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Dealing w/ Codec Hell Under Multiple OSes? 104

Posted by Cliff from the "DLL-hell"-gets-a-facelift dept.
Dixie_Flatline asks: "I just downloaded some videos from here and there, and I found myself floundering in codec hell. I've got AVIs and MPGs, and none of them play. I've got DivX and 3ivX installed, and I even tried using DivX Doctor on some of the AVIs. The other AVIs refused to be processed, and even the MPGs won't play! When I put them onto a Win2000 box, I found that only SOME of the AVIs played, most of them didn't and the MPGs were STILL broken. Is there a codec pack out there that has everything I need all packaged up neatly? How do I get myself out of this? I just want to watch my media files!" While there probably isn't a be-all-end-all codec pack for your specific OS, what web resources are useful for people who need to find a codec (even an obscure one) before they can play their media files?
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Dealing w/ Codec Hell Under Multiple OSes? More

Dealing w/ Codec Hell Under Multiple OSes?

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  • identify codecs (Score:5, Informative)

    by junkymailbox ( 731309 ) * on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @09:42PM (#7675818)
    There are programs out there specifically designed to identify the codec. Not to make a plug but I use a program called G Spot [headbands.com]. It tells you what codec is need and where on your system is the codec supposed to be. YMMV if you're a on non windows system. Try to not mod me down for using windows.

    • Re:identify codecs (Score:4, Informative)

      by Creepy Crawler ( 680178 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @09:48PM (#7675861)
      Windows works ok for playing basic stuff, but fails when you have many AVI's with the same 4 character ID. Then the AVI lookup library gets in a fit and doesnt bother to try to lookup the correct format.

      Mplayer WILL attempt to find the correct codec to the media being played. It just doesnt run well on windows (or so I've heard- I've never attempted it).
      • but fails when you have many AVI's with the same 4 character ID.

        Windows neither knows nor cares about how many other videos you have when one gets played. Sure, Windows may erroneously give a "no suitable codec found" or similar error when you try to open a corrupted file, but that has nothing to do with codec hell and everything to do with MS's AVI parser, which is very intolerant of corruption.

    • Re:identify codecs (Score:2, Informative)

      by vasko ( 168613 )
      There are programs out there specifically designed to identify the codec. Not to make a plug but I use a program called G Spot. It tells you what codec is need and where on your system is the codec supposed to be.

      ... and then go to the GalgoNET [freeweb.hu], download ACE Mega Codec Pack and install only codecs/filters that you absolutely need. Link [divx-digest.com] to the page with few more details.

  • Crack out mPlayer from mplayerhq.hu (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Creepy Crawler ( 680178 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @09:44PM (#7675837)
    Put as many windows codec's under /usr/win32 and let mplayer have a shot at them. I've not seen one AVI that it couldnt play correctly.

    Xine, on the other hand....
    • Actually, I've found that both players can play all the porn^W videos I through at them... I've stuck with mplayer simply because I started using it first, despite the *random* bugs that crop up with every new release (screen turning black when playing every third file in the playlist? a few versions ago, mplayer would play the first file in a playlist twice? wtf?)

      I think I've just convinced myself to use xine more often...

    • Re:Crack out mPlayer from mplayerhq.hu (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      put those same codecs in /usr/lib/win32, and xine magically uses them too.

    • Additionally (Score:4, Informative)

      by Trbmxfz ( 728040 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @06:52AM (#7678655)
      Put as many windows codec's under /usr/win32 and let mplayer have a shot at them. I've not seen one AVI that it couldnt play correctly.

      Same here. Additionally, I'd mention that MPEGs should just work in every player there is. If you have MPEGs that don't play, they're most likely broken, and that's it.

      You may want to use the file utility to see whether it things that your MPEGs are indeed MPEGs.

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @09:45PM (#7675851)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Mplayer for Debian (Score:4, Informative)

    by molo ( 94384 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @09:49PM (#7675870) Journal
    For those that don't know, there is a mplayer for debian apt source available. It includes all of the codecs, win32, quicktime, realplayer, etc. Best part is mplayer-plugin (works with Mozilla for sites that embed their videos in a webpage). Go here:

    http://marillat.free.fr/ [marillat.free.fr]

    -molo

    • Re:Mplayer for Debian (Score:5, Informative)

      by swillden ( 191260 ) * <shawn-ds@willden.org> on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @10:15PM (#7676089) Journal

      For those that don't know, there is a mplayer for debian apt source available.

