Anytime I use Media Center in Windows 7 to play video clips, recorded television, or DVDs - the color quality is noticeably faded when compared with playing the same clips, TV photos, or DVD in any other video player (such as Windows Media Player, TotalMedia 3.5, or Aver MediaCenter). 

I've tried different screen RESOLUTIONS including my monitor's native 1080p. Also, I compared the same videos on an XP Media Center 2005 Edition laptop, in the same players vs. Media Center, and did not experience any difference in color.

Here are links to pictures on Photobucket:

Snap of TV from Media Center: http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss168/R...a19/TV1-WMC.png

Snap of TV from TotalMedia 3.5: http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss168/R...ba19/TV3-TM.png

All video in Media Center appears faded, as shown in the above (MC) example. All other programs perform as shown in the TotalMedia example.  Pictures look normal in Media Center, just as they do in Windows Photo Viewer or any other photo viewer.

All other images on my screen, including the DESKTOP wallpaper and YouTube appear normal as well.

Any ideas or informations, especially a fix, would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

High_Tech_Redneck


OS Name   Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Version   6.1.7600 Build 7600
Other OS Description    Not Available
OS Manufacturer   Microsoft Corporation
System Name   GRADYTAYLOR-PC
System Manufacturer   Dell Inc.
System Model   Studio XPS 1640
System Type   x64-based PC
Processor   Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     P8800  2.66GHz, 2667 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date   Dell Inc. A14, 3/29/2010
SMBIOS Version   2.5
Windows Directory   C:\Windows
System Directory   C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device   \Device\HarddiskVolume3
Locale   United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer   Version = "6.1.7600.16385"
User Name   GradyTaylor-PC\Grady Taylor
Time Zone   Hawaiian Standard Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM)   4.00 GB
Total Physical Memory   3.96 GB
Available Physical Memory   1.16 GB
Total Virtual Memory   7.93 GB
Available Virtual Memory   4.86 GB
Page File Space   3.96 GB
Page File   C:\pagefile.sys


Name   ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670
PNP Device ID   PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9488&SUBSYS_02721028&REV_00\4&1668647A&0&0008
Adapter Type   ATI display adapter (0x9488), ATI Technologies Inc. compatible
Adapter Description   ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4670
Adapter RAM   1.00 GB (1,073,741,824 BYTES)
Installed Drivers   atiumd64.dll,atidxx64.dll,atiumdag,atidxx32,atiumdva,atiumd6a.cap,atitmm64.dll
Driver Version   8.631.0.0
INF File   oem73.inf (ati2mtag_M9x section)
Color Planes   Not Available
Color Table Entries   4294967296
Resolution   1280 x 720 x 60 hertz
Bits/Pixel   32
Memory Address   0xD0000000-0xDFFFFFFF
I/O Port   0x00002000-0x00002FFF
Memory Address   0xCFEF0000-0xCFEFFFFF
IRQ Channel   IRQ 4294967294
I/O Port   0x000003B0-0x000003BB
I/O Port   0x000003C0-0x000003DF
Memory Address   0xA0000-0xBFFFF
Driver   c:\windows\system32\drivers\atikmdag.sys (8.1.1.921, 5.76 MB (6,036,480 bytes), 2/20/2010 4:53 PM)
Have you tried using different codecs?Do you mean like installing a codec pack?  One time I installed K-Lite Codec pack on another PC and it made the audio sound odd whenever Windows Media Player tried to play an MPEG video.  After K-Lite was uninstalled, the sound on MPEGs returned to normal.  The sound was never bad on anything else.

Anyway, I don't want a problem like that.  But shouldn't Media Center work on it's own codecs?  Have you seen this exact issue on any other computer?

What would be your suggestion of a codec?

Thanks for the reply.The KLite codec pack is still probably your best bet...
The anamolies with the prior machine may be attributed to it being older equipment...
Even it exhibits the same behaviour you can always uninstall it...but i don't think it will...K-Lite is one suggestion, but it is hit-and-miss for some people.

Others include:
COMBINED Community Codec Pack (CCCP)
Shark007's codecs (the creator of the Vista Codec Package): http://www.shark007.net/win7codecs.html

To answer your question about Media Center and its own codecs...well, yes theoretically.  Sometimes installing other audio or video programs can jack them around a bit (i.e.: Nero's extra stuff, Roxio's extra stuff, PowerDVD, WinDVD, Corel Video Studio, etc.). 

XP Media Center didn't even come with its own MPEG codec.  It wasn't until Vista that Microsoft actually decided to ship Media Center with a bleepin' codec!  That's why my first guess regarding your issue was your codecs.