Look, dammit, pick a standard video format/codec and stick with it!

The BBQ Pit
1

I browse to some site and it has a demonstration video in QuickTime format, so I click the link and it informs me that I need to upgrade to the later and greater version of QuickTime, and I end up sitting through the download, then have to install, restart, discard the unwanted newer and uglier version of MoviePlayer and the redundant-to- GraphicConverter piece of junk PictureViewer and the stupid ad “Upgrade to QuickTime Pro” and reopen all the stuff I had open just to view the bloody movie. And I’ve apparently got it easy, being on a Mac – PC users I’ve spoken to say that QuickTime screws up lots of stuff on a PC and doesn’t work very well.

And QuickTime format is one of the better-case scenarios. Next site will as likely have their film excerpt in “avi” format and I’ll download the sucker and then get a message about not having the correct codec – MoviePlayer doesn’t tell me what codec it is that I’m missing, I get to guess. So gradually over time I accumulate VIDEC and DivX and Og knows what else and still every 2nd or 3rd time I encounter an “avi” it wants software I haven’t got.

Then there’s the new Microsoft format, “wmv”. And already I’ve been through two downloads of a special application “Windows Media Player for Macintosh” which MS has released rather than a codec plugin for MoviePlayer. As long as one has the latest and greatest, one can watch the video clips, but there’s no way to select, copy, paste, force it to show all frames or adjust the playback rate in this “Windows Media Player” piece of shit, nor any way to do a Save As and convert it to a MoviePlayer-friendly format.

Finally, brining up the rear, RealPlayer/RealMedia. Every time I encounter one of these suckers I find that I have to re-download the RealMedia plugins because it appears that they release new versions every 11 days and the idiots who provide media in RM format immediatley convert to the new format. And you’ve really got to root around on their site to find a way to download a version that you don’t have to pay for. Now, most recently, it appears that they want to switch everyone over to some kind of monthly subscriber service, and CNN is putting up newsclips in this format so if you want to see video-formatted information pertaining to the blackout you can subscribe or you can do without.

And none of this shit is necessary. Anyone ever hear of MPEG? Why the bloody hell can’t we all agree to use MPEG, improve it if necessary, but release freeware viewers on all platforms that have basic cut copy paste speed framerate and Save As editing capabilities and don’t push ads for commercialware or rent-a-software licenses every time you try to use them? And if the improvements don’t outweigh the hassle of re-downloading, hold off on them. I’ve been viewing JPEGs for a dozen years and I could pull up an early 1990s vintage copy of GraphicConverter and view JPEGs of Blackout '03 just fine. MIDI files remain MIDI files. Most PDF files I encounter can still be opened and viewed just fine with Acrobat Reader 3.0 (I know because I have an old 7100 on which I never upgraded to the later versions, mostly because I haven’t needed to).

It’s not even as if the newer formats DO much of anything that the old ones didn’t. You download all this crap and install it and reboot and toss all the detritus you don’t want and launch the movie-file and what do you get? A window and a playback button, a pause button, and a stop button. Volume control.

Assholes.

2

That would be fine of course, but then how would people be able to come up with and distribute better codecs? Leave it up to Microsoft/Apple? Please.

Download a program like AVICodec and be happy that slowly but surely people are figuring out ways to do more with less.

**

Problem solved - http://avicodec.duby.info/

3

I guess you missed the part where AHunter3 said he was on a Mac…

Anyway, one thing you can do is download a program called MPlayer. It’ll play just about all AVI codecs. As with everything, there are exceptions; there are some old movies that you can only watch using the Classic version of Quicktime’s Movie Player with the Indeo codecs installed. And it won’t play stuff encoded with Windows Media Player 9’s codec, which hasn’t been released in any form for the Mac yet.

As for the “why are there so many different codecs”…it’s the same reason as why there are so many different carbonated soft drinks. Everyone wants a piece of the market, hoping to turn a profit.

4

The good thing about standards is there are so many of them to choose from.

RealPlayer: Has spyware, I hate it and don’t install it. Screw them
Quicktime: hate it, screw them.

I use Windows Media Player, and that’s all I need.

5

I’m really annoyed that more and more sites are going to realplayer files, because I won’t install realplayer. As you say, screw 'em.

6

Even though I’m on a Mac, I have VirtualPC and the tool Azael linked to may be useful to me. I can find out what codec I’m missing and then hunt down a Mac extension or resource for it.

Also appreciate Max Torque’s reference although I’m still mostly in 9 rather than X. When I am in X I have a more frustrating time than in 9 due to having accumulated a fair number of codecs for 8/9 over the years, whereas in X I’m mostly in plain-vanilla unenhanced standard Apple mode.