      I second the recommendation, but it's really a multimedia debian apt source, with lots of players and codecs, rippers and encoders, etc., not just mplayer. Basically, it's got all of the media stuff that Debian won't carry because of patent and DMCA concerns.

      The xine packages on marillat are really nice, too.

      Just add one of the three lines below to your sources.list, depending on which version of Debian you run (stable, testing, unstable):

      deb http://marillat.free.fr/ stable main
      deb http://marillat.free.fr/ testing main
      deb http://marillat.free.fr/ unstable main

      Great stuff. Or so I'm told. Given that I live in the US, I obviously wouldn't use any of this potentially illegal and undoubtedly subversive software.

    • Mandrake users should try PLF [zarb.org], which has all those binary codecs packaged. If you like urpmi or the graphical Mandrake package tools, use Easy Urpmi [zarb.org] to add the PLF package tree.
    • Even better than mozilla intergration is KDE intergration. Look for "kmplayer" in your respective package systems. Its my personal fave, I dont use anything else.

  • try Video Lan Client (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @09:49PM (#7675879)
    http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ [videolan.org]

    Should play most everything!
    • Yeah, definitely try Video Lan Client. Why? Because they've developed their own codecs for playing videos and do not rely on codecs that are installed on the system (so there's no codec confusion, which sometimes occurs on Windows Media Player)

    • Re:try Video Lan Client (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      yep, why else? it is multi platform, os x, windows, linux, bsd, qnx, whatever, it is also open source, and also just good software!

  • mplayer and winamp2 (Score:3, Informative)

    by Apreche ( 239272 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @09:49PM (#7675880) Homepage Journal
    I use gentoo. In linux I have mplayer emerged. It plays everything automatically. I haven't seen a file it wont play properly all on its own. It's like magic. I wish mplayer worked as perfect in windows as in linux.

    In windows since mplayer in windows isn't even comparable to linux I use winamp 2. Since it's already the best player for mp3s might as well use it for video too and save myself a piece of software. I have ffdshow installed and it works perfect with winamp2. I haven't found a divx file that wont play. I have however, found ogms it wont play. It's somewhat annoying, but not so bad. I also have quick time alt and real alt so I can play those files in windows without their respective crap softwares.
    • There is a problem with Winamp2 (latest). It sometimes has the video flipped vertically. Now there is a switch to support old codecs where this is a problem but I've found one big problem with it: regardless of the switch setting, divx311alpha is always vertically flipped. Same codec works perfectly with old media player (the mplayer2.exe you find in "c:\program files\windows media player")

      It's a shame, since Winamp's a nice program and divx311alpha has good quality and was used quite extensively at some

  • yeah (Score:1)

    by croddy ( 659025 )
    this is why I mostly just don't watch videos.

  • Cut this out (Score:3, Informative)

    by jsse ( 254124 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @09:55PM (#7675913) Homepage Journal
    How do I get myself out of this? I just want to watch my media files!

    Stop downloading p0rns from untrustworthy p2p sources. They don't mean it when they put up a title like "Britney_Lesbian_Rape_Cum_Teen_Pee.AVI".

    Hmm, I meant, when you say AVI it may not be really AVI. Yeah, right. :)

    Or install Gentoo then emerge mplayer. Their default installation already included a lot of codec, free as well as proprietary ones. You just fire your mplayer on any file and it'll recognize it regardless of its extension. You should be all set.

  • what works for me on win32 (Score:3, Informative)

    by MoOsEb0y ( 2177 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @09:57PM (#7675929)
    Google for a thing called "nimo codec pack". It's everything and the kitchen sink all packaged in one NSIS executable. quite handy.
    • You have to be careful of that, though. I run Windows XP (hey, it was free, MSDN Academic Alliance has saved me about $3000 for M$ software), with all the latest patches installed. That includes Windows Media Player 9. When I installed the Nimo Codec Pack, WMP would crash on every file I tried to play, even MP3s and WMVs. After I uninstalled that codec pack, everything worked properly again.

      You may be able to avoid the problem by using other media players, but I've yet to find a player for windows that

      • Re:what works for me on win32 (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        You had problems with WMP crashing on everything because you failed to read the install instructions telling you that 2 different codecs that are part of that Nimo codec pack are mutually exclusive. How do I know this? It's because I made the same mistake myself by just breezing through the Nimo install wizard without reading the instructions. I got it to work AFTER uninstalling it and then selecting one codec or the other.

