Dealing w/ Codec Hell Under Multiple OSes? 104
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?
identify codecs (Score:5, Informative)
Re:identify codecs (Score:4, Informative)
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).
Re:identify codecs (Score:2)
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)
Re:identify codecs (Score:2, Informative)
Crack out mPlayer from mplayerhq.hu (Score:5, Interesting)
Xine, on the other hand....
Re:Crack out mPlayer from mplayerhq.hu (Score:2)
I think I've just convinced myself to use xine more often...
Re:Crack out mPlayer from mplayerhq.hu (Score:1, Informative)
Additionally (Score:4, Informative)
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)
Re:try ffdshow + MPC + oggDS (Score:5, Informative)
paris hilton (Score:1)
Re:paris hilton (Score:2)
Only if you want to see how full of herself she really is..
Re:paris hilton (Score:2)
I thought that video was...
Never mind.
Re:paris hilton (Score:2)
I thought that video was...
Entertaining?
Never mind.
Good move. Might as well see Gigli.
Re:paris hilton (Score:1)
Then I can imagine how much of spanking she needs . . .
Mplayer for Debian (Score:4, Informative)
http://marillat.free.fr/ [marillat.free.fr]
-molo
Re:Mplayer for Debian (Score:5, Informative)
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):
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: try PLF (Score:2)
Re:Mplayer for Debian (Score:1)
try Video Lan Client (Score:4, Informative)
Should play most everything!
Re:try Video Lan Client (Score:2, Informative)
Re:try Video Lan Client (Score:1, Informative)
mplayer and winamp2 (Score:3, Informative)
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.
Re:mplayer and winamp2 (Score:2)
It's a shame, since Winamp's a nice program and divx311alpha has good quality and was used quite extensively at some
Re:mplayer and winamp2 (Score:3, Funny)
-dk
Re:mplayer and winamp2 (Score:2)
-dk
yeah (Score:1)
Cut this out (Score:3, Informative)
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)
Re:what works for me on win32 (Score:3, Informative)
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)
It doesn't matter though because I had uninstalled Nimo after it worked for a whi
Re:what works for me on win32 (Score:2)
Mostly Worked (Score:1)
I installed (Score:2)
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.
MOD PARENT UP! (Score:2)
Paul B.
Codec Pack + AVIcodec (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Re:Codec Pack + AVIcodec (Score:3, Informative)
Another resource for codec info (in addition to the codecs themselves [dvdrhelp.com]) is VCDHelp [vcdhelp.com] (aka DVDrHelp).
That site is a reference I've gone back to many times. There's lots of good info there on things like backing up [dvdrhelp.com] your DVDs, burning them [dvdrhelp.com] back onto CDs as VCDs, and finding out what your component DVD player [dvdrhelp.com] is capable of [dvdrhelp.com].
Codec Identification (Score:2)
My own personal experience... (Score:2)
No expert but... (Score:5, Informative)
As a sidenote, I'd strongly suggest you try the latest MPlayer [mplayerhq.hu] builds for Windows. Powerful stuff. Shameless plug.
Re:No expert but... (Score:2)
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)
Porn (Score:2, Flamebait)
Re:Porn (Score:3, Funny)
I find the pornography subtext both blatent and offensive
You have a source for blatent and offensive porn? Please share it!
Re:Porn (Score:2)
Re:Porn (Score:2, Funny)
You mean to say that you, for one, welcome your pr0*BLAM BLAM BLAM*NO CARRIER
Tsumani Codec Pack (Score:2)
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)
codec paks for windows (Score:1)
GSpot (Score:1, Redundant)
Easy! (Score:2, Funny)
Yeah, its called a Mac.
Re:Easy! (Score:2)
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.
Re:Easy! (Score:1)
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
Re:Easy! (Score:1)
Re:Easy! (Score:1, Informative)
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)
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...
Re:Answers, and then some... (Score:2)
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)
Re:VirtualDub (Score:1)
(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
Windows is easy.. (Score:2)
for windows there is the k-lite codec pack (Score:1)
Re:for windows there is the k-lite codec pack (Score:2, Informative)
http://home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/mirror.htm [hccnet.nl]
Re:for windows there is the k-lite codec pack (Score:2)
Media Player Classic is awesome. I use it for all video formats (winamp for audio). It's so light-weight compared to Windows Media Player 8+, RealOne, or Quicktime.
The K-lite codec pack takes care of everything as well. I've yet to download another codec since.
I'm using OS X! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I'm using OS X! (Score:1)
Re:I'm using OS X! (Score:1)
VLC page: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
Happy watching.
Re:I'm using OS X! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I'm using OS X! (Score:2)
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)
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:
Since setting this up I haven't run into any AVI's or MPEGS that I couldn't play in quicktime.
Re:I'm using OS X! (Score:1)
Windows is damn easy... (Score:2)
Re:Windows is damn easy... (Score:1)
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?
Re:Windows is damn easy... (Score:2)
Re:Windows is damn easy... (Score:2)
Just curious.
Re:Windows is damn easy... (Score:1)
Author of Zoom Player has an excellent codec guide (Score:3, Informative)
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...
Here's the codec guide. (Applies to Windows, not just Zoom Player proper.)..
K-Lite Codec Pack (Score:1)
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...
Re:K-Lite Codec Pack (Score:1)
ffdshow (Score:2)
avicodec (Score:3, Informative)
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.
what worked for me (Score:2)
AC3 Codec.component
DivX 5.component
msmpeg4v1.component
msmpeg4v2.compo
OggVorbis.qtx
on2vp3.component
XVIDDelegat
Since setting this up I haven't run into any AVI's or MPEGS that I couldn't play in quicktime.
Re:what worked for me (Score:1)
I have to use qt in classic for IV50 though as it appears that it hasn't been updated to OSX
K-lite codec pack is what you need... (Score:1)
Re:K-lite codec pack is what you need... (Score:1)
i reccomend it to everybody now
Not even MPEGs? (Score:1)
-Peter
Licensed .WMV files (Score:1)
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
The Ultimate Video Suit for Windows!? (Score:1)
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.