Troubleshooting Video Options

further information: Media Center Troubleshooting Guide

If the issue is with Video Playback, it is worth checking over your Video setup as well.

Video Modes

Most importantly, try Red October Standard, with and without Hardware Acceleration enabled.

1. Open Options > Video > General Video Settings
2. Change Video Mode to Red October Standard
3. Try with Hardware Acceleration both enabled and disabled.

Only once you are sure you can get acceptable performance when in Red October Standard mode does it make sense to try in Red October HQ mode. Even if your computer should be able to handle (in theory, or your belief, or in the past, whatever) it is useful to test it in Red October Standard mode. This will help narrow down the issue (and will give you usable video playback until the problem with HQ mode can be diagnosed or fixed).

Generally, a computer similar to or better than the Recommended System in the Installation Guide is required to get adequate performance in Red October HQ mode in all scenarios. Systems with lower end CPUs but adequate GPUs may be adequate if hardware acceleration is enabled and supported on your GPU. If you believe your system should support Red October HQ, or it has in the past but is now not working, you may need to update your drivers.

If you customize the settings beyond the Red October Standard or HQ video playback settings, but these work, then you're on your own. Let us know if you find something fun!

Other Steps

1. Work through the Audio Troubleshooting Guide.
2. Toggle Options > Audio > Bitstreaming. If it is turned on, try to turn it off and see what happens. MC can decode most common high-quality embedded audio formats without issue (see the setup guide for DTS-MA formats), and you may not need to use your external receiver's decoder. In any case, it is useful to see what happens. If it is off, but you have a compatible HDMI receiver or decoder at the other end, then maybe try turning it on.
3. Toggle Options > Video > VideoClock on and off.
4. Disable Automatic Display Settings Changing under Options > Video > Display Settings. This option requires compatible hardware and display drivers.