yes, that 'thunderstorm' effect is also present at the left temple of the character in the clip, including after I moved the light and re-rendered, and i have had it before when I was in P4. I have not had time to experiment with other solutions...caught up in something else for the moment, will return to it next few days. I find it incredible -- incredible -- to believe that the external presence of RealPlayer could do this. Are you saying it effects calculations during successive rendering of frames? By the way, I do have RealPlayer installed, even though I DO NOT LIKE THAT PROGRAM. MLB.com, you understand! ::::: Opera :::::