Camera Labs

Hi all,

I bought a TZ5 in the summer which works well, and I really like the zoom on the camera and picture quality.

However, whenever I do videos/movies they playback on the camera perfectly but on my computer they do not.

My default program on the PC (Windows XP) for video playback is Windows Media Player. When I playback videos on this the movies seems to run too fast - the sound is correct but the movie races ahead at what feels like double speed.

I can play the movies using other players, such as Realplayer and they are the correct speed, etc. But the program is a bit clunky, and I prefer Windows Media Player.

Has anyone else come across this problem?

I hope it is just something stupid that I am doing.

I have tried doing movies in the different settings (30fps VGA, 10fps VGA, 30fps QVGA, 10fps QVGA) but all have the same problem.

Am I right in thinking these different settings just mean more frames per second, therefore better quality but bigger files - but would this affect the playback speed in Windows Media Player?

Any help/suggestions/advice would be gratefully received,

Matthew

I use laptops with WinXP, 256 mb RAM, 1.2 ghz processors, and I can't play them at all as they are, because they keep stopping. Apparently they require more power than the computer software has. I use iTunes, standalone Quicktime, and others, no luck. So I convert them to MP4 using iTunes, and they play OK, but with reduced quality.

Thanks Dale for your reply.

I am not sure that is exactly my problem. As the movies play very well when I use other media players - it just plays at double speed on Winows Media Player for some reason.

My PC has plenty of processing power/memory so I do not feel that the PC is the problem.

Matt

That's interesting, since some of the WMV clips I get from independent filmmakers run at double speed on my computer. Maybe there's a common cause.

Hi Matthew,


Sounds like a typical codec 'standard' issue.

Can you download Quicktime from Apple and give that a go?
rgrds,


Luke

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Hi Luke,

I've tried the movies on the latest version of Quicktime and they work OK on that.

However I would prefer to use Windows Media Player, as I have it set up as my default player - and videos usually look better on this.

It is really odd watching the movies on Windows Media Player as the sound comes through at the normal speed, but the pictures race along at twice the speed!!

If you or anyone else has any other ideas - please let me know.

many thanks,

Matthew

Hi Pikemonster,

Did you have any luck resolving playing in WMP?
I'm the same as you and would really like to play via Windows Media Player as well.
Ive downloaded 3ivx after finding that was necessary as well as the VLC codec package.
The movies play now but with sound only and no picture.

Thanks
Mac

Have you tried converting them to a WMV file? This is what I had to do as I don't want to have several players and resource hogs on my laptop.

I use this program, I believe I found it on download.com - Any Video Converter. Its free but not a brand name program.

My FIL is terrified of using any software that isn't a brand name but this hasn't given me any trouble and I'm using it on a system that I don't use for banking/online ordering so the worse info it could get is my password to my FB account.

I have no problems playing the TZ5's clips in VLC player.

Codec for sure, I can remember downloading some codec "pack" to get similar issues resolved a while ago..

Strangely enough, I find that a video file generated by a Panasonic SDR-S50 which plays in their VideoCam program but not in WMP when uploaded to Facebook plays fine on that site.

btw I tried converting the file to several different formats using Any Video Converter but these would not play in WMP either.