Vernier Tech Info Library TIL #1342

Question

Why does the movie player in Logger Pro show a blank white screen?

Answer

When video is captured or replayed on a computer, codecs (compression-decompression methods) are used to code and decode the movie. This is necessary because movie files are very large, and codecs make the file size manageable.

The codec used is independent of the file format, which is a different variation in how video files are saved. Two common file formats are designated by the file extensions of .avi and .mov.

Logger Pro video is based on QuickTime, which is installed with Logger Pro. QuickTime installs with a large set of codecs (40+) which can open many videos. If your movie appears as a blank white screen in Logger Pro, the proper codec is not installed on your computer.

One example of this problem comes from the use of Logitech web cameras. The Logitech software uses a proprietary codec called Indeo, which is not installed with QuickTime, and neither Logger Pro nor QuickTime can play the movie; and you get a white screen.

You have three options to attempt a workaround:

1) If you close Logger Pro and open the video file directly in the program named QuickTime Player, you will sometimes get a prompt to download the missing codec.

2) The Mac version of QuickTime seems to include more codecs, so you may have better luck opening the file on a Mac.

3) Or, you can open the video in the application you used to create the video (often a webcam or movie maker application that came with the camera) and look for any video export options to save the video in a different format. Often this will force the application to use a different codec, which Logger Pro will then be able to open.

4) Use a video conversion program to encode your movie with a different codec. There are many free and paid options for software to do this. The free version that seems to work well with most formats is VLC, which is free from:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Note that VLC is very capable, but is not the easiest to use.

Related TILs:
TIL 1394: Why won't Logger Pro play my movie?

Created by: rsorensen on September 30 2004
Last updated by: jhopkins on December 08 2009