My Wierd Wired World

Ever tried out several different ways to get out of a problem and ultimately found out that the most simplest way would have worked?

Ever been in a situation where the best approach was the most mundane one?

Ever experienced the agony of not getting something to work with all sorts of roundabout ways, only to find that there was a plainer and easier approach?

Well, something of that sort happened to me just a while ago. I had downloaded some video files (AVI) off the web and my usual way of viewing .avi files was with the Media Player Classic - one that comes when you install the K-Lite Mega Codec Pack. I have found it to be a wonderful utility which installs almost all the codecs that are available so that one can have a pretty seamless entertainment experience. I have never come across any multimedia file that could not be played on my system after I’d installed the codec pack. Till today, i.e.!!! This AVI file I’d downloaded looked just like any other AVI file; I double-clicked it, Media Player Classic opened up, a brief wait and plonk! out popped an error message that “Media Player Classic could not render some of the pins in the graph, you may not have the needed codecs or filters installed on the system.” I was like, What the hell!!! I then re-installed the K-Lite Mega Codec pack and this time I selected all the codecs that it had to offer. But no luck! The file still refused to play. I then seeked out the installer for VLC Player and installed that. The darn file refused to play in that one also! Only the audio could be heard, no video!

Next up were WinDVD, PowerDVD, DivX Player and Zoom Player. But No luck with them also! My frustration was increasing with each trial and it was compounded further when I tried playing the file in Real Player and the video came out upside down!!! With half-a-mind to delete the ruddy unplayable file, I resorted to a last throw of the dice - I opened up the AVI file in Windows Media Player and voila, it played oh-so-perfectly! My joy knew no bounds, I reached the nadir of my exuberance, I was chock-full with delight, I was left speechless………