Midi play sounds like its in a drain

Hey guys I’ve just switched to Cubase from Pro Tools to write for film and I just wished I did it sooner.

But I have two problems.
The first issues is when I’m using a midi track to signal a vst from a instrument channel, if I play on my midi controller (keystation pro by usb) it sounds fine, same if I enter midi notes with the mouse but if I record the midi, on playback the sound has been altered. it sounds like its either heavily EQ’ed or has a chorus effect. As far as I can tell there are no effects on anywhere, it’s purely the vst and the midi track (nothing added).

The second is that I can’t seem to open any video files, the browsers just says the Cubase doesn’t support this file, but the thing is that it says this with Mpeg4 and QuickTime’s so if these common formats won’t work, what will???

I really appreciate anyone who helps

Windows 7 64bit , M-audio lt1010, M-audio Keystation 88 pro, Cubase 5.5.2, 6 eastwest library’s, Komplete 7