Thumbnail not showing picture of mpg file

[Masked Rider]

The Thumbnail view of my window explorer works fine with most video files in
general. But it doesn't show the first frame of my mpg file that are
recorded by my Sony camcorder at 16:9 aspect ratio. There is another PC in
my house that is also running Windows XP and somehow its thumbnail view
works fine with those mpg files. Does anyone know how why? I've run the
Microsoft Decoder Checkup Utility and found that there are many decoders on
my PC and many are not compatible with MP10. Is that my problem? If so,
how do I get rid of those decoders?

[RajKohli]

I have a little trick, see if it helps you:

1. Open the folder where those MPG files are located.
2. Click Tools - Folder Option - View tab
3. Click on "Show hideen files and folders.
4. Uncheck the "Hide protected operating system files (Recommanded)
5. Notice a file in your folder called "Thumbs". Delete this file. Close and
reopen the folder. See if this solve the problem.
6. If not, then right-click in empty area of your folder and choose
Properties. Click the Customize tab and choose "Videos" under "Use this
folder type as a template:"
7. Make a check mark on Also apply this template to all subfolders.
8. Click View button and choose Thumbnails (if not already). See if this
solves the problem.
9. If that even didn't solve, create a new folder and put all your videos
inside it and see the thumbnails.

If any of above didn't solve your problem then let me know that which
program is opening your MPG file when you double click on them.

Hope this information helps you, let us know!



"Masked Rider" wrote:

> The Thumbnail view of my window explorer works fine with most video files in
> general. But it doesn't show the first frame of my mpg file that are
> recorded by my Sony camcorder at 16:9 aspect ratio. There is another PC in
> my house that is also running Windows XP and somehow its thumbnail view
> works fine with those mpg files. Does anyone know how why? I've run the
> Microsoft Decoder Checkup Utility and found that there are many decoders on
> my PC and many are not compatible with MP10. Is that my problem? If so,
> how do I get rid of those decoders?
>
>
>

[Masked Rider 1]

Hi, thanks for the advise. The result is very interesting, the thumbnail is
working for some of the files in the folder but not all. It also seems that
if I keep going in and out of the folder and keep changing the view (between
thumbnail and non-thumbnail), more files within the folder get their
thumbnail picture working.
The strange thing is that I don't get this problem with other mpg files that
have 4:3 aspect ratio.
My mpg files are associated with Windows Media Player now. So when I double
click them, the Windows Media Player will play them. There is also a problem
with this, the Windows Media Play (v10) somehow will not play those 16:9
files in the right aspect ratio but force them to be played at 4:3...

Your help is much appreciated!!!


"RajKohli" wrote:

> I have a little trick, see if it helps you:
>
> 1. Open the folder where those MPG files are located.
> 2. Click Tools - Folder Option - View tab
> 3. Click on "Show hideen files and folders.
> 4. Uncheck the "Hide protected operating system files (Recommanded)
> 5. Notice a file in your folder called "Thumbs". Delete this file. Close and
> reopen the folder. See if this solve the problem.
> 6. If not, then right-click in empty area of your folder and choose
> Properties. Click the Customize tab and choose "Videos" under "Use this
> folder type as a template:"
> 7. Make a check mark on Also apply this template to all subfolders.
> 8. Click View button and choose Thumbnails (if not already). See if this
> solves the problem.
> 9. If that even didn't solve, create a new folder and put all your videos
> inside it and see the thumbnails.
>
> If any of above didn't solve your problem then let me know that which
> program is opening your MPG file when you double click on them.
>
> Hope this information helps you, let us know!
>
>
>
> "Masked Rider" wrote:
>
> > The Thumbnail view of my window explorer works fine with most video files in
> > general. But it doesn't show the first frame of my mpg file that are
> > recorded by my Sony camcorder at 16:9 aspect ratio. There is another PC in
> > my house that is also running Windows XP and somehow its thumbnail view
> > works fine with those mpg files. Does anyone know how why? I've run the
> > Microsoft Decoder Checkup Utility and found that there are many decoders on
> > my PC and many are not compatible with MP10. Is that my problem? If so,
> > how do I get rid of those decoders?
> >
> >
> >

[RajKohli]

One more thing that you can try:

Open My Computer - click Tools - Folder Options
click View Tab - check for an option called "Do not cache thumnails"
If it is checked then uncheck or vice versa.