And yes, RealPlayer is the worst of the worst. Lousy quality, annoying ads, no copy and paste, buggy, crashy, and increasingly ubiquitous.

7

Consider the other side. I produce my movies in two formats only - AVI/DivX, and MPEG1. We have always done so, and will continue to do so (after we briefly considered other codecs, in the belief people would appreciate such a move - but no, the overwhelming concensus was stick with the status quo).

Despite that choice, people still complain about it. Nothing is ever perfect for them. PCs are the worst, of course, because every machine is individual, no two can ever be alike, and there’s no way for us to cater for that.

But Macs are pretty bad too, because they can only play so many filetypes, and codecs don’t always get made for both platforms at the same time. It’s only very recently that a reliable way to play DivX was available.

We try to make up for this mess by providing updated info on our FAQ, and links to where the codecs required can be downloaded, plus we provide our own limited tech support when asked for it. That, unfortunately, is the best we can do. But we aren’t specialists, so it’s sometimes guesswork.

It sucks.

8

Some codecs are better for some things than others. For example, I’ve never seen a codec do cartoons as well as the RealOne codecs. Sorry, I hate the program too, but it’s true. I’ve seen 60-80MB RMs that looked as good as 220MB MPEG-1 VCDs. RM is subpar for live action, though.

Divx/Xvid/Other MPEG-4-based codecs are nice. Both live action and cartoons look better in lower birates in MPEG-4 codecs than MPEG-1. Unfortunately, very few DVD players can play these videos, and not all MPEG-4-based codecs are supported in the ones that do.

Microsoft WMV files are based on a non-standard MPEG-4 codec. At ultra-low bitrates, nothing beats these things, IMHO.

It would be nice if one codec did everything the best and played on every DVD player and computer in the world. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen anytime soon. Different people are developing different codecs, and most of them are very much works in progress. Those that aren’t tend to fade away fast.

When I look at low bitrate videos encoded with pre-MPEG-4 codecs and am struck by the sheer blockiness, I’m quite thankful that there are a lot of different people tackling this stuff from different angles and pushing technology forward. As long as they can keep pushing the filesizes down and the quality up, there shouldn’t be a standard codec.

9

Mac people should go to Versiontracker.com and look for VLC – it’s a port of an open-source multi-format media player, and last I heard it’s pretty much the Swiss Army Knife of the field. I believe there’s also a version for Windows, but I’ll let a Win-savvy Doper address that.

10

For Windows users, I’d recommend a program called UnRealOne. This is actually a modified version of Media Player Classic, which, itself, is a modified version of Windows Media Player 6.4. In addition to the regular stuff Media Player can handle, this program plays the newest RM files without having to install RealPlayer! It also plays Quicktime. It opens RM and QT videos way faster than waiting for those bloated programs to load. You don’t even have to uninstall your newer version of Media Player to use it. Just throw the program in any folder and use the Windows “Open With” function to point the RM/MOV/etc extensions to the Media Player Classic EXE.

For some reason, this program is pretty hard to find. The only link to it I could find is here. Get the “UnRealOne.rar” file. If you don’t already have it, download the trial version of WinRAR to decompress the archive.

11

I agree with the quality assessment but I hate WMV because it takes a while to start playing and because you cannot convert the file to anything else or manipulate it.

12

Second this suggestion. I can open the vast majority of avi, mpeg and wmv file formats with that puppy. And it’s free.

13

Yeah, those damn things do take a while to load and an eternity to seek. You can convert them to MPEG-1, though. Use TMPGenc.

14

Whoops. That was in response to sailor’s comments regarding WMV. I didn’t figure another post would pop up in the time it took me to type that.

15

I’ve discovered and have been playing with TINRA under Virtual PC. It does convert those bloody RealPlayer “.rm” files to avi format, but there’s something nonstandard about the results. When I transfer them back to the Mac they open but only the first video frame displays (the audio plays back normally, the screen turns white and stays that way). So I downloaded FadetoBlack and run that (also under Virtual PC) and save the file again and it does a better (more compatible) job of saving in AVI format.

This has proven successful. Now if I could just convert the “.wmv” files…

16

Are you able to run TMPGenc under VirtualPC, AHunter3? If so, give that one a whirl. It’s freeware for MPEG-1, but costs a few bucks to use MPEG-2. Of course, anyone converting RM to SVCD would have to be certifiably insane, so it shouldn’t be an issue.

I’ve never had any problems converting WMV with TMPGenc. Granted, I haven’t done all that many of them, but all the ones I did try worked fine.

17

Yes, very good, and it plays .OGM files, which media player doesn’t like to do.

18

Tars Tarkas: Windows Media Player will play .OGM and .OGG files if the Ogg DirectShow Filters (OggDS) are installed.