John's Computer Journal

Vista's Aero interface messes with VLC's ability to playback some videos on default settings. The video settings must be changed manually to DirectX video output. In VLC:

1. Select the Settings -> Preferences menu.
2. Expand the Video Section (click the plus next to video) and select Output modules
3. Check the Advanced options box and select DirectX video output.
4. Click Save and restart VLC.

Unfortunately, setting the output to DirectX will cause windows to disable Aero when playing back videos. The Windows GDI setting will avoid this, but won't have the hardware acceleration of DirectX and can't select menu items on DVDs. DirectX 3D will work for DVDs, but only for certain videos.

References

• VLC Media Player Problem under Vista