Hope this one works, let us know!

"Masked Rider" wrote:

> The Thumbnail view of my window explorer works fine with most video files in
> general. But it doesn't show the first frame of my mpg file that are
> recorded by my Sony camcorder at 16:9 aspect ratio. There is another PC in
> my house that is also running Windows XP and somehow its thumbnail view
> works fine with those mpg files. Does anyone know how why? I've run the
> Microsoft Decoder Checkup Utility and found that there are many decoders on
> my PC and many are not compatible with MP10. Is that my problem? If so,
> how do I get rid of those decoders?
>
>
>

[RajKohli]

One more thing which you can try:

1. Open My Computer - click Tools - Folder Options - click View tab.
2. Here is an option called "Do not cache thumbnails".
3. if it is checked then uncheck it or vice versa.

Hope this one helps you, let us know!

"Masked Rider 1" wrote:

> Hi, thanks for the advise. The result is very interesting, the thumbnail is
> working for some of the files in the folder but not all. It also seems that
> if I keep going in and out of the folder and keep changing the view (between
> thumbnail and non-thumbnail), more files within the folder get their
> thumbnail picture working.
> The strange thing is that I don't get this problem with other mpg files that
> have 4:3 aspect ratio.
> My mpg files are associated with Windows Media Player now. So when I double
> click them, the Windows Media Player will play them. There is also a problem
> with this, the Windows Media Play (v10) somehow will not play those 16:9
> files in the right aspect ratio but force them to be played at 4:3...
>
> Your help is much appreciated!!!
>
>
> "RajKohli" wrote:
>
> > I have a little trick, see if it helps you:
> >
> > 1. Open the folder where those MPG files are located.
> > 2. Click Tools - Folder Option - View tab
> > 3. Click on "Show hideen files and folders.
> > 4. Uncheck the "Hide protected operating system files (Recommanded)
> > 5. Notice a file in your folder called "Thumbs". Delete this file. Close and
> > reopen the folder. See if this solve the problem.
> > 6. If not, then right-click in empty area of your folder and choose
> > Properties. Click the Customize tab and choose "Videos" under "Use this
> > folder type as a template:"
> > 7. Make a check mark on Also apply this template to all subfolders.
> > 8. Click View button and choose Thumbnails (if not already). See if this
> > solves the problem.
> > 9. If that even didn't solve, create a new folder and put all your videos
> > inside it and see the thumbnails.
> >
> > If any of above didn't solve your problem then let me know that which
> > program is opening your MPG file when you double click on them.
> >
> > Hope this information helps you, let us know!
> >
> >
> >
> > "Masked Rider" wrote:
> >
> > > The Thumbnail view of my window explorer works fine with most video files in
> > > general. But it doesn't show the first frame of my mpg file that are
> > > recorded by my Sony camcorder at 16:9 aspect ratio. There is another PC in
> > > my house that is also running Windows XP and somehow its thumbnail view
> > > works fine with those mpg files. Does anyone know how why? I've run the
> > > Microsoft Decoder Checkup Utility and found that there are many decoders on
> > > my PC and many are not compatible with MP10. Is that my problem? If so,
> > > how do I get rid of those decoders?
> > >
> > >
> > >

[Masked Rider 1]

Thanks a lot for helping... but it's still not working.
It is very very strange... another computer in my house is running exactly
the same XP Pro and it works... just not the other ones.
Basically, there are 4 XP Pro's. 3 of them cannot display the thumbnails on
the same set of widescreen MPG files on the file server (Windows Server
2003). Only one of them consistently works.
What bugs me is that I can use a number players to play the files and they
all work... so I don't think it's a codec issue...

"RajKohli" wrote:

> One more thing that you can try:
>
> Open My Computer - click Tools - Folder Options
> click View Tab - check for an option called "Do not cache thumnails"
> If it is checked then uncheck or vice versa.
>
> Hope this one works, let us know!
>
> "Masked Rider" wrote:
>
> > The Thumbnail view of my window explorer works fine with most video files in
> > general. But it doesn't show the first frame of my mpg file that are
> > recorded by my Sony camcorder at 16:9 aspect ratio. There is another PC in
> > my house that is also running Windows XP and somehow its thumbnail view
> > works fine with those mpg files. Does anyone know how why? I've run the
> > Microsoft Decoder Checkup Utility and found that there are many decoders on
> > my PC and many are not compatible with MP10. Is that my problem? If so,
> > how do I get rid of those decoders?
> >
> >
> >

[RajKohli]

So here is a huge discussion on the same problem from some other newsgroups.
Hope it helps you too, let us know!

