How to cleanse my computer of all video codecs and reinstall?

[blurredvision]

I'm having a weird issue where any videos I play, they turn out dark. I can't pin it to any one codec or player. Ocassionally, however, videos will turn back regular, then without rebooting or doing anything major, the videos will revert back to being too dark to watch. Adjusting brightness in WMP10/11 only works sporadically, sometimes turning the video a bright purple tint when adjusting the brightness (a big WTF?).

I'd like to try cleansing my computer of all video codecs and as many players as I can, then reinstall. Can someone help me with the codecs? Not sure I've had the need to do this. Divx and xvid codecs are easy to uninstall, it's the ones built into the system that I don't know what to do with.

I've haven't googled yet, so I'll resort to that if no one can provide a simple answer here. Thanks.

 

[blurredvision]

Anyone?

 

[Evander]

you might try installing FFDSHOW and see if that helps:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=173941
basically, it will take take over the video-playback throughout your system. If it doesn't work it's easy to uninstall

 

[TheRyuu]

I'm not sure if just uninstalling it will help but it's worth a shot.

Uninstall everything you KNOW is there.
Get the CCCP Insurgent:
http://cccp-project.net/download.php?type=cccpi

That will basically tell you all the codecs and stuff you got installed.

Once you uninstall all of that, just install the CCCP and be done with it. Comes with MPC and ffdshow and all the codecs your ever gonna need. (execpt I think Real and Quicktime)
Also comes with some other good stuff.
Combined Community Codec Pack:
http://www.cccp-project.net/

Also, screw WMP10, use WMP11 for some stuff, and try to use MPC for other stuff (don't ya love stuff???)
(i.e. using WMP11 for music and MPC for video stuff)

 

[Frodolives]

I've been happily using the CCCP myself for the last couple of years, and recommend it also.

 

[Aikouka]

First, uninstall any codecs from the Add or Remove Programs dialog. Then, if you know what you're doing, check the Video Codecs option in the Device Manager for any rogue codecs. Note that I bolded that text because some codecs come with Windows and are also listed in that section. Video Codecs can be found under "Sound, video and game controllers".

Use FFDShow. It's better than CCCP any day. Just make sure you don't download an old version of FFDShow... it's very easy to do so.

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: Aikouka
First, uninstall any codecs from the Add or Remove Programs dialog. Then, if you know what you're doing, check the Video Codecs option in the Device Manager for any rogue codecs. Note that I bolded that text because some codecs come with Windows and are also listed in that section. Video Codecs can be found under "Sound, video and game controllers".

Use FFDShow. It's better than CCCP any day. Just make sure you don't download an old version of FFDShow... it's very easy to do so.

ffdshow comes with CCCP. Plus it's a lot easier to install and manage.
One stop shop.

 

[Hadsus]

It's happened to me a couple of times......reinstall video drivers.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: wizboy11
ffdshow comes with CCCP. Plus it's a lot easier to install and manage.
One stop shop.

Just because it comes with it doesn't make it a better solution. Why install all the extra codecs when you just need FFDShow's DirectShow filter capability? If you want to encode, just install a single codec to go along with FFDShow.... Also, the last time I installed CCCP, it completely messed up my codecs... so no thanks.

 

[TheRyuu]

Originally posted by: Aikouka

Originally posted by: wizboy11
ffdshow comes with CCCP. Plus it's a lot easier to install and manage.
One stop shop.

Just because it comes with it doesn't make it a better solution. Why install all the extra codecs when you just need FFDShow's DirectShow filter capability? If you want to encode, just install a single codec to go along with FFDShow.... Also, the last time I installed CCCP, it completely messed up my codecs... so no thanks.

All the extra codecs could come in handy.
If you think the CCCP comes with a lot of codecs, just take a look at the K-lite codec pack.
The CCCP does the best job with codecs and how it manages them.

The K-lite codec pack on the other hand comes with like 4 mpeg4 decoders. I have no idea how it choses which one to use.
And sometimes you don't always want to use the ffdshow direct show filter.
For example:
What if the video is part of a game. I really don't want ffdshow running at the same time my game is. And thats why I have it NOT run when my games are running (there's a setting for that).

But there in lies the problem. If you rely on ffdshow to decode everything, then if ffdshow isn't running, how is it gonna decode it?
And I use ffdshow. I use it to resize my video as well as decode some of it (at least until I get Purevideo installed). It's a great program, I just don't like to install it by itself. I think it needs the codecs as well as other programs needing the codecs too.

 

[neutralizer]

CCCP in general is pretty good, but it's Xvid support was kinda weird, it would take a while to display video when I skip through a file whereas the Koepi Xvid version was a lot better.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Hadsus
It's happened to me a couple of times......reinstall video drivers.

This seems to have initially fixed it, although I'll need much more time to see if it lasts. Good convo on codecs, though!