Codec problems

[SumDude719]

hey people. when i try to play certain .avi files in windows media player, all i get is the video without sound. i tried opening the same file in realplayer and it gave me an error message saying,

"The file contains an unsupported audio format. The needed codec is not installed on your system.

More information is available at the RealNetworks Technical Support Website."

i looked there and got nothin. does anyone know where i can get this 'needed codec'? i installed DivX 4.1 i think (i am not exactly sure what that is..). i have winxp 2600 if that makes any difference. i can play other .avi files perfectly. im confused here..

[SumDude719]

ahh i figured it out. i needed an older version of this DivX thing installed.

[nXP_151 Veteran]

Is it working fine now ? hey...why does it need older version ?

[PabUK Veteran]

Because the new DivX codecs are not backwards compatible with the older ones. It is annoying.

[SumDude719]

yeah it works fine now. i read something about the new version doesnt have an audio codec, if that makes any sense.

[nXP_151 Veteran]

Originally posted by PabUK

Because the new DivX codecs are not backwards compatible with the older ones. It is annoying.

Ic....how annoying :mad:

[DjmUK]

You won't believe how annoying it has been for me. There I am d/ling a movie that's split into two files, and then what's strange was that the guy/gal who coded it used a different codec per file :mad:

Now, the result was that one file had sound (no video) and the other had video (no sound) - how stupid. Why can't DivX 4.01 have the DivX 3.11 compatibility - now that's wierd :ermm:

[PabUK Veteran]

I think it is supposed to have compatability but it just doesn't work right.

[khaos34]

yep, read my other post about isntallin both codecs in the post about "windowsxp + divx 4.0 = ..."

i also find that using the old wmp6.4 works best for me. you can't set options in wmp8 regarding brightness and CPU usage and all that (usnig the codec propoerties), wmp6.4 takes up less resources, it's faster, and there's also some avis that won't play in wmp8 compared with 6.4.

the only thing missing, for me, is the playlist. i think that's good though, cuz it forces me to get up every hour and a half :lick: :dead:

[PabUK Veteran]

Yes I read that post, thanks for the info on running them both at once.

As for players, MP 6.4 was good but I prefer BSPlayer for video now, as it has many more options.

[SumDude719]

grr i have another problem. i downloaded another .avi file and i'd only get sound. so i upgraded to divx 4 and now i have picture too but its upside down! how to i get it to be..right-side up?

[khaos34]

sumdude, i hear that people have problems becasue you maybe playing a movie encoded with 3.11 alpha instead of 4.01, and you're using 4.01 to play it. What you need to do is install both codecs, but when you re-install 4.01, specify taht you don't want it to play 3.11 encoded movies. That should solve it hopefully.

[mortensen]

I have had no sound on the pilot episode of Enterprise but all I had to do was install a special sounds codec.

Also, I now use BSPlayer which manages all files with sound [so far]. WMP8 would often not support some files, The Playa would not play LOADS of files and ACDSee seemed to play all DivX files but didn't have any options [change speed of play, change aspect ratio, subtitles, etc].