I am, right now, targeting, at minimum, the MMX/233 era systems for performance for media players. Mostly because I know I can get acceptable quality MPEG-1 video files to play on them and stream over HTTP, with caveats mentioned below...
For just playing media files:
WMP 6.4 is probably the best here, as long as you install all the codecs you need for it. It seems to be the fastest at pretty much everything. WMP 9 also does a pretty good job! But it only works on 98SE, I think.
Also, it's old software... although it can play any AVI you could find (provided you had the codecs installed), it didn't support hardware acceleration (at least that old version) and I don't remember if it could play .mkv at all.
Besides that, WMP 6.4 (I'm not fan of Microsoft apps, but if an AVI can't play on it probably won't play in any other player) or any player that supports hardware acceleration on your card... but there are not many for Windows 9x, and they are for special files (i.e.: PowerDVD can only accelerate DVDs, not DivX).
Sounds as if the file container and codecs are being recognized and your system is trying to play the file. However, without a sample of the file to test, it is difficult to say if the problem in in the file itself or a problem in your system's configuration.
I put XviD_Codec 1.0 alpha.component in the quicktime library folder. I clicked on the icon for the movie on my desktop and once again only the player appeared. AND it's saying I still need to need to download XviD. Clearly I'm doing something wrong, I just don't know what.
Please note: you MUST check if you have the Xvid or 3ivx codecs installed. These codecs are free and can be downloaded from the Web. For your convenience we included the Xvid codec on this CD-ROM. Click here to install it. Mac users can download the 3ivx codec from here.
A big advantage of Xvid compressed video files is that they play almost anywhere. The Xvid software runs on many platforms and most popular video players support it. Also, home entertainment devices like TVs or DVD/BD players can handle Xvid video.
The Xvid codec compresses video files to make them smaller. It can compress video at a ratio of 200:1 or more compared to uncompressed video. This makes transmitting the video over a network speedy or saves you a lot of space on your computer's hard disk.
While Xvid compresses video very well, it can do so without causing visible quality loss and by retaining a sharper picture than other codecs do. Xvid is "lossy" compression but aims at removing just those picture details that are not important for human perception. As such, it be seen as a MP3 for video.
I have downloaded an animated movie from a streaming website. I always play the video on Windows Media player, and generally, it does not have any problem. But now it is showing an error. Because the video file is large, it will take more time to download again in a different format.
Perhaps the AVI file is not correctly encoded through the Xvid codec, and so it shows an error on the Windows Media Player. So, you should play the video on a VLC media player. VLC Player has inbuilt codecs that you do not need to install any external codecs. It will play a healthy video file easily.
A corrupt file will not play in any player even when you have encoded it properly. So, you should repair the video using Kernel Video Repair Tool. It will fix the video, and you can play it on any player easily.
Hi. I have recently made GOM my default video player as it is ace. However, I have a small problem with a couple of vids I have which use the Xvid codec- when I try to play them I get a black screen and it doesn't play. I can move the progress bar to a different position in the video and I will get an image of the video from that position, but it still doesn't actually play it.
In the GOM player, I can de-select any codecs that the player will use it's own built in codecs with, and I have tried de-selecting the Xvid one so the player will use my pc's installed Xvid codec instead- and I still get the same result. I am still fairly new to all of this and I need some help. The problem I find with GOM is there is no English website actually dedicated to GOM player support from what I can find.
Before anyone says it, I have got many other video players installed like Media Player Classic and VLC, and they are good in their own ways, but I don't want to change to one of those as my default player for certain reasons. I know the Xvid videos will play fine on them, but I would love for the GOM player to do the same as it is so good at everything else.
