Quality random downgrade?

[Trigun1127]

ok this just started yesterday, basically the problem is that for no apparent reason vlc has had mega pixelation in every video i watch. I havent had any problem with this before , and i havent messed with any of the preferences in VLC. here are some pictures.
this is using a program called MWsnap this is showing exactly what im seeing


as you can see the edges are pixelated

something odd is that when i take a vlcsnapshot it the resolution gows down and looks softer around the edges but not the quality im used too


This may give a clue to what it could be. When i minimize the picture some of the pixels get colored in


and smaller it looks like this


for comaparison this is my friends vlc snapshot but he thinks the snapshot isnt up to par on what hes looking at on screen. we both see the vlc snap shots has being softer to whats actually being seen. thanks for any help you can provide

[VLC_help]

What video output modules you have tried?
http://wiki.videolan.org/WindowsFAQ-0.9 ... _output.3F

[Trigun1127]

i have tried all of the output modules but i believe i have alwaysed used the default. o and i have reinstalled VLC but im still on the same boat.

[Trigun1127]

Id appreciate it if i could get some more information on the matter. shurly there must be a reason for this.

[VLC_help]

Does removing %appdata%\vlc folder help?

[Trigun1127]

i removed the folder and still nothing

[Arite]

Try updating you video drivers to the latest version.

Arite.

[Trigun1127]

my video drivers are up to date. This shouldnt be a problem though. i find this very odd.... no one has had this problem before? i feel like the video is being put through a filter somehow or something with the resolution is somhow pixelating the video...

[VLC_help]

If you removed %appdata%\vlc folder, VLC should return to default settings. So if the quality was OK before but bad now, the issue isn't in VLC. It might be a driver problem, but usually there should be at least one video output module that should work always (WinGDI).

[Trigun1127]

ive removed the appdata vlc folder and still nothing. I dont see how this is a driver problem because with these same drivers the picture quality was perfect. ive tried all output modules and the only one that helps a little is the directx 3d video output. This gets rid of the pixelation but everything is then too soft. i can tell by the subtitles. Usualy there very sharp and bold but now to soft and not as bold.

[VLC_help]

You run Windows 7 RC ?

[Trigun1127]

im running windows XP.

[Arite]

Does seem like a graphics driver issue... does disabling video overlay change anything?:
http://wiki.videolan.org/WindowsFAQ-0.9 ... _output.3F

Also, when you changed output modules did you restart VLC before testing the new output module? Do both Windows GDI and OpenGL not make any difference?

Arite.

[Trigun1127]

yes i disabled video overlay and it showed no diference. as for the output modules windows GDI made no difference but when i used openGL the subtitles in the video looked wierd heres a pic comparison

Windows GDI


Open GL


maby this might help find a bad setting

Video general

Direct X

Video Memory

[VLC_help]

In VLC 0.9.9 OpenGL uses broken chroma conversion which causes quality issues, so OpenGL can show nasty errors.

[Trigun1127]

but for some reason with this output its the best quality i can get and thats pretty bad. any other ideas? how about a older version of VLC? would this help?

[Arite]

You could test an older version of VLC such as 0.8.6i:
http://download.videolan.org/pub/vlc/0.8.6i/win32/

You could install it, ensuring "Delete preferences and cache files" is ticked. Then, if that works, install to 0.9.9 again, also ensuring that "Delete preferences and cache files" is ticked.

Otherwise: Do you get this issue with other media players such as Windows Media Player?

Arite.

[matthaus]

I noticed the same problem with both avis and mp4s (not with DVD video though) with VLC .9.9. Pixelation was very noticeable in .9.9 that hadn't been there in .9.8. When I reverted back to .9.8, the pixelation went away. I don't know what the cause of the pixelation was, only that it doesn't appear in .9.8, but does in .9.9.

[Trigun1127]

i tried .9.8 and 0.8.6i and still same thing.... i guess it is some display driver problem but i cant see where that could be. Ive updated my drivers ive seen no difference in other things like playing games. i didnt even have a problem with pixelation in .9.9 but just suddenly one day i notice all this pixelation around the edges. this makes me upset because i love VLC and i dont use any other media player to watch videos. If you have some more ideas ill try them out.

*Edit*
now that i think of it... im not shure if this could be the problem but it is a variable. i did download a codec if i recall it was a dvd decoder i dont think i downloaded that when it happend but i dont know could be something. i checked in controll panel and could not find it so.

[DGMurdockIII]

i have this problem in vlc 1.0

[VLC_help]

now that i think of it... im not shure if this could be the problem but it is a variable. i did download a codec if i recall it was a dvd decoder i dont think i downloaded that when it happend but i dont know could be something. i checked in controll panel and could not find it so.

VLC cannot use external codecs, so the installed codecs don't matter.

[Trigun1127]

Any other ideas?

[MisterNetHead]

I was having a very similar problem, and switching the display output fixed it.

Somehow VLC had gotten on OpenGL, and I just switched it back to default, restarted VLC and everything was peachy. Also, the same thing was happening with the snapshot not showing the issue.

Interesting thing is, this happened on two separate computers of mine, all on its own. Anywho, before and after:

Before:


After:


Thanks for the help, guys! Hope you get your problem sorted out, Trigun.

[VLC_help]

Also, the same thing was happening with the snapshot not showing the issue.

Snapshots aren't taken from video window. They are taken from internal VLC buffer.

[Trigun1127]

well this is upsetting since my ouput isnt being switched to open GL and if that were the case me reinstalling it and deleting cache and preferences would of fixed it.