So, you've downloaded an AVI movie from someplace, yer mate's band performing at last night's party for example..and you go to watch it and suddenly...
* You get "cannot download codec"
* You get video but no audio
* You get audio but no video
* You get video but out of sync audio
You probably don't have the latest codecs.
"But PapaZeb, what's a codec and why do I need one????"
I'm so glad you asked that.
A codec is a type of file installed on your machine that tells your video player how to play the video. Simple as that. Well, if you were really interested in reading up on codecs you'd be reading wikipedia,wouldn't you? -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Codecs "Gee Jeff, that's a whole lotta codecs. Do I gotta download 'em all? I mean Ogg-Vorbis to listen to files encoded with OGG, DivX 3x to watch my older avi files, Indeo codec which I hafta buy from Intel, the list goes on and on!"
Well, you could download them all - if you really wanted to. Hell, that's the way we *used* to do things back in the day but these computer thingies are here to make things easier, not tougher on ya.
Go and toddle on over to
http://hellninjacommando.com/defilerpak/ and download yourself the latest version of the DefilerPak and install it. That's all fairly straightforward. Give your machine a quick reboot, and Bobzilla's yer uncle. Play your AVI all day long. Hurrah.
"Umm, what's these wierd funky FF things it puts in the system tray near the clock every time I open a video?"
That? Oh yeah, that. That's a component of ffdshow -
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow/ - it's installed automatically by the DefilerPak and is what does most of the mojo here as far as video codecs go. By tinkering with right-clicking on those icons and setting their properties, you can make them not show up rather easily.
"Okay, so I have this Macintosh thingy. Will DefilerPak work for me or do I have to do things the old way because our OS is stuck in the past"
Sorry kid, ask a Mac guy. All I know is, the only iBook I've ever helped set up required all sorts of hoops to be able to play video files in anything that wasn't .mov
".mov? You mean QuickTime? Hey, I just downloaded this movie trailer and it was a .mov and I can't play it. What gives?!"
Apple recently released QuickTime 7 - you can download it here -
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html
And don't be a goof and install the version that comes packaged with iTunes that gets the biggest text - you want the StandAlone Installer. Do a quick scan of the page for that or something like it and you should be good.
"Wow that was so helpful, can I buy you a drink?"
Sadly for me I'm too far away for such charity - PM me for a list of willing donors who'll be happy to accept your free booze
