Media Player 10 and codec error...

Admiral Huddy · 27 Jun 2006 at 16:27

After reinstalling XP pro and media player 10, I get an error message quickly flashing up - "Codec error".

Audio is fine but video is a no no..

I've looked on MS website for codec updates but nothing..

Any clues?

Thanks

marc_howarth · 27 Jun 2006 at 20:09

If it's a video then it's a high probability that you need to reinstall the DivX codec

squiffy · 27 Jun 2006 at 20:12

Gspot, then suitable audio/video codec (unless FFDSHOW has support built ib)

Admiral Huddy · 28 Jun 2006 at 09:29

marc_howarth said:
If it's a video then it's a high probability that you need to reinstall the DivX codec

How do i do that?

squiffy said:
Gspot, then suitable audio/video codec (unless FFDSHOW has support built ib)

Energize · 28 Jun 2006 at 09:42

First update to windows media player 11, then install the klite mega codec pack, will save you needing any codecs ever again.

squiffy · 28 Jun 2006 at 10:04

Energize said:
then install the klite mega codec pack, will save you needing any codecs ever again.

Don't do that.

Ununinstall DIVX and XVID codecs.
Firstly install FFDSHOW, default settings should be fine.
Try playing the file. If it doesn't work use gspot to identify what audio/video codec it uses. If FFDSHOW hasn't got built in support (within codecs section) then download and install the codec.
Realmedia alternative and Quicktime Alternative is useful also.
Might need ogg directshow codecs as well.

I have the above installed and played everthing.

Energize · 28 Jun 2006 at 11:01

squiffy said:
Don't do that.

Any reason why not? Saves a lot of effort for the future and comes with the quicktime and rm alternatives.

Oracle · 28 Jun 2006 at 11:37

Energize said:
Any reason why not? Saves a lot of effort for the future and comes with the quicktime and rm alternatives.

Cos its KLite for a start!

FFDSHOW is the daddy atm

Not sure if i'm allowed to link to it but meh

here it is

Energize · 28 Jun 2006 at 11:47

FFDshow doesnt contain anywhere near as many codecs as klite codec pack though and it doesnt have the rm and qt alternatives, thats why its good to have both.

squiffy · 28 Jun 2006 at 11:55

QT and Real Alternative are available seperatly, so no big deal. You don't want to install a whole load of codecs, just install one by one as you need them.

Admiral Huddy · 28 Jun 2006 at 11:59

I really don't quite understand.. i've never had to do this before?

:confused:

ps - what is gspot (apart from the one or two on the wife

)

squiffy · 28 Jun 2006 at 12:05

Google it.

this_is_gav · 28 Jun 2006 at 12:49

Energize said:
Any reason why not? Saves a lot of effort for the future and comes with the quicktime and rm alternatives.

1) it's illegal (contains lots of codecs it isn't allowed too)

2) (as if you need a second reason) there's a hell of a lot of duplicate codecs installed

3) you have NO CONTROL over your codecs at all. Joe Bloggs might not care, but if you even dabble in video editing to the extent of recompressing a single video in VirtualDub, then you'd regret installing K-Lite.

All I've got installed is:
- nVidia PureVideo (MPEG-2)
- FFDSHOW (H.264)
- Xvid (Xvid, DivX)
- Real and Quicktime Alternatives
- The codecs WMP installs itself
- And a couple of encoding codecs (LAME MP3 and AC3 Filter).

So much more in control. So much cleaner.

The alternative for people who can't be bothered or don't care is VLC media player. Free, and plays just about anything you throw at it, regardless of the installed codecs.

@Admiral Huddy: Gspot is a tool to identify video details - which video and audio codecs are required and provides info such as bitrates and things.

Energize · 28 Jun 2006 at 12:59

this_is_gav said:
1) it's illegal (contains lots of codecs it isn't allowed too)

2) (as if you need a second reason) there's a hell of a lot of duplicate codecs installed

3) you have NO CONTROL over your codecs at all. Joe Bloggs might not care, but if you even dabble in video editing to the extent of recompressing a single video in VirtualDub, then you'd regret installing K-Lite.

All I've got installed is:
- nVidia PureVideo (MPEG-2)
- FFDSHOW (H.264)
- Xvid (Xvid, DivX)
- Real and Quicktime Alternatives
- The codecs WMP installs itself
- And a couple of encoding codecs (LAME MP3 and AC3 Filter).

So much more in control. So much cleaner.

The alternative for people who can't be bothered or don't care is VLC media player. Free, and plays just about anything you throw at it, regardless of the installed codecs.

@Admiral Huddy: Gspot is a tool to identify video details - which video and audio codecs are required and provides info such as bitrates and things.

The whole reason I use klite is because I do lots of encodings in virtual dub, virtual dub gives you complete control over the codecs you have installed, plenty of settings and having loads of codecs installed means it takes no effort to transcode some obscure file type.

this_is_gav · 28 Jun 2006 at 13:13

Energize said:
The whole reason I use klite is because I do lots of encodings in virtual dub, virtual dub gives you complete control over the codecs you have installed, plenty of settings and having loads of codecs installed means it takes no effort to transcode some obscure file type.

VirtualDub gives you no such control at all. It controls which codecs it encodes with, that's all. The choice of codecs it uses for playback/preview are whatever the system decides.

Simian · 28 Jun 2006 at 13:20

Energize said:
FFDshow doesnt contain anywhere near as many codecs as klite codec pack though and it doesnt have the rm and qt alternatives, thats why its good to have both.

And if you get the L-Lite Mega Codec Pack (1.53 is the latest) you also get FFDSHOW also!..