Preview/Thumbnails gone.

[BoggyP]

I doubt this is completely vlc related but I reformated from a XP Home sp2 to a XP Pro sp3 and I installed vlc and all of the movie thumbnails are the vlc come instead of the first frame or whatever is used to be. Anything I can do?

[VLC_help]

Don't associate file types to VLC. And install proper codecs so Windows Media Player can create video thumbnails for videos that it doesn't support by default.

[BoggyP]

"proper" codecs, such as?

[VLC_help]

FFDshow handles many video and audio codecs. (also haali splitter if you want .mkv or .ogm thumbs)

[Chef_Tony]

after vlc 0.9.8a disabled my vista from generating thumbnails on new videos, i didn't find any other solution but to start from scratch and have a clean start-over with my system, after reinstalling vista32 and installing vista codec pack, all the videos on my external hd got proper thumbnails again, i installed 0.8.6i and besides the fact, that it's terribly out-dated and not exactly eyecandy, i assumed, maybe it would have nothing to do with vlc and updated to 0.9.4, since i thought, before it was the 0.9.8a specifically, taking my thumbs, which, i can see now, was a mistake. i still use vista codec pack and it always worked fine, but somehow vlc stopped those codecs, including haali and ffd, from generating new thumbs. as mentioned before, even uninstalling didn't do the trick last time, completely removing both vlc and the codecs apparently didn't undo, what was already distroyed in the system, is there any way, that without formatting my hd again, i can have thumbnails for videos again? i am really desperate and would hate to lose all my stuff, because of this.
thanks in advance for any constructive help
Chef_Tony

[VLC_help]

Return the file type associations to Windows Media Player.

[Chef_Tony]

so, first i disabled the file associations in vlc, no improvement
then, when explorer didn't know, how to open avi, i said, wmp as standard, didn't improve,
then i went to control panel, standard programs and set all the 70 standards to wmp11, meaning all file types, still no improvement
but wmp plays all videos now, when i open a folder, there is no green loading bar in the adress bar
in vista codec pack on start menu i went to avi and it set "microsoft splitter for avi (default), which said, it would set avi playback back to default, nothing changed
i restarted several times now, which also didn't change a thing
how do i set the file associations to be to windows media player first and still get to play everything in vlc, like i used to?

and, maybe a little off-topic, my standard setting in vlc is to enqueue files in the playlist, on the 0.8.x versions i could start a video, double click another one in windows explorer and while watching the first one it would appear queued in the playlist and play afterwards. with everything set the same in the newer player, the second clicked video does appear added in the playlist, meaning, the first is not gone, but the second video starts at once, which, by my definition, is not exactly enqueueing?

[VLC_help]

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/03/1 ... indows-xp/
in case you have disabled all previews.

Does the enqueue work if you open media file from command-line using --playlist-enqueue option?

[Chef_Tony]

first of all, as mentioned, i use vista and not xp, secondly, i didn't change a thing in the system settings and since all the "older" videos have thumbnails and pictures have them, too, i am pretty sure, my system is capable of handling, generating and showing thumbnails, but it is exactly the generating part, that seems to be on hold at the moment.

as written before, i assume it has something to do with file type associations, so, since i tried and set them to wmp, which opens the files on double click, but still doesn't seem to preview the videos from explorer.

[nikola23]

Bare with me on this because I don't currently have access to a windows PC...

1. Try running disk cleanup and where it gives you the options of what to clean make sure that thumbnails cache is checked

2. Go to one of the folders holding your files
3. Click Tools \ Folder Options
4. Click the View tab.
5. There should be an option about showing thumbnails in that list make sure that its enabled.

[Chef_Tony]

did that, except for the disk cleanup, because that would take me all my thumbnails, and as long as i don't find a solution for my problem, i don't want to lose the ones i got.
thumbnails are shown for nearly all videos, as i said before, just when new videos are added, there are no thumbnails generated.
let me describe it again.
situation: i make a new video, say, with my digital camera, and convert it to xvid and put it in one of my video folders.

- when i still had vlc 0.8.6i, the windows explorer would generate a thumbnail preview of the video, like 30sec. into the video, which was brilliant, as you would easily recognize the content of the video.

