InterVideo WinDVD 8 Disaster

[Jerry Jones]

InterVideo WinDVD 8 is turning out to be a nightmare for me.

It now refuses to launch.

Uninstall.

Reinstall.

No matter.

It's probably going to force me to reinstall Microsoft Windows.

What a mess.

Oh, and InterVideo's tech support?

Ha!

What tech support?

It's a disaster.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Hulk]

I used WinDVD for a few revisions around 3, 4, 5 or something and finally gave up on it for it's buggyness. I've been using Nero Showtime 2 for about two years now. Although it's not perfect it IS reliable for me.

- Mark

[Dr Mordrid]

Been using ATI's bundled player because it appears to have hooks into their h/w acceleration. Seems fine.

[Jerry Jones]

I think I might persuade it to work following a clean installation.

But I'll have to reinstall Microsoft Windows and rebuild from scratch.

I suspect the problem is the typical registry/DLL issue.

I suspect installing WinDVD *first* instead of *last* might cure this issue.

But it's going to cost me hours and hours of labor to do another clean reinstallation of everything.

This is what I loathe about Windows and Windows applications.

I just loathe this having to start all over again.

On average, I wind up having to do it about once a year.

But I'm not impressed with InterVideo's crappy Web site and their crappy tech support pages.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Hulk]

Been using ATI's bundled player because it appears to have hooks into their h/w acceleration. Seems fine.

It is a mystery to me as to how the video acceleration works exactly from a "where is it" point of view.

I mean does it install with AVIVO and then work with any player? Or as you suggested does it only work with the ATI player?

I've looked all over the AMD/ATI site and can't find anything regarding which application actually installs the routines.

Luckily my new rig is so fast that it doesn't really matter either way

[Debbie]

Jerrold,

If you're reinstalling everyting from scratch. It would be wise to make an image of the
HDD with all the software. It will save you hours next time. That's what I do and don't
regret it.

[Jerry Jones]

I did that already.

But, unfortunately, I created the disc image after I had already been forced to uninstall/reinstall some Ulead programs and so I don't trust it.

Rather than restore that image, I think I might be better off starting from scratch.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Hulk]

Jerry,

You probably already know this but if you have a pre-SP2 XP install you can slipstream the SP2 update into the install. This not only avoid tons of updates after the initial boot but also makes sure large drives are recognized correctly.

Since I recently built a new system this is what I did and it really worked well.

Here's the instructions I used and they were spot on:
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase...slipstream.asp

Reinstalling is always a real PITA but at least you know everything is clean.

[Jon P. Inghram]

When I switched from an x700 Pro to a 7600GT, WinDVD 7 refused to acknowledge that the hardware had changed so it couldn't use HW acceleration anymore, and a normal uninstall and reinstall didn't fix it. I had to uninstall WinDVD and then manually remove it's leftover registry junk before it would work. The only thing I like about WinDVD is TrimensionDNM, I'd ditch it otherwise.

[Jerry Jones]

Mark,

Interesting tip.

I didn't know about that.

Thanks,

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Debbie]

Jerrold,

Yes its obvious, you have to make the image when everyting is runnig smoothly.
I install the OS plus all the "standard" software I normally use, that I know will
not cause any problems and make the image then.
If I have to install additional software plus my first internet connection, that
will come after the image.

[Jerry Jones]

"...when everything is running smoothly."

Yes, but sadly that's easier said than done on the Windows platform.



My brother has had an Apple Macbook and a Mac Mini for several months and he never runs into software conflicts and faulty installations.

Windows is a delicate operating system.

It is too easily screwed up.

When I worked for Ulead, it was obvious that one of the main reasons people were having trouble with the software was due to a faulty Windows installation or registry confusion or whatever.

Windows -- in my opinion -- is a consumer rip-off.

But that's just my opinion.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Debbie]

Jerrold,

Yes I quite agree with you regarding windows OS. However I still manage to get thing to
work smoothly with this basic list of software on which I produce the image.:

[THE_Editor]

When you do your clean install you had better hope Microsoft accept your key again.

They donked my brother in laws saying because he had reinstalled so many times he must have passed the disk around.

(he did just three re-installs of XP)

[cuddles]

Thats Odd have done about six installs ovr 3 years & never missed a byte!