Railfan Technology > Green Screen?

Past few days I've tried to watch video's both here on TO and YouTube and get only a green screen. I hear the audio but no picture. Can some explain what I may have done or can do? 

I have Windows 10 and I had the same problem earlier this week. WIN. did an updtae and now the green screen is nio longer and I can watch videos here and on you tube no problem.. Try doing a Wiin. update maybe?

Stanley Jackowski
Valrico, FL

Welcome to the world of CODEC fun and games. 

I'm far from being an expert in CODECs, but I do know they are the 'translation layer' to convert whatever format your video is in to be compatible with your monitor and sound system.  They work both ways to both decode or encode videos that may be in any of 10 or more formats on your computer... .MP4, .MOV etc are just 2 of their possible identifiers.  What happens from time to time is that the CODECs get update/enhanced/modified to handle some new features or capabilities.  Then, if a media-creator uses the newer updated CODEC to create an MP4, for example, your older MP4 'decoder' CODEC isn't capable of handling the new bells and whistles.  So you get anything from a message saying it can't be played, or no sound, or no picture.  I've run into the gamut of those kinds of problems. 

Another CODEC surprise is Youtube.  They periodically change their internal encoding protocol to add bells and whistles too.  So, trying to download a Youtube video or even playing it will fail for the same reason...non-current software on your computer.  I've also encountered a Facebook video problem on my friends' Windows XP computer.  The necessary CODEC(s) for Facebook videos are not availble for Windows XP users, so my friend has to use his cell phone to play the videos.

So, in short, run Windows Update on your computer.  You may also have to select one or more of the 'optional' updates to get newer CODECs.  Newer versions of your player software may also be available and need to be downloaded from whereever that product came from.


Now if anyone who really knows what they're doing with CODECs would please advise me on a Youtube problem I have.  I created 2 videos on my computer (ripped from a home-made DVD of a non-professional video), edited them slightly and then uploaded them to Youtube 2 years ago.  About a year ago, my main computer (of 4) gets no sound whatsoever when played on Youtube.  I even played the 'original' of what I downloaded to Youtube on my computer and it, too, has no sound!  Absolutely every other computer I've used work fine both with Youtube and from the .MP4 file.  I downloaded the Youtube video to my computer, saved it as a .mov and still, no sound.  What gives?  Oh...and 2 of my secondary computers have the same CODEC package as my main computer.  Absolutely everything else from any source plays perfectly on ALL my computers.  So what gives?

BRAtkinson Wrote:
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> Welcome to the world of CODEC fun and games. 

OP didn't provide enough info for useful guesses, but here's how I would "shoot in the dark."

- Videos are being viewed via a browser, so focus on updating the browser, before focusing on Windows Update. 

- Windows XP is a non-starter for modern video support, because the platform was designed before the currently popular codecs (H.264, VC-1 or WMV9, VP8/VP9) matured. Unless the user knows how to install codec packages on his own, don't even bother.

- As usual, Adobe Flash is always frantically pushing security updates. I've seen videos "blank out" because the installed version of Flash was 2-3 versions too old. Probably the most common cause of audio, but no video when viewing video via a browser.

I've been able to playback every online videos to this day (including YouTube and vimeo) on my Windows Vista machine with non-Microsoft codec package that was installed, using a non-obsolete browser.