        It doesn't matter though because I had uninstalled Nimo after it worked for a whi
      • Media Player Classic (already mentioned) and Zoomplayer work great for me. Zoomplayer particularly is nice, as it is very customizeable wrt keyboard keys and mouse/mouse wheel. And it has a number of preset aspect ratio sizes in case you need to resize your video for some reason (happens more often than you might think). Lastly, if you purchase the Pro version, it will work as a front end to DVD filters, though you have to have another DVD player of some sort on your computer.
    • Maybe i missed a step or two in the instructions, but Nemo definitely killed PowerDVD for me. Install, re-install, uninstall... none of them fixed it. And it might just be my puter, but the latest divx codecs were acting up too. I'm still using 5.05, perhaps i'll try the newest 5.1.1
  • everything on this page (if you're a redhat person).
    here [puc-rio.br]
    Works beautifully on nearly everything I throw at it. Although the mozilla plugin crashes a lot. Might have to try out the mplayer kind that someone else has posted.

  • Codec Pack + AVIcodec (Score:5, Informative)

    by Chris Pimlott ( 16212 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @10:06PM (#7676008)
    While there probably isn't a be-all-end-all codec pack for your specific OS

    Actually, there is [titanesk.com] -- for Windows at least. But I've tried it before, and installing every possibly codec, most of which you never use, only makes things worse, not better. I find it better to ignore the all-in-one packages and just get the codecs from the proper sources. So grab xvid and divx and ac3filter--that'll cover most of it--and then grab other ones as you need them.

    what web resources are useful for people who need to find a codec (even an obscure one) before they can play their media files?

    Which is where AVIcodec [duby.info] comes in. What it does is show you what audio and video codecs are used by your media files. So when you find a file that doesn't work properly, it'll let you know what to look for. Google is normally enough after that, but RareWares [hydrogenaudio.org] is a good place to find some of the more obscure codecs.
  • First step is to determine exactly what codec you _NEED_. AVI, as you probably know, isn't a codec; it's just a container format. Go ahead and download GSpot [headbands.com] for Win32/WINE (screenshot [headbands.com]) and investigate.
  • Usually when I run into problems playing DivX files, it's because I'm playing back a 5.11 file when I have 5.05 installed. It tries real hard to play it, so what I get is blocky/all-green gabage. It doesn't give me a "You have the wrong codec" message. Other than that, I can't say I've had problems with playing back various media files, and I download porn like mad.

  • No expert but... (Score:5, Informative)

    by ptaff ( 165113 ) * on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @10:17PM (#7676104) Homepage
    There is a site [moviecodec.com] devoted to video/audio codecs.

    As a sidenote, I'd strongly suggest you try the latest MPlayer [mplayerhq.hu] builds for Windows. Powerful stuff. Shameless plug.

    • i've been using mplayer for windows for a while now, its VERY good.

      only a couple things missing from the windows port:

      tv support (libdha ports to win98 but not NT)
      libcss (ack!)
      libaa (yes i want to try some nice aa on win)
      libpng (wasnt in the last binary release, dunno about pre3)

      anyways, keep up the great work mplayer dev's!!!

  • MPAA? (Score:2)

    by moonboy ( 2512 )
    I've had similar issues with mp3's and supposedly (ala 60 Minutes) the RIAA hired a company to put bogus files out there to discourage P2P downloading. Might this be the MPAA using the same tactic?

  • Porn (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by Photar ( 5491 )
    I find the pornography subtext both blatent and offensive :)

    • Re:Porn (Score:3, Funny)

      by RevMike ( 632002 )

      I find the pornography subtext both blatent and offensive

      You have a source for blatent and offensive porn? Please share it!

    • I find the pornography subtext both welcomed and intriguing.

      • Re:Porn (Score:2, Funny)

        by Tackhead ( 54550 )
        > I find the pornography subtext both welcomed and intriguing.

        You mean to say that you, for one, welcome your pr0*BLAM BLAM BLAM*NO CARRIER

  • I use a custom install of Tsunami Codec Pack, and the latest DivX.

    I've yet to run into a video I couldn't play in Windows with mplayer2.exe. I just wish that bloated piece of shit wmplayer.exe would stop taking over the damn associations.

