Thinkpads Forum

Hi Guys, Im new here and I'm having problems getting my T60 to play videos. I just reformatted my laptop yesterday and installed all the necessary drivers display, audio, etc. In addition, I installed k-lite codec pack (full) and VLC player. When I try to watch videos (.avi) I could hear sound but everything is black. Any help would be appreciated.

Can you play other videos?

No I also tried using other media players with no luck.

AFAIK you don't need any codecs for VLC player because it has everything built-in.

Try playing the video with other program, Windows Media Player for example.

I would also suggest using ffdshow instead of other codec packs. Haven't had any codec issues since I started using it. Note however that ffdshow is only a decoder so you cannot use it with software like VirtualDub to encode a movie.

yak wrote:AFAIK you don't need any codecs for VLC player because it has everything built-in.

Try playing the video with other program, Windows Media Player for example.

I would also suggest using ffdshow instead of other codec packs. Haven't had any codec issues since I started using it. Note however that ffdshow is only a decoder so you cannot use it with software like VirtualDub to encode a movie.

I guess the OP uses K-lite codec pack for windows media player (FYI K-lite codec pack includes ffdshow). I have both K-lite codec pack (because of WMP) and VLC installed (because I am currently experiencing an issue with displaying subtitles by K-lite) and both work without a scratch. So I think the problem the OP is referring to is rather not due to some sort of codec conflict.

@notebookguru: When did your ThinkPad start having this video replay problem (e.g. after installing some piece of software etc)? Also, since you have installed K-lite codec pack full, try to reinstall it but this time without player and see if that helps (You don´t say what your OS is, so I assume you have windows either XP or Vista which both have wmp built-in).

Marin

My thinkpad was never able to play any videos since I got it. Im running Windows Xp sp3. In addition, I tried using quicktimes, coral windvd, media player classic with no luck. Please help

You say that everything is black in VLC. AFAIK, if VLC doesn't recognize the video stream, it's window shrinks and doesn't show the video area. This and the fact that you don't get video output in any program would indeed indicate that the problem aren't the codecs.

There might be some problem with the display settings. It is possible that your laptop display isn't the primary one. I haven't had this issue in a long time and I don't know what graphics chip your ThinkPad has so I can't point you to any setting. If you use the ThinkVantage Presentation Director, you may have to change something there. First, I suggest connecting an external monitor to see if you get video output there.

My thinkpad has an ati x1300 and I updated the drivers from the lenovo support website. In addition, do I need to install the ThinkVantage Presentation Director to watch videos? Im so confused..