VM video playback problem

[briareos_kerensky]

At work my boss dug out a program that he thinks vital for the well-being of the whole world, but he's unable to make it run. It's some sort of interactive multimedia presentation, something that should have been done in Flash and instead is some sort of DVD player because its folder contains "Video_TS" and a "Audio_TS" with .res files (which aren't merely renamed .vob files).

Under Windows 7, the program starts fine, displays an intro screen with video and sound but it stops before getting to the main menu. I've tried setting various compatibility options but had no luck.

So I turned to MicroSoft's own WinXP virtual machine and the program starts fine, the intro screen is not shown but the audio is played. It then gets to the main menu but it's just a background image with no buttons to click.
The same thing happens with Virtual Box and Windows XP SP3.

On an old machine with Windows XP SP3 the program runs fine, the problem is that my boss wants it to run on its Win7 notebook and I'd liek to avoid dual boots (the user isn't particularly tech savvy, lack of drivers and license).

I've tried to play a normal video DVD in the virtual machines and the result is the same as before, audio is fine but no video. I was thinking of some sort of video layering problem but WMVs play correctly.

Installing codec packs doens't seem to help, the situation remains the same (audio, but no video).

Does anyone know a good free DVD player that installs proper MPEG codecs or has a solution to this?

[monel]

Have you tried VLC player, perhaps using the open folder option and pointing it at the Video_TS folder. That may just play the video, though... I'd try VLC with the ffdshow codecs pack, perhaps. I've not encountered this kind of video format though, with the other file types.

[briareos_kerensky]

VLC is out of question because it uses internal codecs, while I need a system codec.

[monel]

Ok, sorry about that.

[briareos_kerensky]

No prob.
I've recreated the decoder configuration I have on the old XP machine in MS' own virtual environment without success...on my old machine I had the CCCP, Intervideo WinDVD, MainConcept MPEG Encoder and...Nero 7! Unfortunately no configuration makes DVD videos visible and I don't realy know why. Tomorrow I'll try on Virtual Box after asking the community if there's some sort of trick behind it.

[briareos_kerensky]

The quest goes on: tried with VLC and got a blank screen no matter the output method I use. I asked Virtual Box's community and looks like video DVDs use a particular layer (different from other videos like .AVI, .MKV, etc etc) not supported by VB; I also asked MicroSoft but still waiting for a reply. I'll try to change the virtual OS to Vista as a last resort; if this won't work I'll have to try with a Win7/WinXp dual boot...oh the horrors.

[briareos_kerensky]

And...it works in a virtual Vista machine created in Virtual Box.
Still unable to understand why it works with Vista and not with WinXP (or why this f$cking presentation doesn't work under Win7 even with Vista compatibility on) but at least I've found a way to make it work without dual boot.

[briareos_kerensky]

Last update.
After successfully having that thing work under a virtual Vista, I decided to take a deeper look at those .RES files in the Video_TS folder...MPC-HC wouldn't open them, so I fired up G Spot to see which codec they use and they are .SWF files. Renaming them won't bring anything in the Flash Player (most certainly they have to be played through the .EXE to be shown), so I re-created a WinXP virtual machine, installed the Flash player and everything worked fine.
Why won't someone create an embedded Flash player is beyond my comprehension.

[monel]

Good to hear you got it sorted. I hate video playback issues they drive me nuts. After getting my current setup playing everything to a decent standard I came across a video in mpeg HD and my machine won't run it without playback problems, when I can play anything else. I don't get it and it's driving me nuts.