Windows Media Player is an audio and video player that lets you to find, download, organize, and play digital media including music, video, pictures, and recorded TV programs. The picture below shows the media library in windows media player.

Supported File Formats

Windows media player supports most, but not all, of the common video file formats currently in use. The following file formats are supported by windows media player 9 and higher:

• Windows media formats - .asf, .asx, .avi, .wav. .wax, .wma, .wm, .wmz, .wms
• Audio Visual Interleave - .avi
• MPEG except MPEG-2 - .m3u, .mp2v, .mpg, .mpeg, .m1v, .mp2, .mp3, .m3u, .mpa, .mpe, .mpv2
• DVD video (VP and Vista) - .vob (requires 3^rd party software or hardware decoders)
• MIDI - .mid, .midi, .rmi
• Apple Macintosh formats - .aif, .aifc, ,aiff
• Sun and NeXT formats - .au, .snd
• Intel Video - .ivf (requires video 5.x or higher codec)
• Quick Time formats - .avi, .mov, .qt
• Flash - .swf (requires flash plug-in)

Codecs for other unsupported file formats are available from the creators of the format such as DivX.

Create Auto Playlists for TV shows

One of the nicer features of windows media player is that you can include Video files in the Microsoft Recorded TV shows (DVR-MS files) category in your video library using one the following filters:

• Limit Number of Items
• Limit Total Duration to
• Limit Total Size to

You need to remove these filters from the criteria that modify the TV shows in my library clause. Then add them back as restrictions to the auto play list using the following steps.

• Open Windows Media Player and click Library.
• Expand Auto Playlists in the Contents pane. Right-click the auto play list for your TV shows and then click Edit.
• Click on each Limit filter displayed under TV shows in my library and then click Remove.
• In the And apply the following restrictions to the auto playlist category, click on the plus (+) button, and then click each of the Limit filters to add it.
• Repeat to add the remaining filters.

Synchronization Problems

Many times you will experience synchronization problems when you try to import video files into windows media player. When that happens you will receive one of the following error messages when you try to synchronize the file with windows media player:

• The remote procedure call failed

• Memory could not be allocated because no size has been set
• The server threw an exception

You can use the following tips to fix window media player video problems

MPEG-2 video or DVR-MS TV show

Windows media player can automatically convert your MPEG-2 or DVR-MS files to a format supported by your device before synchronizing the files. You will need a supported MPEG-2 decoder installed on your computer.

AVI video files

If you are trying to synchronize AVI video files and get an error message contact the manufacturer of your AVI decoder software for information about an upgrade for your AVI decoder that supports conversion in latest version of Windows Media Player.
If you run into any of these problems trying to synchronize either MPEG-2 or DVR-MS files, do the following:

• Install the most recent version of one of the following supported DVD decoders on your computer such as Cyberlink PowerDVD, Intervideo WinDVD, NVIDIA NVDVD Decoder or Sonic CinePlayer DVD Decoder Pack for Windows XP
• Remove the copies of the converted files by selecting Tools -> Options. Select the Devices tab and click the Advanced button. Then select Delete Files. You can also open the device in My Computer and delete the files
• Next, reset the synchronization logic in the Player and synchronize the files to your device again.

Installing Video CODECs

Usually it is not necessary to install video Codecs if you are running media player 10 or later. If it is necessary, most video Codecs such as DivX come with an install program that will automatically install the codec into windows. If it does not work after the install, you should reinstall the default Codecs using the steps below, reinstall the new codec and reboot the machine to see if the new codec is working.

• Open the Control Panel. Select the Add Hardware, select Next then select Yes I have already connected the hardware and click Next.
• Select Video Codecs from Manufacturer and Video Codecs from Model and then follow the instructions