Hi Aaron. I ran into this very same problem on Win XP Pro and it drove me
nuts. I tried all the normal stuff like file associations and app
reinstalls, etc and I searched the web and found very little help on the
subject just as you did. Anyway the following was the best and safest
resolution available that I could find. Your situation may be different, but
here's how I fixed my thumbnails for both .MPEG and .MPG (same file formats,
with two common extension variations).

First, here are all the details in a step-by-step format. If you want to
skip all this and you feel comfortable applying registry updates directly,
then at the very bottom of this posting, I show you how to create a custom
..REG file that will do this in one step.

DETAILS:

1. Go here and read this post http://www.tech-pro.net/howto_011.html.
NOTE: This was written for Win98/Me and is from the perspective of graphics
files so I almost ignored this info, but by understanding the structure of
the registry first, I was able to solve my video file thumbnails in the same
way. *** Don't download and merge the "thumbnail.reg" file that is posted
here. It doesn't have the keys you need for video files.

2. Go here and search the page to find "restore thumbnail view" (line 17)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm. I right-clicked on the link
"Restore Thumbnail Views in XP" and saved the "xp_thumbnail.exe" to my HD and
ran it locally. This handy tool updates the registry so I would recommend
checking your registry values first to see if you have this same structure
already. Couple interesting notes here: First, the .MPG extension was not
even available for me but .MPEG was. I unchecked everything except the .MPEG
and clicked Apply to just do the minimum for a single file extension.

3. Run Regedit and navigate down to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT folder scroll down
to find your .AVI, .MPEG and .MPG Keys or whichever ones aren't generating
thumbnails for you. In step 2 above, xp_thumbnail.exe corrected the ShellEx
folder for the .MPEG key with the following structure:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mpeg\shellex\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}

The (Default) value for this key is {c5a40261-cd64-4ccf-84cb-c394da41d590}

4. For me, this was just as shown for .MPEG but not the same for .MPG, so
all I did was expand the .mpg key, expand the shellex key and add a new key
under shellex. Then rename this new key to
"{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}". Then click on this renamed key and
dbl-click the (Default) value. Set the value to
"{c5a40261-cd64-4ccf-84cb-c394da41d590}". Viola!! My .mpeg and .mpg video
files now show thumbnails again in Windows Explorer when Thumbnail mode is
selected.

** I repeated step 4 for my .AVI and .WMV keys as well to fix them in the
same way.

** One other note: Not sure if this key/value combo is specific to a
particular application. I haven't played with this yet and don't plan to
since it's working again. For me, I had previously downloaded the latest
Quicktime Player (ver 7.1.3) and had setup QuickTime as the default viewer
for all my MPEG file types.

QUICK-FIX VERSION

Be careful before using this. Recommend you read the above and understand
what's going on before doing this.

1. Create a new .txt file in Notepad and save it to your HD. Name it
something like "Update_Thumbnail_ShellEx.txt".

2. Copy the following text into this txt file. Note: Each key is exactly
the same except for the name of the key right after the _ROOT\ part. Notice
here that I have a key for ".avi", ".mpg", ".mpeg", and ".wmv". You can add
others or not use any for file types that aren't giving you trouble
displaying thumbnails. Make sure you copy the first line "Windows Registry
Editor Version 5.00" too. This may be different for your environment.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.avi\ShellEx\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{c5a40261-cd64-4ccf-84cb-c394da41d590}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mpg\shellex\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{c5a40261-cd64-4ccf-84cb-c394da41d590}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.mpeg\shellex\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{c5a40261-cd64-4ccf-84cb-c394da41d590}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.wmv\shellex\{BB2E617C-0920-11d1-9A0B-00C04FC2D6C1}]
@="{c5a40261-cd64-4ccf-84cb-c394da41d590}"

3. Save this file and rename it from .txt to .reg and dbl-click on it. This
should merge all these updates to the registry. This is all I had to do to
make thumbnails all work again for all of these video file types.

