Unusual disaster - please help

I'm using Win Media Player 10 and Windows XP Home. Today, while using a video
capture device in connection with an ongoing project converting old VHS tapes
to DVD, there was a brief power interruption. After restarting the computer I
found that *.mpg files no longer play regardless of the software I use, which
includes Windows Media Player 10. I uninstalled my video capture device and
all related software, and I'm not getting any error message from Media Player
but the program usually locks up, and when it does actually load and attempt
to play an *.mpg file, the file plays IN SLOW MOTION, INCLUDING THE SOUND
which is a few octaves lower than a normal voice. Can anyone offer an
explanation of what is wrong or a suggestion of how to fix it? I'm desperate,
having already tried everything I can think of. Thanks in advance to anyone
with a suggestion. Bob in PA

 

Bob,

Not to overlook the obvious but a few questions to consider:

1) Are you playing only MPG's that you captured on your machine?
Have you tried to play another MPG from a 3rd party source? If other
MPG's play fine than it's likely the files you captured are corrupt and
you will need to recapture them OR you need to reinstall your
capture/editing software to work properly.

2) Have you tried playing non-mpg files to see if they plan fine? If .wmv,
..avi, .asf , etc play correctly than it's not likely a media player issue.
If they do not play fine
than your WM player is probably corrupt and will require you to reinstall.

 

Thanks for the ideas, elcapitan26, but my original message could have been
written better. No files will play in Media Player and, worse, when I use the
"open file" tool to examine drive d: (DVD drive), the program locks up. I
believe some or all of the general Windows services which were open at the
time of the power outage (as I was capturing video from VHS to my fixed disk)
may have been corrupted. If this assumption is correct, I'm going to have a
heck of the time finding the damaged files. Thanks for the ideas. Bob In PA

 

If you suspect system file corruption as the cause, then by all means
go to Start -> Run and in the box type in

sfc /scannow

That will check your system's files against a backup copy kept
somewhere under the windows folder.

However it's usually better to check specific instances - in this
case, run DecCHECK to see which MPEG decoders you have installed :
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...AC-0AB6-4990-943D-627E6ADE9FCB&displaylang=en

Cheers - Neil