- now, with vlc 0.9.4, the old previews, generated before, are still there, but whenever i sync my cam or add videos from my tivo, that are still xvid and, you know, everything is the same, except, that no new thumbnails for the recently added videos are there.

i repeat, for old pictures and new pictures, preview thumbnails are to be seen in explorer, for older videos, there are previews, too, but whenever i copy new video files to my pc, that my pc has never seen before, it does not make a preview pic, here you can find a sample screenshot of tivo recordings of mine the files on the left were copied to my machine AFTER i installed 0.9.4:
http://mitglied.lycos.de/paderdepp/tivo%20snl.jpg

these files are all the same xvid format and all the same bitrate, codecs, it's just practically the same files

[getemboi13]

first of all, as mentioned, i use vista and not xp, secondly, i didn't change a thing in the system settings and since all the "older" videos have thumbnails and pictures have them, too, i am pretty sure, my system is capable of handling, generating and showing thumbnails, but it is exactly the generating part, that seems to be on hold at the moment.

as written before, i assume it has something to do with file type associations, so, since i tried and set them to wmp, which opens the files on double click, but still doesn't seem to preview the videos from explorer.

I'm having the exact same problem, I first noticed it about 4-5 days ago. All my old icons are the thumbnails, but the videos I've saved recently are just the cone.

The video on the left is a recently downloaded FLV file, the video on the right I've had for at least a month.

Here is an example:

[getemboi13]

Nobody knows a solution to this problem ? As you can see it's not a file association problem as the majority of my videos still show the preview thumbnail, I would really appreciate some help on this matter, multiple people on numerous forums are all having the same problem and not one person has a solution.

[VLC_help]

The video on the left is a recently downloaded FLV file, the video on the right I've had for at least a month.

Both files are FLV ones? And they have same specs?

[getemboi13]

Yes, they are both FLV files and they have the same specs. It's a recent issue, all videos I downloaded prior to a week ago, which is almost 40GB of FLV files are thumbnail previews, but all the videos I've downloaded in the last week just show the Cone icon.

[getemboi13]

I figured out the problem, it's a codec issue.

I know, I know, why was I asking if it was such a trivial problem, well my codecs worked fine. I noticed that a file association for ISO files had changed to I decided to uninstall Vista Codec pack even though I saw that as a none issue, I restarted, downloaded the newest version of Vista Codec pack, and presto FLV thumbnail previews.

Here is the proof:

[Chef_Tony]

actually, your problem really just looks like mine, still i am not able to figure it out. i just installed a clean version of vista ultimate x64, installed vista codec pack and vlc, and no thumbnails!!! at least not for xvid files, which appears to be the majority of my files. there were few previews generated for mpg files, but always in the first few frames, which again leeds me to the point that the process of generating previews really differs in file types, i just uninstalled both vista codec pack and vlc, and will now give all file types back to windows media player, then restart, install vista codec pack, and if that doesn't help, i assume, i would need some kind of complete removal tool for vlc, since, apparently, as to be seen in my posts before, it leaves skidmarks, and even after uninstalling the system apparently doesn't really go back to how it was before. i will repost in a few minutes then and tell, wether it worked

[Chef_Tony]

just as i expected, vista codec pack generally makes new previews, but not for avi files, and everything is back to the shits. it really seems that vlc left its footprints in the system, even after uninstalling and registry cleaning. i just installed the regular xvid decoder as well, hoping that it would change anything, but it didn't. i am really starting to lose it. in general i would consider myself experienced when it comes to dealing with these issues, but i just don't understand how this particular error could come up and could be solved, as apparently, the way, shown by getemboi13 seems to work for him and/or certain file types but still doesn't change anything for me. i reinstalled my system 3 times for this issue alone, because i really need the previews on this machine as it is my media center, where all my tivo recordings and copies of my dvds are stored and should provide me with a nice explorer overview of what i got, and that looking at a folder with episodes of my favorite shows, i could recognize the episodes at once, and not have gigantic ugly icons, and the files open in wmp (which, by the way still opens files and plays them without any problems, since the codecs are there). i do't have the slightest clue, what i could have missed out on. if anybody has any ideas remaining (assuming you read the entire thread and crossed out as much as i have) pleeeeeease reply to this thread, so i can "repair" my computer to work back to normal again, as i am starting to think, installing vlc was a big mistake in the first place although i always loved it and considered it the best player there is.
thank you in advance
Chef_Tony

[VLC_help]

VLC doesn't do any file preview stuff. It is all handled by DirectShow decoder. And IMO codec packs shouldn't be ever installed. They usually just cause harm.

[estufa8]

I have XP sp3 and had the same problem with thumbnails gone just after updating Vlc to 1.0.1 Goldeneye.
Try to open a cmd console and write:
regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll
regsvr32 shmedia.dll
It worked great for me.
Regards.

[nando]

ok here is the answer..

to show preview the file needs to be a file type that media player can play..
so whatever codec required for for media player to play it must be installed..
once thats done and associated w/ media player choose that type and right clicking picking
the option to always open w/ vlc... then you will get the icon w/ a small vlc hat and the preview
..if its a file that media player can't play you will only get the big hat....

if u have a file that can play in media player but the thumbnail is only showing the big hat..
then open it w/ media player then close out media player and you will have your preview thumbnail created..