    On Linux, I just use good ol' mplayer tweaked out with all the Windows dll's. That works better than anything!

  • Doom9 (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @10:42PM (#7676305)
    Doom9 [doom9.org] has pretty much all the info you could ever want on codecs and video formats. The link to Gordian Knot should give you all the codecs you need (Win32 only, unfortunately).
  • Under Windows you can grab the Nimo Codec pak and the Gordian Knot bundle. I found them both to be helpful but the Nimo bundle will give you a Divx player (only for AVIs) however unless its been repacked it's an old version. And as for a reason that your AVIs didn't play...they may be encoded with the Xvid codec. It's easier to find for Windows than Linux though but the source is out there.

  • GSpot (Score:1, Redundant)

    by Midnight Warrior ( 32619 )
    No. Don't mod this down. It's real. G-Spot [headbands.com] goes quite a long way toward identifying codecs. It won't help you get them loaded, but does have magic-cookie-like fingerprints for a very diverse list of codecs. Windows only, but I don't think you need admin privs to run it either.
  • Is there a codec pack out there that has everything I need all packaged up neatly?

    Yeah, its called a Mac.

    • When I submitted this story, I wanted it to go to the Apple section. My problem is that I DO have a Mac, and I'm having problems. Fortunately, the Win2000 box in the house has the same problems.

      Oh, and to the AC that followed up, thinking that s/he was being clever: the story explicitly states that I have 3ivX installed.

      I've managed to clear up most of my problems, except WMA encoded AVIs, but so far there's only a codec for OS 9, which I don't have. Alas.
      • Very odd...At work, I have yet to run across a format or codec (video or audio) that I can't play. I know it is public, but can you tell me what files you can't play, or where they came from?

        I know final cut pro (and hopefully therefore express) includes some extra codec stuff for importing...Maybe you should download a copy for "evaluation". Good luck
      • Install MPlayerOS X, it has played every file I have thrown at it, even wmv files that Window Media Player wouldn't play (and yes, it was not a mislabeled wmv)

    • Re:Easy! (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I disagree, I keep running across avi's that won't play on my Mac or play with a white screen with no audio. Quicktime reports them as "wraw", vlc errors out saying there is no FourCC tag and ffmpegX shows: VIDEO: 0x00000000, size: 352x288, 3.000 fps, 304 kbps.

      I've run these files through vlc,mplayer,quicktime, Indeo 3,4,5 in OS 9, the 3vix codec, Divx codec, msmpeg4v1.component, Divx Tool (can't change fourcc tag because it doesn't work with video that has mp3 audio - not that I would know what to chan

  • Answers, and then some... (Score:5, Informative)

    by TechnoPops ( 590791 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @10:55PM (#7676410) Journal

    Having played a lot with video encoding in my spare time (which isn't hard to do when you've been unemployed for seven months), I will bestow on you some tips on the world of encoded video, so that you won't have to go through as much teeth gnashing, hair pulling, and head slapping that I have. :) (Note: I work primarily on a Win32 machine, so if you want to do this on another platform, just kindly ignore all the words below. :P)

    The most likely problem you are facing is that you don't have the right codecs installed to play the files you want. As someone mentioned before, Nimo [titanesk.com] is your best friend in this case, as it's a file pack that contains a multitude of codecs and filters to play almost everything under the sun.

    But say you install Nimo, and things still don't work. What then? Well, assuming you still don't have the right codec, then it's time to meet your other new best friend, AVIcodec [duby.info]. Don't let the name fool you. This little program will identify the codec you need for AVI's, MPEG's, WMV's, ASF's, and probably a few others I'm forgetting. I also hear good things about GSPot [headbands.com], but AVIcodec works too well for me to change. :)

    Now, say you run into a file that uses MPEG2 for video or has an AC3 audio stream. Well, you won't find any codecs for those on the web, because the Motion Picture Experts Group likes to rake in those licensing fees. (Well, you MAY find a codec or two out there, but keep in mind if you download them and don't have to pay a fee, it's almost certainly illegal.) What you then need to do is to install a software DVD player like PowerDVD [gocyberlink.com] or WinDVD [intervideo.com], and that'll straighten things out for you.

