Available from Microsoft

Dec 29, 2009 10:56 GMT  ·  By

In certain scenarios, watching a video on a computer running the latest iteration of the Windows client might not be an enjoyable experience. Microsoft informed of the existence of a problem related to the Enhanced Video Renderer in Windows Vista’s successor that can cause Windows Media Player 12 to deliver an inferior quality user experience. According to the Redmond company, the issue is related to Windows 7 computers paying video via Windows Media Player from a DVD while also grabbing subtitles from the media. Users will find that the video begins to flicker when the text appears on screen.

“You have a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. You configure Windows Media Player 12 to display subtitles when you play a DVD. However, the video image flickers every time that a new line of subtitle is displayed,” Microsoft explained.

With the issue already identified, the software giant already has a fix available for customers affected by this specific problem. “This problem occurs because of an issue in the way that the Enhanced Video Renderer (EVR) handles subtitle notifications,” the company added.

A hotfix is already available for download via Microsoft Support and will correct the problem described in this article, according to the Redmond company. However, users that are in no way impacted by video flickering glitches when using Windows 7 and Windows Media Player to play video from a DVD complete with subtitles need not deploy the hotfix. The best course of action for customers unaffected by the issue is to wait for the first update that will automatically integrate the hotfix with their operating systems. Most likely this hotfix will end up in the first Service Pack for Windows 7, a release Microsoft is keeping mum at this point in time.