Why do 3 Win7 IE9 PCs have 3 different responses to streaming .m4v?

[tvfan]

PC1-desktop-wired: IE9, WMP12, File associations: .m4v=WMP
PC2-GW-laptop-wireless: IE9, WMP12, File associations: .m4v=WMP
PC3-Asus-laptop-wireless: IE9, WMP12, File associations: .m4v=WMP

Note: the 3 PCs have the same: OS: Win 7 HP SP1 64bit, WMP, IE versions.

The correct behavior is have the Movie play immediately b/c this is a format that is designed to be "Played on the fly". The user should not have to wait for the download to finish before playback begins.

Here are the responses from the 3 PCs:

Response from PC1: downloads .m4v file and plays it (incorrect behavior)
Response from PC2: plays .m4v immediately (correct behavior)
Response from PC3: Displays Prompt "What do you want to do with .m4v?" (incorrect behavior) Options displayed: "Open, Save, Save As, Cancel. I select Open and download begins (incorrect behavior).

Only PC2 has the correct behavior and it uses WMP 12 to play it, not Quicktime! Note that WMP 12 supports .m4v by default and is my preferred method of playback, b/c WMP allows you to use fullscreen playback, and Quicktime (free) does not.

I can't figure out what is different between the 3 PCs. I have checked the file associations and they are the same for .m4v

PC2 does not have any additional codec packages installed such as ffdshow, Media Player Classic, etc. It works with plain vanilla "out of the box" settings.

As for the PC1, it is also stock "out of the box" settings.

PC3 has both Media Player Classic and ffdshow installed.

It would great if someone could help me solve this mystery. The goal is to get all 3 PCs to do what PC2 does.

 

[Dean0351]

Sound like the .wmv file is associated with with QuickTime on the other two pc's. That will happen if you did the default or "recommended" install. You can right click the file select open with and b4 picking wmp pick set default and set it to wmp. But that may not change the file association, I think that option should be in the wmp settings. It's been awhile and I'm not near a pc so my directions may not be spot on but inside wmp in one of the settings or advanced settings their should be something that says "associate with know file types" click that and there should be a few diff things to click a check box like .wmv .avi .iso just make sure .wmv is checked

Or .m4v which ever file type

 

[tvfan]

Sound like the .wmv file is associated with with QuickTime on the other two pc's. That will happen if you did the default or "recommended" install. You can right click the file select open with and b4 picking wmp pick set default and set it to wmp. But that may not change the file association, I think that option should be in the wmp settings. It's been awhile and I'm not near a pc so my directions may not be spot on but inside wmp in one of the settings or advanced settings their should be something that says "associate with know file types" click that and there should be a few diff things to click a check box like .wmv .avi .iso just make sure .wmv is checked

Or .m4v which ever file type

The file associations for all 3 PCs are the same:
PC1: .wmv=WMP, avi=WMP
PC2: .wmv=WMP, avi=WMP
PC3: .wmv=WMP, avi=WMP

 

[Dean0351]

Sry I somehow didn't see that you already stated all file associations are the same in your original post.

Have you tried to uninstall QuickTime and see if the problem is there?

 

[Shark007]

the cause of your problem is most likely due to codec installations.
If I had to guess, the system(s) with the LAV filters installed are having the problem.
EDIT; Haali (matroska splitter) could also be the problem

 

[tvfan]

Sry I somehow didn't see that you already stated all file associations are the same in your original post.

Have you tried to uninstall QuickTime and see if the problem is there?

PC1: Quicktime not installed
PC2: Quicktime not installed
PC3: Quicktime 7.71.80.42 installed

 

[tvfan]

the cause of your problem is most likely due to codec installations.
If I had to guess, the system(s) with the LAV filters installed are having the problem.
EDIT; Haali (matroska splitter) could also be the problem

I don't understand; "LAV" filters - what are they? how do I find them?
Haali (matroska splitter) not installed ; so does that mean "LAV" filters not installed?

I'm clueless with regards to your suggestion. Please advise.

 

[Shark007]

If you had installed the LAV filters, you'd probably know it.

video editting software is notorious for installing codecs without your knowledge.
maybe this is something to investigate.

 

[tvfan]

If you had installed the LAV filters, you'd probably know it.

video editting software is notorious for installing codecs without your knowledge.
maybe this is something to investigate.

First, let me say I just googled LAV filters and your website immediately popped up - shark007.net. I am grateful that such an experienced person like yourself is helping me out.

I only thing I can say was installed is "MSFT Live Movie Maker" on PC1, b/c I did transfer home video to PC1 via firewire. But I did not install any proprietary drivers or software. It was "easy" plugin and transfer. I was actually pleasantly surprised by how simple it was. No additional software was required. Then after transfer I installed Live Movie Maker.

PC2 has Live Photo Gallery but not Movie Maker.
PC3 has Live Photo Gallery but not Movie Maker.

 

[Shark007]

Well, even though I enjoyed the pat on the back I have no other advice to offer.
I highly doubt any 'Microsoft' supplied/installed software is causing this issue for you.

 

[tvfan]

Well, even though I enjoyed the pat on the back I have no other advice to offer.
I highly doubt any 'Microsoft' supplied/installed software is causing this issue for you.

If you don't mind, I'll go off topic a second.

In the past, I have used Media Player Classic to get different media format to "play", but now MSFT has delivered more versatility and therefore more formats work "out of the box", such as m4v.

My question to you is do you know of webpage that lists the formats that are still not supported by Win7?

I don't want to ask you to explain to me about codecs, but can you recommend a good source for learning more about them and when to apply them?