So I got my new laptop, a Lenovo G560 with Win7. I like it a lot, a definite upgrade from my old Dell PC. One of the issues I'm having that really irritates me involves YouTube videos and videos from other sites. Half of them play just fine, but the other half of the time the video has a bunch of visual noise and turns green, and plain doesn't look right. Here's a screenshot of what I mean.
i would definitely do a "display test" it should be in your control panel, in the "display" tab. some extensions dont play well, so I download "xp codec pack", google it. it helped play almsot all extension files, but if your having trouble playing youtube videos, thats weird.. try the test, and then install the codec pack to see if either help..
What? Augh, what are you talking about, no, god, just... what? Dude, do you even... WTF. There is no "display test" in Windows. That wouldn't fix this. That wouldn't even... I mean, even if such a thing DID exist in the control panel... testing the DISPLAY? Nothing wrong with the screen! This has nothing to do with the screen. This is a video decoder problem. A "codec" problem if you will. But YouTube is FLASH VIDEO. There ARE no codecs. It doesn't even interface with Windows' codec subsystem (DirectShow NOR VFW). Codec pack? Dude, let alone one called "XP codec pack"? No. No no no no no. Codec packs are Satan. They are the fucking devil. They corrupt DirectShow with multiple conflicting decoders and filters, and just cause general HELL. There is only ONE codec that anyone on the planet needs anymore, and that's ffdshow (google "ffdshow tryout" - it's an updated fork of the original). It handles all relevant codecs and it is only ONE codec (well, I think 5 components, but they're all part of the same system). Then you can play anything, as long as your computer has a splitter for it (e.g. being able to interpret MKV files). For that, I just use Media Player Classic Homecinema (MPC-HC). It has a built-in MKV splitter. Otherwise, you can use Haali Media Splitter, which also works with FLV files (ripped Flash Video streams). But all these deal with DOWNLOADED videos. Not YouTube. If you're having trouble with YouTube videos, that's played through Flash. Now, lately, Flash has gained some useful hardware decoding functionality, which also places some of the blame on the video driver. But I'd start with updating Flash player for Chrome or Firefox, or updating Flash player for Internet Explorer (pick one, or do both). Also be sure to pay attention if a similar-looking window pops up on startup asking you to update Flash. Be sure it looks legit first. Flash updates will be signed by Adobe (look in your UAC prompt popup - you know, when the screen dims with Yes/No?). It will not pop up asking you to save/open an EXE (except above, installing it manually). Or if it's a display driver issue, go to Windows Update (click start, All Programs, Windows Update), check for optional updates, and see if there's a display driver update to install. Don't install that Windows Live Essentials shit, but install pretty much anything else there. Failing that, your internet connection (router, phone, etc.) might be fucking with the video stream. That image you posted is the result of a corrupted video decoding, which could be caused by the above problems, or if you're simply receiving bad data. YouTube uses UDP connections (as opposed to TCP for loading webpages), which means it's not error-checked, it just gets to your computer "as fast as it can". Minor glitches are allowed through to make the connection faster. However, if the minor glitches happen rapidly (like something that's fucking up the data stream on a regular basis), it'll screw up the video bad like that. That could be caused by a bug in your router firmware, a bad network driver, who the hell knows. But check the above stuff first. Then we can check out your internet connection if it's still fucked up. But for the love of god, XP Codec Pack?!!
Well, thats kind of a problem. Trying to help can make the problem much worse. Its like a bar tender suggesting the heimlech maneuver for a heart patient. Theres no sense in it, and it is not helping.
While that may be true, there are still plenty of ways to tell the poster that without being rude about it, that's all I'm saying.
Well, if you sit there spending time trying to instill reason in an unreasonable answer, it provides the opportunity for people (or the poster of the reply) to actually continue to take said advice... kinda like the difference between politely suggesting that the bartender stop butt-humping the heart patient (leaving room for the "oh but why?" questioning), and running over and tackling the guy before he kills him.