[RESOLVED] Windows Media Player 10 won't play .wmv

[Welshjim]

I seldom use WMP, so probably never learned to use it properly.
Recently I wanted to see
http://content.jengajam.com/shirtfold_long.wmv
I had WMP set to be the default player for .wmv files. But WMP huffed and puffed ("Locating Media", etc.) before giving up saying that it could not reach the server. Same thing with Real Player.
I have the latest (v2.54) K-Lite set of codecs installed. So I decided to use the Media Player Classic that comes with K-Lite. Played the .wmv with no problem (apparently no problem reaching the server), although the quality of the picture did not seem so good as I remember on WMP.
Any thoughts on getting WMP to work on this .wmv file? Or to be able to "connect WMP to the server"?
P.S. I tried downloading this file to my harddrive, but for some reason it downloaded as an .htm file, which neither WMP nor IE was able to play.
As mentioned I rarely watch media on my PC, so have no URL's for other .wmv files to try. Some others, already downloaded to the hard drive (mostly parts of tutorials that came with WinXP), however, worked OK on WMP. And .mpg and .mpeg files downloaded to the hard drive play OK as well.

[liam858]

In Tools|Options|Network tab, make sure all of the protocols are checked, and click configure and select the option to use settings from your web browser, you could try manually opening the URL from WMP - File|Open URL...|http://content.jengajam.com/shirtfold_long.wmv


Liam

[fink]

Have a look at this problem/fix and see if it's relevant. Not exactly the same problem but may be close enough to try it and it's simple..

To allow files to be opened based on content:
In Internet Explorer open Tools > Internet Options, Security Tab. Select the ‘Internet Zone' and click the custom level button. Scroll down to ‘Open file based on its content, rather than file extension' and be sure this is enabled. In Windows XP Service Pack 2 Release Candidate 1, the default option was disabled.

From.. http://www.mvps.org/marksxp/WindowsXP/SP2/common.php

One thing I'm not quite clear on though.. is whether you're clicking directly on the link from within IEX or you're opening WMP10 and pasting the link into it.

If you click on the link from within IEX does it invoke WMP10?

Also, it's not a high quality clip so I expect it would look the same with WMP10 or the older one.


Here's a test page with various media types. Click the "our trailer 2" link for a wmv file and see what happens.

[Welshjim]

Thanks, liam858 and fink.
Is my face red. It was my Firewall. Somehow, I/a gremlin had set it to not allow WMP to access the internet.
All is now well. I can access the video both by clicking on the link as well as by entering the URL into WMP|File|Open URL.
I did not try using the downloaded .htm file again because I already had "Open file based on its content..." checked.

One thing I'm not quite clear on though.. is whether you're clicking directly on the link from within IEX or you're opening WMP10 and pasting the link into it.

If you click on the link from within IEX does it invoke WMP10?
Yes, to all. But as reported all is OK now.

fink--I see you meant to link to a "test page with various media types" but I did not find it.

[fink]

http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~steve/ilig/videotech.html

oops

[liam858]

Glad it's sorted Jim.:)



Liam