    Now let's say you're SURE you have the right codecs installed, and the video STILL won't play. Well, that just blows, because your file is probably damaged, or in the case of an AVI, it's incomplete. If you've got an AVI, run over and grab AVIPreview [avipreview.com], which is a nice program that'll let you preview incomplete AVI's (see? "AVIPreview"? :P). If it plays in there, and you don't feel like downloading a complete version of the file (which you sometimes can't find when you're using P2P services), AVIPreview will let you save the file with a complete container so most media players won't complain.

    Now... (*takes a breath*), if it isn't an AVI, then the likelyhood you'll be able to fix the problem goes down considerably. Free ASF and WMV editing programs are few and far between (and we all know who owns those file formats), and almost all MPEG issues will continue to niggle you unless you do a full-blown re-encode of the file. You can definitely try downloading VCDGear [vcdgear.com] and checking the "Fix MPEG Errors" checkbox, but this almost NEVER works (i.e., times it worked for me: none).

    And keep in mind these are the EASY solutions. If you're actually interested in using video editing/encoding programs, then take a visit to Doom9 [doom9.org] or DVDRhelp.com [dvdrhelp.com]. The forums and guides on these sites are a boon to the video encoding enthusiast, and the forum regulars tend to be pretty friendly, too. :)

    Best of luck and well wishes...

    • Excellent post, I agree with most of that.

      Interesting side note. Before programs like AVIpreview and DivFix were out, I noticed that you could play some incomplete files in the "preview" pane of the file properties panel in Windows 98. These same files wouldn't work in Media Player. I didn't realize it at the time, but yep, turns out it's the same avi container problem. Anyway, that was a handy trick I found before there other solutions available.

  • VirtualDub (Score:5, Informative)

    by Tom7 ( 102298 ) on Tuesday December 09, 2003 @11:11PM (#7676546) Homepage Journal
    Nobody here has mentioned it yet, so I'll remark that VirtualDub [sourceforge.net] is the best at opening and reconstructing broken AVI files.
    • I second that...

      (Hey again Tom7...no i'm not stalking you, i just happened to find your page [as i told you in email] and now i see your comment on Slashdot)

      Chris
  • Open the video, right click on it and figure out which codecs it expects to have have, search google for the codec name and download one of those huge codec packs that includes it.
  • while this is harder to find now that k-lite has been closed down using the mirrors from this page http://home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/mirror.htm you can find the k-lite codec pack which along with real alternative, quicktime alternative and media player classic should be able to play every video format on the planet

  • I'm using OS X! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Dixie_Flatline ( 5077 ) <<moc.liamg> <ta> <hog.naj.tnecniv>> on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @12:19AM (#7677029) Homepage
    It was edited out that I'm using a G5 with OS X. Thanks to all of you that have answered, even with non-OS X information. I've managed to glean enough from here and there that I've so-far managed to solve most of my problems, except for WMA encoded AVIs, which even DivX Doctor has no solution for on OS X systems.
    • between wmp9 and vlc i can play most any video now on os x. i also have DivX 5.1 installed. do you have sample file url's that i can muck around with?
    • I found that VLC opened anything I threw at it in OSX.
      VLC page: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

      Happy watching.

    • Re:I'm using OS X! (Score:4, Informative)

      by Per Wigren ( 5315 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @04:48AM (#7678274) Homepage
      Try MPlayer for OS X [sf.net]! I haven't tried it myself since I don't have a Mac, but I've heard that it's great and can play just about everything!

    • I thought you might be using OS X given the DIVX DOCTOR comments.

      You need Mplayer OSX [sourceforge.net].

      A godsend, plays everything, I haven't had any problems yet.

    • Re:I'm using OS X! (Score:3, Informative)

      by Hallow ( 2706 )
      I didn't see your post before I posted my comment [slashdot.org]:

      I'm running Mac OS X as well. I had major problems playing DivX, and I had both DivX and 3ivX installed - which turns out to be part of the problem. I've managed to resolve most of my issues with the following components:
      • AC3 Codec.component
      • DivX 5.component
      • msmpeg4v1.component
      • msmpeg4v2.component
      • OggVorbis.qtx
      • on2vp3.component
      • XVIDDelegate.component

      Since setting this up I haven't run into any AVI's or MPEGS that I couldn't play in quicktime.

    • Have your tried VLC? It plays almost anything I throw at it (except for crap such as IV50)
  • If Media Player recognizes it, it automatically downloads and installs the codec, brainless. About the only other codecs you'll see that dont auto install are DivX and conversly(:p) XviD.
    • If Media Player recognizes it, it automatically downloads and installs the codec, brainless.

