RSIGuard Technical Note
Problem:
When a break starts, RSIGuard stretch videos don't appear. Either:
- A black square is displayed instead of stretch videos
- An error message about the MCI system or about stretches appears
- RSIGuard crashes and in rare cases, the mouse and keyboard might be unresponsive, requiring a reboot.
This problem can occur for RSIGuard Stretch Edition or Call Center Edition, however it does not apply to RSIGuard Int'l Edition, or RSIGuard for Mac or Linux.
Cause:
RSIGuard videos are displayed by a component of the Windows operating system called the "MCI" system using codecs, which are programs that tell Windows how to convert video files into the moving images that make a movie.
If this problem occurs, you could have a corrupt video codec, a corrupt video file, or a problem with MCI drivers. Since the actual error occurs within Windows MCI system, this bug would also impact most versions of Microsoft PowerPoint, MPlay32, and potentially other software trying to play this type of video file. However, Windows Media Player uses a different system, so it might still be able to play the videos.
Another possible problem is that your computer may not have MCI drivers installed. For example, the MCI drivers may not be standard on some Windows Server configurations.
Possible Solutions:
- Try re-enabling stretches (within RSIGuard, click Setup, Settings, visit the Stretch tab, click Show Stretches During Breaks) and see if the problem repeats.
- If the problem started happening right after you installed other new software on your computer, you could try uninstalling that software to see if that is the cause. If so, please notify RSIGuard support (and optionally also tell the vendor of that software that the codecs they install interfere with the Windows MCI system ability to play some video files).
- If you are using Windows XP or earlier (i.e. this does not apply to Vista or Win 7), you can upgrade your codes from Microsoft and make sure you have installed Windows Media Player 9 or later.
- Depending on which package you initially downloaded, installing alternate format MPG videos may help: Click here to download the MPEG format RSIGuard stretch videos.
- Depending on which package you initially downloaded, installing alternate format WMV videos may help: Click here to download the Windows Media Video (WMV) format stretch videos.