Reasons Why Your Computer Will Not Play Video

Having a computer is beneficial not only for playing games, doing school work, networking with friends and family, surfing the internet and more, but it comes in very handy when you want to watch video or movie in your pass time.

But it doesn’t help if something has gone wrong and you can’t get to play your videos anymore. In this short article I will share some quick fixes and recommendation you can try before contacting your local computer repair shop professional.

There are a number of ways in which you can watch videos on your computer, and the software you use is determined by the circumstances in which you are trying to play the video. For example, your computer most likely makes use of completely different types of programming to play videos that you record and transfer to your computer using your camera than it does to stream videos from a website. Therefore, if you are having problems getting your computer to play video, there may be a number of different things at play that are causing the problem.

Below are some of the more common reasons why your computer will not play video:

Is Your Video Player Updated? If you do not update your video playing programs regularly, then it may be that you are missing an important updates, in which case you will have problems launching your player and getting it to function properly. 

Missing Necessary Plugins. Many video players on the Internet operate by way of plugins (programs that enable specific functionality necessary to displaying/running information on a website). If you are missing a plugin that is needed to play a video, then you will likely get a message prompting you to download the corresponding plugin.

Outdated Device Drivers. With the increase of technology and advancing of video capabilities, computer manufactures have the daunting task of trying to keep device drivers up to date and compatible with all the constant changes. This in itself does not present a huge problem as there are simple steps that you can take to make sure your computer can accommodate for these changes such as updating your computer’s hardware drivers manually.

This can be done by visiting your computer manufacturers website to download and install the latest drivers or using software technology to automate the process of keeping your drivers updated. There are wide array of these tools that are readily available on the internet for purchase. One tool that comes to mind that I recommend is DriverScanner (which is a part Uniblue’s Powersuie) that monitors your computer and alert you when new driver updates are available for download.

(…You can find out more about Uniblue’s PoweSuite here.)

Incompatible Video Codec. Online videos are “written” for video playing programs using codecs. A codec is like a language; video playing programs basically interpret a video’s codec in order to put a picture on your screen. If a video player is not familiar with the particular language – or codec – your video is written in, then it will not be able to play it. In the case of codec errors, your best bet is to download a compatible player.

Not Enough Memory. Believe it or not, your computer must draw from its memory resources in order to play videos. If your computer is short on memory, then it simply won’t be able to deliver the needed resources to display the video graphics when you press the play button. In addition to this, if your computer has an inadequate graphics card installed the likelihood of you playing videos smoothly is very unlikely.

If none of the methods or action steps outlined above does not work for you, then you have a more serious problem. However, there’s no need to worry as this is problem that can be fixed by local computer repair experts here in Chicago.

It’s as simple as picking up the phone and dialing our office while it’s still fresh on your mind…

Call Your Chicago Computer Repair Proz Today 312-585-2285

Or fill out the form above on the right of this page.

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Chicago Computer Troubleshooting