That did it! I downloaded the NVIDIA Purevideo Decoder Platinum Trial. It
installed in Vista without any special work by me. Started Media Center and
BAM my TV and player works again. Thanks for the fix. I spent WAY TOO MUCH
TINE figuring which vendor messed up my system. Thanks again, I can watch my
shows.


"Will Schuitman" wrote:

Yes I figured seeing the decoder is actually written for XP I used
compatibility mode hoping that I wouldn't have to edit the registry
Just a lucky guess that paid off

"JW" wrote in message
...
Interesting about using compatibility mode.
Mine is installed in normal Vista mode I guess thats why I had to use the
regirtry settings.

"Will Schuitman" wrote in message
...
I downloaded the pure video platinum 30 day trial
installed it in Xp sp2 compatibility mode as administrator
then tried using media center and it works
no registry editing needed it worked straight away
and the installation went very smoothly no errors at all
this will probably work for the guy with the ATI card too
I've used the pure video codec before in MCE 2005 when I was running an
ATI 9700 pro

thanks for the tip JW
"JW" wrote in message
...
We have two different threads going here I was responding to ATI9550..
in my last post.

Will.
You could try installing the NVIDIA 30 day free trial of their DVD
Decoder from their Website. It does not automatically replace the
MSMPEG2...decoder and it takes some work in the registry after it is
installe to get it working.

"Will Schuitman" wrote in message
...
Sounds like a reasonable suggestion however I have the decoder error
problem too and I have a Nvidia card
today I uninstalled all Nvidia software and drivers restarted vista and
let it detect my card and load the drivers I still had the decoder
error then I downloaded the vista beta 2 drivers from the Nvidia
website and installed them but I still have the decoder error

"JW" wrote in message
...
It appears that WinUpdate installed new ATI Vista drivers on your
system.
You can check with Device Manager to find out when they were installed
and what version number they are. Then you could try the latest Vista
drivers from the ATI Website and see if you get the same problem and
if they are the same version.
If still a problem then try your old drivers. Like me you will
probalby end up with several saved video drivers on your system by the
time you are done.
"ATI 9550 and Vista" wrote
in message ...
Hey! JW, I think you have something. But, it might be just the
opposite.
I agree that the DECODER ERROR is not a true representation of the
real
problem, especially since the Appolo13 video came with Vista. Not a
decoder
problem.

Here might be the clue. Everything worked the day we got 5384 and
has been
running for months. I have recorded shows every day from the tuner
card. In
my previous forum entries, I have explained that just last week I
woke up and
booted up and it did not work anymore. Also I just reinstalled Vista
to a
new empty HD TWICE. The key is - that I am using the new ATI
Catalyst and
drivers for my Radeon 9550. I AM GOING TO FIND THE CATALYST and
DRIVERS that
I initially used months ago(6.6 I believe). I now suspect the new
ATI code
not the old. As you can see, many other people WOKE UP one morning
and had
the same bug. Thanks for the diagnostic help. I will let
you(everybody
know). After I play golf with my son. Thanks.

"JW" wrote:

If you are gettintg a Decoder error it implies that the Tuner is
working
fine and that the Decoder fails when it tries to deocde the input
from the
Tuner card. This is obviously very true if it will not even play
back the
Apollo13 video which has absolutly nothing to do with your tuner.
Again I suspect a graphics or sound card or dirver problem.
Reinstall the
Vista drivers for your 9550 card using the latest drivers from the
ATI
Website.

"ATI 9550 and Vista"
wrote in
message ...
I am not sure what safe mode will prove. Without drivers the TV
card will
not work anyway. THE rest of Vista works fine. Everything EXCEPT
LIVE TV
and Playing RECORDED TV works fine. The shows that come with
vista -
APOLLO13 will not playback - DECODER ERROR also. This is the same
exact
symptoms as Karl describes. I like your theory about the Video
card. I
have
2 different brand tuner cards by different manufactures and
neither work
now.
Is there a maintenance update to Vista coming soon? Before the on
the
shelf
product? Thanks.

"JW" wrote:

Some driver updates come down from the internet when you install
Vista.
Others will come dowm from Vista WinUpdate when MS has accepted
them from
the manufacturer for inclusion in the next release. If you have
automatic
updates set you will not even know they arrived.
In any case a tuner driver problem is not normally the source of
a
Decoder
error although AFIAK it can be caused by a Graphics card or
graphics card
driver not responding as expected to the Decoder.
Will your system run properly in F8 Safe Mode?

"ATI 9550 and Vista"
wrote in
message
...
Just to clarify the facts again. My Vista system has been
working fine
since
the day it was released to us by Microsoft. beta 5384. I used
Media
Center
every day since then. Got up one day last week and when I went
to
start
it
got the DECODER ERROR.
I have an ASUS P4SD-vx mobo with 1 gb ram and a maxtor 250 HD.
The
video
card is ATI Radeon 9550 with the Vista Catalyst and drivers
installed(since
day1).

My tuner cards are Theater 550 Pro with the ATI drivers(since
day1). I
also
have a Hauppauge PVR-150 card with their Vista Drivers(since
day1).

I used the original Vista ISO that I have to reinstall to a
formatted
HD.
I
am running out of ideas. Does some of the MS drivers come
down the
internet
during the install process? Maybe something has changed in
MS-Ville???


What was that you said about an update? When? Thanks.
HELP!!!!!!



"JW" wrote:

So you reinstalled the latest VISTA drivers from the Hauppauge
and ATI
Websites and from the Website of your graphics card. What is
the
source
of
the TV signal to your tuner cards?
What graphics card and drivers are you using and what
resolution over
what
interface?

"ATI 9550 and Vista"
wrote
in
message
...
Will - did it work? My guess is no. But your descovery
sounds
promising.
I
formatted my HD and reinstalled Vista beta 5384 again. Then
I
installed
the
driver to my Hauppauge PVR-150. Also, the drivers to my
Theater 550
Pro
card. That is the only software that I installed on this
rebuilt
system.
I
setup Media Center and it still fails. Can it possibly be
data
sensative
to
a bad TV Guide? This happened to me before using ATI
MultiMedia
Center.
Grasping at straws on this one. Anyone else have any ideas?

"Will Schuitman" wrote:

I've found the file in question it's MSMPEG2VDEC.DLL now
all I need
to
do
is
extract it from the dvd and replace the corrupt one
I think media center is great in vista but I'm sure once
vista is
launched
and is in use by millions of poeple all over the world many
more
will
have
this problem and as I'm finding out now it's not easy to
fix.
I think it would be a good idea if microsoft included a MCE
repair
tool
with
vista it would save millions of people a lot of frustration

"JW" wrote in message
...
The Vista MPEG2 decoder (MSMPEG2DEC) is built into the
core of
Vista
so
you will not find it as a separate product.
Have you tried running CheckDisk to see if can possibly
fix the
corruption?

"Will Schuitman" wrote in
message
...
There was an update today I uninstalled it but media
center
still
had
the
decoder error
my next step was to use system restore to go back to a
point
where
it
still worked and even after that I still had the decoder
error.
this really has me puzzled
and also media player won't play Mpeg files either I'm
pretty
sure
the
mpeg2 codec is corrupted
I cannot find the vista codec package anywhere on the
MSFT
website,
So
what my next move will have to be to work out how to
extract and
reinstall it from the DVD

"JD Williams"
wrote in
message
...
This just happened to me also. Have not installed
anything
new.
Have a
Hauppauge PVR-150 card and nothing has changed. Media
Center
fails
with
Decoder error. Can something in an update have caused