Problem Playing MPEG Files With WMP

[TheEvilHammer]

I recently started having a problem playing MPEG files in Windows XP. Here's what I know and have done so far:

• The problem only occurs when I try to play an MPEG file from the Internet. This includes clicking on a hyperlink to an MPEG file and using "File->Open URL" through WMP. If I double-click on a file in Windows Explorer, it works properly.
  
• I have tried using IE6, IE7B2, and Opera 8.5 - the problem persists regardless of browser.
  
• I have tried reinstalling WMP10, downgrading to WMP9, and then upgrading back to WMP10. I have also tried using Media Player Classic - the problem persists regardless of media player.
  
• AVI, WMV, ASF, WAV, and other common media files all work just fine. It's only MPEG files that don't work.
  

The exact problem is this: WMP will open and the MPEG file will be listed in the playlist, but it won't play. WMP displays a single frame (I think the last frame), but when I click the Play button, nothing happens. If I right-click on the file in the playlist and go to Properties, the length of the MPEG file is listed as 00:00.

I have a suspicion that my registry is somehow corrupted. Could someone export their HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mpegfile tree to a .reg file and then post the contents of that file?

Does anyone have any idea why this is happening?

Edited February 10, 2006 by TheEvilHammer

[TheEvilHammer]

Anyone have any ideas?

[JRosenfeld]

Do you happen to have Roxio Easy Media Creator site 8? If so, this thread:

http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php?showtopic=151

The other thing you could try in WMP 10, Tools, Options, Player tab, check connect to internet

[LLXX]

Here's what I have in mpegfile... I'm not using WMP I'm using MS ActiveMovie to play them.

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mpegfile]
@="Movie File (MPEG)"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mpegfile\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\PROGRA~1\\WINDOW~1\\wmplayer.exe,-120"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mpegfile\Shell]
@="play"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mpegfile\Shell\Open]
@="&Open"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mpegfile\Shell\Open\Command]
@="c:\\windows\\rundll32.exe c:\\windows\\SYSTEM\\amovie.ocx,RunDll /open %1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mpegfile\CLSID]
@="{00022601-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"

[TheEvilHammer]

Do you happen to have Roxio Easy Media Creator site 8? If so, this thread:

http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php?showtopic=151

The other thing you could try in WMP 10, Tools, Options, Player tab, check connect to internet

I don't have any Roxio software installed (though I do have other CD burning software). I tried enabling "Connect to Internet", but that didn't help.

Any other ideas?

Here's what I have in mpegfile... I'm not using WMP I'm using MS ActiveMovie to play them.

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mpegfile]
@="Movie File (MPEG)"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mpegfile\DefaultIcon]
@="C:\\PROGRA~1\\WINDOW~1\\wmplayer.exe,-120"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mpegfile\Shell]
@="play"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mpegfile\Shell\Open]
@="&Open"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mpegfile\Shell\Open\Command]
@="c:\\windows\\rundll32.exe c:\\windows\\SYSTEM\\amovie.ocx,RunDll /open %1"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mpegfile\CLSID]
@="{00022601-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}"

Thanks for posting this, but it doesn't look like you have Windows XP. Could someone with XP post their HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\mpegfile registry tree?

[TheEvilHammer]

I've found the solution to this problem - it has to do with a file called mcspmpeg.ax.

I didn't have mcspmpeg.ax on my system per se; I had nikonmcspmpeg.ax, which came with my Nikon PictureProject software. Once I uninstalled PictureProject, everything fixed itself.

Thanks to those that posted!

[rotjong]

I've found the solution to this problem - it has to do with a file called mcspmpeg.ax.

I didn't have mcspmpeg.ax on my system per se; I had nikonmcspmpeg.ax, which came with my Nikon PictureProject software. Once I uninstalled PictureProject, everything fixed itself.

Thanks to those that posted!

I've had an issue with WMP 10 playing MPEG files for awhile. It would take ages for the files to open even from my HD. Even 200 meg files took too long and it was insane if they were 1 gig in size. I was at a loss as to the cause and couldn't backtrack to when it started. Nonetheless, after reading this I searched for the mentioned file for the heck of it. Tada, I found mcspmpeg.ax located in two locations. It was installed by my MainConcept MPEG encoder and it was in my Sony SoundForge plugin directory. I uninstalled the MainConcept encoder along with the related DirectShow filters and the problem vanished.

Thanks for posting this information and maybe my own experience can help others as well.

rotjong