This issue needs more attention. Via Steve MakofskyCodecs are the next DLL hell. While I love Nero Digital's simplicity and quality, the MP4's it produces aren't compatible with most commercial DVD players (due to the AAC or AVC audio). I've tried Dr. Divx - I get audio that isn't in sync with the video. Heck, even the camcorder video I saved the other night as an MPEG had some sort of audio codec problem. The most surprising? Some Windows Media (WMV) files that I've created in Adobe Premiere have had problems showing on my dad's machine. I suspect he has a codec problem of sorts. Codecs are the next DLL hell. While I love Nero Digital's simplicity and quality, the MP4's it produces aren't compatible with most commercial DVD players (due to the AAC or AVC audio). I've tried Dr. Divx - I get audio that isn't in sync with the video. Heck, even the camcorder video I saved the other night as an MPEG had some sort of audio codec problem. The most surprising? Some Windows Media (WMV) files that I've created in Adobe Premiere have had problems showing on my dad's machine. I suspect he has a codec problem of sorts.
Another big issue is that these companies want their codecs to decode everything. Not only does the DivX codec from DivXNetworks decode DivX, but will also do XviD and 3ivX decoding. The 3ivX Suite decodes 3ivX, XviD, and DivX. So you get people installing DivX, XviD and 3ivX because they all have different names, and all the decoders can basically do the same thing (which is not always true; decode quality can be very different). Nero and EZ CD Creator also ship with MPEG-4 decoders that will generally decode XviD and DivX. Are you counting how many things on the system can decode the same content? It's too many!Microsoft has always been slow to correctly address these problems, and they really are problems. They can't address or fix people on the Internet being dumb and offering packs of pirated and hacked codecs but I would say a good 60-70% of the problems people have with Windows Media Player are due to codecs. People have issues with Windows Media Center Edition and codecs all the time. The main problem is that a large pool of [uncoordinated] companies are [doing this]. Microsoft should take a stand and do a good job of educating people on what codecs are, what they do, how to find out what codec is used in a file, and where to download the correct codec.
It's an embarrassment that Windows Media Center [in its Windows XP incarnation] is totally dependent on a valid MPEG-2 codec -- it literally cannot function at all without one -- and yet does not ship with one in the box. On Chris' site, there's a response from Microsoft's Ted Youmans that lists the reason I've always suspected: licensing costs.The problem with shipping an mpeg2 codec in the box is the royalties. When MS includes something it goes out in every copy whether the user will use it or not. Including the codecs would dramatically increase the price of windows to OEM's. These same OEM's already have deals with IHV's to include their mpeg2 decoders and use it as an upsell to customers.Note that a DV codec is almost synonymous with an mpeg2 codec.
As to the original post: It's a very difficult problem to solve. DShow was based on the merit system (pun intended) with the idea being that using a combination of the filter's merit and how specific the media type/sub type is one could reasonably pick the right codec every time. It wasn't really designed for a competing merit nuclear arms race.
Test solution 1: within the current framework each user can choose what they want their "default" one to be and raise its merit all the way. If individuals do it, then there is no arms race, but if MS provides a mechanism for you to do it you will suddenly see every new codec with its merit set at the max, and it will all be useless again. So now we need to provide a way to lower the merit of other "unwanted filters", easy enough but now the system is just as complex as it is today.
Test solution 2: Teach each app writer how to select their own filter and ignore the merit. This way they don't need to register high, they will get what they want anyway. The problem is this is extra work and they can just get this for "free" by raising their merit. Development time is money. Aside from that there are the generic applications (like MCE) which need to rely on someone else's codec and they don't have the luxury of specifying their own unless they present you with a list and ask you to choose.
I think Ted's response is a copout. Cost? What about the "hidden" cost of all the thousands of codec problem posts on The Green Button forums? Microsoft needs to provide a default MPEG-2 implementation in the MCE box. Yeah, the OEMs may get pissed, but so what? Which is more important: the Microsoft software customer, or some faceless OEM? At some point Microsoft has to take a clear stand for the customer. Nobody else in this random collection of companies has the authority to make that kind of binding decision in the customer's favor.
Which video player are you using? 4k and 120fps is quite demanding, you might want to reduce that to 60fps, which still requires quite some bandwidth. Players like the windows video player can't really cope with that (alternative could be the VLC player).
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