Windows Media Player has broken video

My laptop did not have DVD playback capability, so I installed DivX and FFDshow codecs which still did not help. I then installed Media Codec pack which sorted out the problem. Then I found the k-lite codec pack, which offered .FLV playback. this did not work, so I uninstalled it, which caused WMP to stop playing any video content at all. I then uninstalled all the codecs/packs to start again, which caused the Now Playing window to not show any Video, visualisations or enhancements. Any subsequent reinstalling does not help, and the funny thing is that the audio is still there, there is just no video

So in short, uninstalling some codecs has caused WMP to lose all video capability, and most importantly for me the equaliser. I don't mind losing video because I've got RealPlayer, but none of the free programmes I know offer the equaliser that WMP does for my audio collection.

I hope someone can offer any advice on alternative audio players, or a way to fix/reinstall WMP.

 

Codec packs are bad. FFDShow was a good choice, but it needs configuring. I'm hesitant to offer a solution to your codec problem (in the wrong hands it could hose your system worse) but all hope is not lost. Try VLC media player - it has all its own codecs and plays most anything.
PS: see if removing WMP from add/remove programs; CCleaner; reboot; add WMP helps. Probably won't, but probably won't hurt.

 

I've used k-lite and never had any issues. Did k-lite say it was going to uninstall any other codecs you have before it installed. It may be that different codecs were conflicting.

Try and do a system restore to before you installed k-lite. Uninstall all other codecs then start again. Try K-lite full without any other codecs installed.

 

Too late to do System Restore, because Vista keeps wiping old restore points.

Is there a way to access the WMP equaliser from somewhere other than Enhancements in the Now Playing tab, because that is only thing that I am missing badly, since all my video is now taken care-of by RealPlayer?

 

Uninstall all codec packs and then use the Vista DVD to do a repair. Then, download Vista Codec pack. It contains the required decoders, demuxers, etc. in order for you to play pretty much any video format. Do not install codec packs without removing other codec packs first. K-lite is considered by many to be buggy and I have found it to cause more harm than it's worth.

 

I have a laptop with a preinstalled OS, so as far as I know I cannot do a repair in the normal way, without a full recovery from the backup disks created during initialisation, but please do correct me if I am wrong.

 

I recommend VLC as well. It has all the codecs needed with the program.