restore" back to the last time things were working properly...

[Phunction]

I can't, I have System Restore disabled :rolleyes:

I'm going to try to "install" windows above my current install, in hopes of everything still working...

*prays*

[LightningFire]

If what setarip_old proposes is an option in your case, I would go for it.

If not, does directx still work?

If it does and you can still start graphedit, try to create a simple graph with the following filters manually:


Go to menu "Graph", then "insert filters".
Normally you now get a huge list of different types of filters.
Expand the "DirectShow filters".
Double click the "File Source (Async)" and in the file browser select an avi file you know should work normally, and uses a codec that you know you have installed and are able to see in the same list of directshow filters (for example "Xvid MPEG-4 Video Decoder"), preferably without sound to make it simpler to test. Insert "AVI splitter" and connect file source output to AVI splitter input pin. Insert the decoder for the format your file is in (for example "Xvid MPEG-4 Video Decoder") and connect the first output pin labeled "Stream 00" in my case(or in case of a file with no audio the only pin) with the Video Decoder input pin labeled "XForm in" in my case. And then insert a renderer preferably "Video Mixing Renderer 9" still in the same DirectShow filters list. In my case the input pin of the renderer should read VMR Input0. Then connect the output pin of the decoder (XForm out in my case) with the input pin of the renderer (VMR Input0).
If all this worked without a problem then pressing the green play button should now display something.

If one of the filters described is not present or you get errors when trying to connect pins, post the problem encountered.
However, if you can not find input filters or there is a distinct lack of input and output filters I still think the problem might be directx related or at least an error in your registry, blocking a path to a working filter chain.
The difficulty in recovering a corrupt directx installation makes it preferable to do a windows install in my opinion. Only directx updates are a viable repair method.

I regret having pointed you in the direction of a directx reinstall, as it brought you nothing but more misery.

By the way, I understood the dutch part as I am flemish.

[Phunction]

If what setarip_old proposes is an option in your case, I would go for it.

If not, does directx still work?
It seems so, I'm using WinAmp right now and I can play games. Even the intro is played back in Indigo Prophecy !


If it does and you can still start graphedit, try to create a simple graph with the following filters manually:


Go to menu "Graph", then "insert filters".
Normally you now get a huge list of different types of filters.
Expand the "DirectShow filters".
I don't see any DirectShow filters, just this:

http://users.edpnet.be/phunc/graphedit.png

I regret having pointed you in the direction of a directx reinstall, as it brought you nothing but more misery.
That's not your fault, it could have worked if MS allowed any sort of reinstallation of DirectX :)

By the way, I understood the dutch part as I am flemish.
Vetjes, /me too very Flemish ;)

[LightningFire]

I don't see any DirectShow filters, just this:

In that case it is quite certain there is a problem with directshow/directx or at least the registry entries for directshow/directx. In wich case rendering any media file is quite impossible. You can try to search in regedit for quartz.dll in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID. This multifunctional directshow filter should occur there many times with each time an inprocserver32 entry many times. As this microsoft site (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/directshow/htm/layoutoftheregistrykeys.asp) describes.
Unless someone knows of a working repair method or of other possible causes of the problem, a windows install might be the best solution.
Winamp uses its own filter architecture, and outputs to the sound blaster without aid of directshow filters I believe, unless you have selected directsound output.

Vetjes, /me too very Flemish ;)
Erg opluchtend om even iets in de eigen taal te kunnen typen. Lol.
I was a little confused by the Filtercategories in Dutch.
Hard to compare to my English windows system.:rolleyes:

[Phunction]

Argh, I just formatted and reinstalled, I went nuts. DirectX being FUBAR is the end of the road as it seems. Now I can freshly install everything in the correct way and stay away from programs like Driver Remover Pro and DirectX removal tools...

Although thank you very much for the help, I now understand a lot more what a movie goes through to get displayed :D

I could have probably recovered if I just installed Windows XP SP2 over my current install, but something went wrong with my HD configuration. My boot drive is a RAID0 setup of two WD Raptor 36GB S-ATA drives, which gives problems (the S-ATA controller actually) when installing. The drive letters get shifted if you don't disconnect the power on all other drives. So I ended up having my boot drive being in F: ...

So third install's a charm :D

[videomixer9]

you can easily repair filter into a working state using zoomplayer, goto options and then select filters -> extended or so and then registered filter manager, now select "reregister system filters" ... but as i see i'm too late ...

[LightningFire]

The "A Clean Start" method described at this zoomplayer page (http://www.inmatrix.com/articles/mediasetup3.shtml) makes me want to try that just for having a clean system (when it comes to directshow) again.

Thanks for pointing this zoomplayer feature out videomixer9.

I could have probably recovered if I just installed Windows XP SP2 over my current install, but something went wrong with my HD configuration. My boot drive is a RAID0 setup of two WD Raptor 36GB S-ATA drives, which gives problems (the S-ATA controller actually) when installing. The drive letters get shifted if you don't disconnect the power on all other drives. So I ended up having my boot drive being in F: ...

Though I do not have SATA or raid, for some reason I already forgot this happened to me as well. I ended up with a F, G, and H disc. I got used to it.
Some programs didn't like that however, and were broken due to having presumptions that the system dir and the program files directory are on the C. Bad programming :p .

Greetings