Windows 8 Fail : Cannot play video, the file type is not recognised and cannot be played

So in the interests of balance I put down my £14.99 for windows 8 (cheapest price out there) to see what the next Apple killing product / OS is really like. Should I be ready to dump all the Apple posts, blogging, equipment before the ship sinks as predicted by everyone? No. It’s taken a day for windows 8 media center to stop working without me doing a single darn thing to it..

I like to tinker, explore new products, boldly test crappy products in the hope that they might actually live up to expectation let alone be the mind bending experience which marketing hyperbole would have us believe. Windows 8 is no exception and so with upgrade dvd in hand the upgrade started. Interesting side note is that MS is pushing download OS so where’s the uproar thats leveled at the Fruity Cupertino camp for removing optical drives.

Windows Media Centre 8 Cannot Play Video

Cannot Play Video

The file type is not recognised and cannot be played. Either the correct codec (a file that compresses/decompresses audio or video) is not installed or the file is corrupt.

Being an old tech support type settings were reset back to standard, re installed any uninstalled programs, rebooted, uninstalled MCE and rebooted, re installed MCE, rebooted, system restore.. rebooted and still the same old problem.

I know I COULD install a codec pack and hope for the best but to be honest, why?  It was damn well working and yes I’m freakign annoyed because Star Wars is on (Episode 4, not the train wreck acted by wood thats thicker than the Projectmumu.com slide case.  What the heck is included in there that’s really needed apart from old obscure file formats which I thought upgradign systems was the whole point.  If the piracy movement can move to a better format surely it’s time to re-evaluate codec packs?.  VLC does a grand job and best of all it’s trustworthy from a site that’s known and developers that are recognised.

Right now because I don’t have the time or the inclination to spend any more time on this, I’m going to use the disc and re-install.  Something that I hate doing..

Update 1700

SFC /Scannow didn’t work either
Nor has disabling MCE, rebooting, enabling MCE with another reboot.

So if you know better, get in touch and I’ll try out things

 

Update 1735

Windows 8 re installed.  Now complains about a DNS server not responding.  Great.  Oh and beacuse it’s a re install it wont carry over your programs as if you were going from Windows 7 to Windows 8.  This means no team viewer.  Also for the life of me can’t find add a feature using the “start” screen.  I have to find it but with no keyboard installed and the accessability icon lurking somewhere, I wish I’d just stuck with 7.  It was working for lords sake..

Update 1749

And another thing.  PC settings in desktop mode is completly different to that of Metro / Fisher price interface.  I’m spending more time here just trying to find paths than I am actually working..

2nd November.
Still no cure for not being able to watch Live TV. Codecs, reinstallation, proper windows 8 drivers for my TV cards. What I really dislike is the start button has gone but it’s still there in the form of the metro interface. It’s a really un needed click to get something done.

Isn’t The Media Center Pack supposed to come with all codecs?

 

16th December

Slow File Copy Using Windows

File copy over the network from Mac to Windows 8 works just fine. Scandisk and CHKDSK report the disk is fine so I’m suspecting duff USB drivers and as my rig is a few years old, theres no chance of a mobo driver update.