Hope that helps you and others
- WebGuy

http://shellrevealed.com/forums/thread/5351.aspx

================================================== ==
"Masked Rider 1" wrote:

> Thanks a lot for helping... but it's still not working.
> It is very very strange... another computer in my house is running exactly
> the same XP Pro and it works... just not the other ones.
> Basically, there are 4 XP Pro's. 3 of them cannot display the thumbnails on
> the same set of widescreen MPG files on the file server (Windows Server
> 2003). Only one of them consistently works.
> What bugs me is that I can use a number players to play the files and they
> all work... so I don't think it's a codec issue...
>
> "RajKohli" wrote:
>
> > One more thing that you can try:
> >
> > Open My Computer - click Tools - Folder Options
> > click View Tab - check for an option called "Do not cache thumnails"
> > If it is checked then uncheck or vice versa.
> >
> > Hope this one works, let us know!
> >
> > "Masked Rider" wrote:
> >
> > > The Thumbnail view of my window explorer works fine with most video files in
> > > general. But it doesn't show the first frame of my mpg file that are
> > > recorded by my Sony camcorder at 16:9 aspect ratio. There is another PC in
> > > my house that is also running Windows XP and somehow its thumbnail view
> > > works fine with those mpg files. Does anyone know how why? I've run the
> > > Microsoft Decoder Checkup Utility and found that there are many decoders on
> > > my PC and many are not compatible with MP10. Is that my problem? If so,
> > > how do I get rid of those decoders?
> > >
> > >
> > >

[John Inzer]

Masked Rider 1 wrote:
> Thanks a lot for helping... but it's still not working.
> It is very very strange... another computer in my house is running
> exactly the same XP Pro and it works... just not the other ones.
> Basically, there are 4 XP Pro's. 3 of them cannot display the
> thumbnails on the same set of widescreen MPG files on the file server
> (Windows Server 2003). Only one of them consistently works.
> What bugs me is that I can use a number players to play the files and
> they all work... so I don't think it's a codec issue...

=============================
Try this, maybe it will restore the thumbs:

go to...Start / Run and type
(or copy/paste):

"regsvr32 shmedia.dll"
(without the quotes)(Yes, there's
a space between 2 and S)

Click...OK.

A dialog box should report the following:

"DllRegisterServer in shmedia.dll succeeded"
=============================

--

******John Inzer********
**MS Picture It! MVP**

*****Digital Image******
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

*********Notice***********
This is not tech support
........I am a volunteer.......

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you.

Proceed at your own risk.

[Masked Rider 1]

Again, thanks a lot for helping.
However, I've checked my registers and they are already having the right
keys & values.
It's very very strange because some of my thumbnails are shown correctly but
some are not. For standard 4:3 aspect ratio mpg files, they are always OK.
Only with 16:9 (widescreen) mpg files, they are not always showing. For
example, in a folder with 20 widescreen mpg files, only 1 or 2 will show
thumbnails both others will not. It looks as if after processing a couple of
them, my XP decides to stop...

"Masked Rider 1" wrote:

> Thanks a lot for helping... but it's still not working.
> It is very very strange... another computer in my house is running exactly
> the same XP Pro and it works... just not the other ones.
> Basically, there are 4 XP Pro's. 3 of them cannot display the thumbnails on
> the same set of widescreen MPG files on the file server (Windows Server
> 2003). Only one of them consistently works.
> What bugs me is that I can use a number players to play the files and they
> all work... so I don't think it's a codec issue...
>
> "RajKohli" wrote:
>
> > One more thing that you can try:
> >
> > Open My Computer - click Tools - Folder Options
> > click View Tab - check for an option called "Do not cache thumnails"
> > If it is checked then uncheck or vice versa.
> >
> > Hope this one works, let us know!
> >
> > "Masked Rider" wrote:
> >
> > > The Thumbnail view of my window explorer works fine with most video files in
> > > general. But it doesn't show the first frame of my mpg file that are
> > > recorded by my Sony camcorder at 16:9 aspect ratio. There is another PC in
> > > my house that is also running Windows XP and somehow its thumbnail view
> > > works fine with those mpg files. Does anyone know how why? I've run the
> > > Microsoft Decoder Checkup Utility and found that there are many decoders on
> > > my PC and many are not compatible with MP10. Is that my problem? If so,
> > > how do I get rid of those decoders?
> > >
> > >
> > >