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Experiencing rough video/audio quality?

The videos should be crystal clear … the text should be as readable as the text on this page. However, there are some reasons why this may not be the case on your computer.

High end graphics card

If you have a high end 3d graphics card (typically used for video games) then the videos might be blurry. The best way to handle this is to disable 3d acceleration using the software that accompanies the video card, or by going to Display Properties | Settings Tab | Advanced and modifying the properties for their specific brand of card there. On my gaming machine, I have an Radeon 9200 series card that has a problem displaying the videos correctly, but my computers with lower-end display adapters work just fine.

Improper Settings on Windows Media Player

If you resize Windows Media Player, or your settings in WMP are set to some other option than the screen shot below of the View menu then the videos may be distorted. The proper settings are as follows:

WMP Settings

Codecs (Especially the Error Message Containing "Code 130")

When you open a new media file in Windows Media Player, it will attempt to automatically install the proper codec for that file. However, in some cases, that requires the security settings for Internet Explorer – the vehicle through which the codec is downloaded and installed – to allow this to occur. Unfortunately, in Service Pack 2 of Windows XP, this is disabled by default, causing people to have problems where none used to exist (sp2 came out Summer 2004). To correct this problem:

  • 1) Open Internet Explorer, choose "tools" and "Internet options."
  • 2) Select the "security" tab choose "custom."
  • 3) On the "security settings" window the 4th option down "Download unsigned ActiveX controls." Change this to "Prompt."
  • 4) Click "ok" on "security settings" and "ok" on "Internet options." Close all browsers and then attempt to view the recording, you should receive a "security warning" and be prompted to install the codec, select "yes" to allow the unsigned codec to be installed.
  • 5) Afterwards, set your security settings back to what they were originally.

Finally in regards to codecs, try and view the videos on another computer or two. Make sure those computers also have the latest version of Windows Media Player (current version is 10 for Windows XP … other versions of Windows I’m not sure about).

Vista / Windows Media Player 11 Issues

We recently discovered that Windows Media Player 11 (which comes standard on Vista) has a flaw that makes it incompatible with files that required Techsmith's codec to be viewable on previous versions of Windows Media Player. This flaw only affects some of our original content.

The great news is that we have a resource available that will allow you to work around this issue. Media Player Classic, a free open source player is a small download and is a single executable that requires no install. Just run it to view the files and delete the .EXE when you are done and would like to remove the player.

You will need both the Techsmith Codec and Media Player Classic to play back the older video content:

Techsmith codec ***:

http://download.techsmith.com/tscc/tscc.exe

If that codec does not work, please try this codec:

http://www.softwaretipspalace.com/MS_Windows_Vista/windows_vista_codec_pack.php

Media Player Classic ***:

http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/video_players/media_player_classic.cfm

Please know that this is an issue unique to Windows Media Player 11. This work around will give you immediate access to our content.

We realize this is a huge inconvenience and we've contact Microsoft about fixing this backwards compatibility issue in Vista.

*** Note: We've received no reported problems with any of the 3rd party installs (above) however, as with all things in life ... USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Our Refund Policy

Please keep in mind, if you are a paying customer and you continue to have problems we certainly will refund your purchase.