VLC Media Player Problem under Vista

[Update] I tried the latest version of VLC player (0.8.6d) and it played OK without modification. 12/27/2007

VLC is my favorite media player. It plays almost every media format and you can get it for every major platforms.

I tried VLC to play some AVI files on Vista RC2. It didn’t play them properly. I can hear sound but no video showing. I remember running into similar problems on XP. I had to reduce the color from 24 bit to 16 bit. I tried to do the same on Vista RC2, but it’s a no go. Still no video.

I then found this solution. It tells you to set the video rendering engine to OpenGL. I tried to use other settings and found that “DirectX video output” and “Windows GDI video output” also work. Here are the steps.

  1. Open VLC media player.
  2. Click on Settings and select Preferences… .
  3. Expand Video and click on Output modules. Note that DON’T expand Output modules, just click on it.
  4. Check Advanced options in the lower right corner.
  5. Set Video output module to either “DirectX“, “OpenGL” or “Windows GDI
    vlcpref.jpg

You’ll need to restart VLC media player after the change.

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49 Comments

  1. You’re the man. Thanks for saving me from kicking my pc in frustration. If there was a medal for this kind of thing, you should have it.

  2. Hi Mate,

    your a champion, playing most types of video format in vista aswell as just getting basic audio music to play is an absolute mission on this OS..

    thanks heaps for that.

  3. Yes, use openGL. Don’t forget to press stop before changing to different settings, if you change them while playing something they won’t change.

  4. Worked great for me on my new Vista laptop. Thank you very much. Now if I can get a good nvidia driver for vista that’s decent I’ll be happy with Vista

  5. Thanks, but it did not work for me. I tried every setting that you suggested, but I still get no video. I hate Vista! I’ve had nothing but problems, since I got this new PC. If anyone has any advice, besides throwing the PC in the river, I will appreciate it.

  6. Thanks for the advice, but I still can’t get it to work. Yes, I closed the player and restarted it. I’ve tried all different settings, and I still have no video. The only thing I can think of besides that the PC is junk, is that somehow I am not saving the changes correctly.

  7. I have vista prem. I dl the newest version of VLC. and i followed the steps above and it still won’t work. But there is one option that i don’t have on my vlc and that is the “windows gdi” any other ideas on how i can finally get my video working on vlc ????? thanks in advance for any/all help!!!

  8. Raylene,

    The instruction is for 0.8.6a, and I notice the latest is 0.8.6b. Try to download 0.8.6a and see if it works for you. I’ll try 0.8.6b later.

  9. Raylene,

    I installed 0.8.6b and it’s the same as 0.8.6a. Please refer to the comment #98. I think you clicked on the wrong setting.

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