      I have never, never, NEVER seen this to work. Ever. To anyone, anywhere. Most of the time it recognises which codec it needs, downloads it from the net, does the 'installing' routine. And nothing happens. No playback. Never worked, not once.

      Are you saying that this works for you? Unbelievable. Which Windows? Which MP?
    • This works occasionally. Not every codec can be found at codecs.microsoft.com, obviously. Unlike the other poster, my experience is about say, 50-50. But it's still not a sure thing for WMP to find and install it every time.

  • Author of Zoom Player has an excellent codec guide (Score:3, Informative)

    by Grabble ( 91256 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @02:00AM (#7677560)


    AVOID CODEC PACKS!

    The author of Zoom Player (a highly recommended geek-friendly Win32 media player) has written an exceptionally concise Windows codec guide.

    And as if writing Zoom Player wasn't cool enough, the headline of one of THE most read topics in his well-maintained forum states...
    These codec packs are nothing but trouble, they WILL fuck up your system.
    Here's the codec guide. (Applies to Windows, not just Zoom Player proper.)..
    ...and the forum article entitled...
  • Go get the K-Lite Codec Pack [doa2.host.sk]

    Install that and it will fix all the problems you have...Every couple months whenever I find something tricky I go get the new version...

    As an added bonus, it comes with the GSpot Codec Information [headbands.com] utility...This handy program will tell you anything you want about any media file. It will also tell you wether or not the file is complete as it tries to render...Overall a great little tool...
  • I've had good luck with ffdshow. Only other thing is I also have WMP 9. This along with ffdshow will play the majority of the video. As for audio and subtitles, you'll need something like vobsub and ac3filter. Normally you can just Google for the extension and there should be a website that shows you how you can play these files.

  • avicodec (Score:3, Informative)

    by jilles ( 20976 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @04:33AM (#7678225) Homepage
    There's this tool that will help you identify what codecs a particular codec is actually using. Don't blindly install a codec pack. Usually there's a lot of crap in there that you don't need.

    I find that ffdshow (supports most divx/mpeg4 variants) + AC3 filter, both of which are available on sourceforge, play most files. So far I've encountered two exceptions: 3ivx, you need their decoder, and mpeg 2 files. For the latter a codec usually comes with dvd playing software. A good alternative is the elecard codec (shareware). There is also a directshow filter for mpeg2 on sourceforge as well (mpeg2ds), but it doesn't seem to work for me (not surprising since it is alpha code).

    Usually if you know what codecs were used for encoding, it is trivial to find a matching decoder using google. Avicodec can help you with that for avi files.
  • I'm running Mac OS X as well. I had major problems playing DivX, and I had both DivX and 3ivX installed - which turns out to be part of the problem. I've managed to resolve most of my issues with the following components:

    AC3 Codec.component
    DivX 5.component
    msmpeg4v1.component
    msmpeg4v2.compon ent
    OggVorbis.qtx
    on2vp3.component
    XVIDDelegate .component

    Since setting this up I haven't run into any AVI's or MPEGS that I couldn't play in quicktime.
    • I just use VLC, it doesn't play every file, but it at least tells me what codec I need to find. (and it plays most anything)

      I have to use qt in classic for IV50 though as it appears that it hasn't been updated to OSX
  • The k-lite codec pack found here [hccnet.nl] should give you what you need. It's a whack of all the freeware codecs out there. Install it and if it still doesn't play, it's usually corrupt...
  • Sound like you need to switch your FTP client to "binary."

    -Peter
  • Is there any way to re-encode the newer licensed .WMV files ? For example, many of the videos coming out of ConsumptionJunction :) are licensed.

    When you run the media file, MediaPlayer goes out to the net to "obtain a license" for the file. A few seconds go by, then it says it got one, and to click Play to view the video.

    Well and good, if a real hassle. But now some of the videos are unplayable because the license server isn't there any more.

    How can one re-encode the videos from .WMV to plain old .MPG
  • Hey

    Did you tryed mplayer (yeah)

    Mplayer runs everything.. even in windows.

    I allways used linux to see my movies but some friends of mine dont.

    Take a look at the Mplayer site [mplayerhq.hu], on the main menu selec "Other Media Projects" and the look for Windows Ports.

    My friends never had problems again.

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