What are some troubleshooting scenarios with My Videos in Media Center?

Playing Videos

I am not able to play a video file in Media Center.

  • Check if the file format is supported by Media Center.
  • Confirm if the codec required for playing the file is installed.
  • Try playing the file in Windows Media Player. If the file does not play in Windows Media Player either, the file is likely corrupt.
  • You may not have the required codec to play the file. Connect to the Internet, and then play the file in Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player should automatically download the required codec.

I am not able to fast forward/rewind a video.

  • Not all video file formats support fast forward/rewind. Try playing the file in Windows Media Player. If you cannot fast forward/rewind in Windows Media Player either, it is probably because of the file format.

Thumbnails

The thumbnails displayed for my video files are not correct.

  • The metadata of the video file normally contains information about which frame is appropriate to be displayed as a thumbnail for the video. Media Center picks up the frame number from the metadata and displays the image as the thumbnail. If the metadata does not contain this information, Media Center picks up the first frame of the video and displays it as the thumbnail. If Media Center cannot pull out the first frame, a generic thumbnail will be displayed.

Several of the thumbnails of my videos appear as black. Can I fix this in any way?

  • Media Center usually picks up the first frame of the video to be the video's thumbnail image. However, if the first frame is black, then Media Center attempts to extract a non-black image from the first eight frames of the video. If it is not successful, or if the first 8 frames are black, then a black thumbnail image will be displayed.

I added a folder shared out on another Windows XP computer. Thumbnails generated in the My Videos experience of Media Center are lost when I leave the My Videos experience and then return to it.

  • The shared folder must have the Allow other users to change my files checkbox selected in order for the thumbnails to be retained.

Other

The expiration date and time displayed for video files appears to be incorrect.

  • Check the time zone you are in. The media expiration is displayed per Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

I created shortcuts in the My Videos folder for video files located on a mapped network drive. I am not able to view these videos.

  • Check to make sure you have permission to access the mapped network drive.

I do not see any files listed in My Videos in Media Center. I just get a message: "Media Center cannot find your video files." What should I do?

  • Check if this is the first time you opened Media Center. If yes, the video files need to be organized under My Videos, Shared Videos, or a removable drive for Media Center to be able to detect them. You can use Windows Explorer to organize the files and then view them in Media Center.

Note: Information in this document was provided by Microsoft.