J_Darnley: First of all, which game? Secondly, what operating system do you have? All five games use DirectShow for video decoding so you might need to install the right codec but it would be very unusual to need one these days. The videos are all mpeg4 in avi which is extremely common.
If you still want to try that as a solution I suggest
Combined Community Codec Pack which is nicely restrained pack that doesn't bundle all sorts of old shit filled with malware. Please still take the usual security precautions when downloading software.
MessaNoir: I know this is a very old post, but I had to write and say a big Thank You! Installing the CCCP pack still fixes the issue with the game, the black screen videos playing. I just installed to replay the series and had the issue, searched and found this post, installed and bam, issue fixed.
THANK YOU! :)
Yes you can use combine community codec pack, but don't think that gets updated anymore.
Also i think that most japanese games want you to use k-lite codecs package is what i use though i use the k -lite mega codecs package. Just informing you.