There is a little bit of progress to report -- I downloaded ffdshow tryouts;
at least the subject files now play in Windows Media Player. Not yet in
Windows Media Center, not yet in Windows Movie Maker.

GSpot showed that ffdshowtryouts added six codecs (4 video & 2 audio) and
went from 233 codecs to 239 codecs.

PJ -- applaud your theme to demystify codecs!


"PapaJohn" <papajohn@chartermi.net> wrote in message
news:%23we2h1IZIHA.4476@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> John,
>
> Working backwards, I see...
>
> ffdshow.ax is used as the default decompressor on my Vista Home Basic
> laptop when playing Motion JPEG files from my Canon SureShot SD750 camera.
>
> I had added ffdshow to that computer to play Xvid files. When I take it
> out of the picture, the file is decompressed by pvmjpeg30.dll (PIC Video
> Decompressor)... I don't know where it came from as it's not on my Vista
> Ultimate system or on my XP laptop.
>
> If I then take that out of the picture also, when I try to open the Motion
> JPEG file in WMP or MM6... for some reason Pinnacle's Video Spin starts
> going through a setup process. Maybe that's a clue that it brought
> pvmjpeg30.dll in when I installed it.
>
> As I haven't installed Video Spin or hardly anything else on my Vista
> Ultimate SP1 beta system, the MJPEG file still plays in WMP and MM6...
> with no WMP pointer to the video decompressor being used. GSpot's checks
> and tests indicates it's quartz.dll doing the decompression.
>
> Codecs need more understanding by average users... I've made it my theme
> for this year to study them and provide practical info.
> --
> website references are to www.papajohn.org
>
> PapaJohn
>
>
> "John Hanley" <jphanley@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
> news:OjtqvwHZIHA.1532@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> Zach -- The URL that Web Help takes me to is:
>> http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...nalid=80004005
>>
>> PapaJohn -- the pvmjpeg30.dll file is not in my System32 folder or
>> elsewhere
>> on my hard drive. I googled a bit for it and there are references to
>> 'pvmjpg30.dll' (without the e), but that is not on my hard drive either.
>> The main reference is to a site for
>> Pegasus Imaging and they call it PICVIDEO and they want $39 to download
>> it.
>> Are you thinking it is something that should have come with WMP
>> Microsoft?
>>
>> "PapaJohn" <papajohn@chartermi.net> wrote in message
>> news:OcS%23ZyGZIHA.4284@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>>I agree that a fix is better than a work-around... if I take my ffdshow
>>>codec out of the picture, MJPEG files still play.
>>>
>>> WMP plays them with pvmjpeg30.dll file in the system32 folder... check
>>> that it's there and try re-registering it in case it slipped a gear.
>>> --
>>> website references are to www.papajohn.org
>>>
>>> PapaJohn
>>>
>>>
>>> "zachd [MSFT]" <zachd@nomailplz.online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>>> news:uTawOgGZIHA.1212@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>>>>
>>>> What's the URL that Web Help takes you to?
>>>>
>>>> There's already an MJPEG codec on the system. It should work.
>>>> PapaJohn's suggestion might help you replace it if needed though, but
>>>> that shouldn't be needed.
>>>> AVI vs avi doesn't matter - the system is case-insensitive here.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Speaking for myself only.
>>>> See http://zachd.com/pss/pss.html for some helpful WMP info.
>>>> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
>>>> rights.
>>>> --
>>>> "John Hanley" <jphanley@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
>>>> news:esWycIFZIHA.4896@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>>>>I have a Canon S3IS digital camera which can take movies. The movies
>>>>>show
>>>>> an .AVI extension and (I think) use an MJPEG codec. After
>>>>> transferring
>>>>> the
>>>>> movie files to my (Vista) hard drive, their behavior is erratic:
>>>>>
>>>>> - The movie files *will not* play in Windows Media Player. The WMP
>>>>> error
>>>>> message is: "Windows Media Player encountered a problem while
>>>>> playing
>>>>> the
>>>>> file". Clicking on Web Help reveals: "You've encountered error
>>>>> message
>>>>> C00D11B1 while using Windows Media Player."
>>>>>
>>>>> - The movie files *will not* play in Windows Media Center; WMC says
>>>>> "Cannot
>>>>> Play Video - Windows Media Center cannot open the file".
>>>>>
>>>>> - If I import the files into Windows Movie Maker, WMM appears to play
>>>>> them,
>>>>> but the preview screen is black.
>>>>>
>>>>> - GSpot reports that the file is a Motion JPEG, and that "Codec(s) are
>>>>> Installed".
>>>>>
>>>>> - The movie files *will* play using Canon's ZoomBrowser EX program
>>>>> (came
>>>>> with the camera).
>>>>>
>>>>> Related Info:
>>>>>
>>>>> - Both WMP & WMC play my .wmv files just fine. I also have one .avi
>>>>> file from a different source which plays fine.
>>>>> - The file extension on the AVI files that will not play is .AVI
>>>>> (capitalized); the file extension on the avi file that will play is
>>>>> .avi
>>>>> (lower case) -- probably does not matter?
>>>>>
>>>>> Will appreciate clues on where to look to solve the issue. Thanks.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>