December 18, 2004

Curious George: QuickTime Problem Any audio files I try to play with quicktime on my Windows XP box dont work. They sound weirdly ju, ju, ju, ju, jerky and echoy. Ive tried uninstalling and reinstalling to no avail. Any ideas how to fix this? (This has been going for a while, but has only become an issue now that we are an ipod family.)
  • Not sure if I can help or not, but some specifics would help narrow down the possibilities. What files types? just .mov files or everything from .wav's to .mp3's? Files streaming from the internets or are they on the hard drive? Do other programs play the files correctly? Is it quicktime or itunes? How much RAM and how fast a processor? General things I make sure people try are the good old anti-virus and anti-spyware scan. Turn off everyting that is running in the background down in the system tray in the lower right hand corner and see if the files play better then. With that info we might get some idea as to what is going on.
  • I did a google search for quicktime stuttering xp and found some people complaining of the same thing. I didn't read them, but one of them might help out.
  • we are an ipod family the pod people!
  • Windows XP with service pack 2 installed; pentium 4, 1.8 Gig; 256 mb ram; 40 gig hd with about 15 free. Any sound played on quicktime stutters, vid, audio, whatever.
  • Oh, and, yes... Come closer, join the pod people... /flashlight under chin
  • Almost sounds to me like a driver problem with your sound card. But is this only with quicktime and nothing else? If that's the case, and you can't solve it (which is the case sometimes, and a bummer for sure), you can probably open nearly all of the supported file types with a different program. Not that I'm advocating giving up on the problem, but is it possible to... circumvent it, if it can't be toppled?
  • Try changing the sound device Quicktime is using: Edit -> Preferences -> Quicktime Preferences, then choose 'Sound Out' from the drop-down box. Then pick another device from the 'Choose a device for playback' list and close the dialogue box. Which device depends on your system. I've had this happen a couple of times and changing the device usually fixes it. Hope that helps.
  • ))))) <--- Multi-bananas for Bart Malik! Works a charm now. Thanks all.
  • That's not a bug, it's a feature! You're now hearing XP quicktime remix versions!