Do you often watch movies on your Windows PC? If so, then you must have come across situations where a movie file in a Video CD or a DVD would simply refuse to play in your media playing software. You may have the latest Service Packs of Windows installed in your PC, and also the latest version of Windows Media Player, but you may still find videos refusing to start playing.

What’s more, at times, the videos will run just fine, but you will not get any display on screen. The video will simply play as an audio track, belting out perfect sound, while showing only a black screen in the media player. The above problem can take place due to several reasons. These include the following:

1. Improperly encoded video – This is certainly a possibility. When a Video CD or DVD is prepared, the manufacturer encodes the video in a format that can be supported by Windows Media Player. If there were any interruptions or errors during the encoding process, then the video may not get displayed properly in WindowsMedia Player. In this case, the only solution is to seek a replacement of the video disc, since the problem will persist no matter which PC the video is being played in.
2. Damaged media – If the disc is damaged or has a lot of scratches on it, then the video stored in it may be rendered useless. If there are only fingerprints on the disc that are preventing it from playing, you can try cleaning the disc with a soft, lint-free cloth before attempting to play it again. Even then, some discs may refuse to play. In this case as well, replacing the disc is often the only solution.
3. Unavailability of codec – Codecs are small files which need to be installed in your PC. Your Windows Media Player can display a lot of videos because of these codecs. When one of these codecs has been corrupted or removed accidentally, you may find that a certain video file refuses to play, no matter what. In this case, you can run a Google search, download the codec required to play the movie and install it. That should run the movie just fine.

A video that won’t display is not a totally unfamiliar happening for movie buffs. However, with a little patience and a little hands-on work, the disc that seems to be damaged may yet provide a long, trouble free performance.