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sushrukh · 05-22-2008, 06:09 PM

How many times have you tried to play a video file in Windows Media Player and got a message that informs you of a missing codec? Sometimes, even this doesn’t happen, and the file refuses to play, or just plays audio with no video, or vice-versa.

A codec (code-decode) is nothing more than a set of instructions given to a software media player so it can understand the file it’s reading. If you try and play a file that’s encoded and compressed with a certain algorithm, you need the same algorithm’s decoding capabilities in your computer’s software library. That’s why you need to have codecs installed on your computer.

The DVD Codec

Many users, despite having DVD-ROM drives, don’t prepare their systems for DVD movies. They don’t install all the software that comes with their drives.Software such as PowerDVD install MPEG-2 codecs, thus enabling your computer to play DVD movies. If the MPEG-2 codec isn’t installed, you’re never going to be able to play movie DVDs. This can cause confusion: regular data DVDs, such as the Digit DVD, will play fine. In order to make sure that you have an MPEG-2 DVD codec installed, go to Start >Run, type in DVDUPGRD /DETECT and press [Enter].You should see something like the visual shown alongside.If there is a codec installed, then you should tryand play the DVD movie with the program that installed it. If there’s no codec you need to install one.These codecs are installed along with any software DVD movie player, such as PowerDVD.

Other Video Codecs

Most of the movies you download from the Net (legally or illegally) are compressed DVD rips. Just as people started making MP3s from audio CDs, people now make AVI files from DVDs using a particular codec for compression in file size. Some of the more popular codecs are the DivX and Xvid codecs, which are freely available.

You’ll often find that the same movie could be over 2 GB in size or just a few hundred MB. This happens because of the quality settings chosen when compressing the original DVD movie.Unfortunately, just as with DVD movies, AVI files encoded and compressed with a codec need the same codec to be installed on your system.Since there are hundreds of codecs available, just relying on your media player to figure out which one is needed,really isn’t a good solution. Windows Media Player, for instance, will often just not identify the required codec properly,and will try to connect to the Net and then give you an error message.

There are two possible solutions that you can do to get rid out of this problem:

1. You can install codec packs that contain all the popular codecs used to encode the majority of files on the Web. These packs, such as Kazaa Lite Mega Codec Pack, should solve almost all codec problems you may encounter with your system.However, they also install a lot of unnecessary codecs which you may never use. For those who are paranoid about keeping their registry as clean as ever, manually choosing which codecs you want while installing the pack is, perhaps, a good way to go.

2. If you really want to get to the heart of the matter and find out which file was encoded with which codec, a third-party tool such as GSpot Codec Information Appliance will help you with all the information you need. All you have to do is go to GSpot Codec Information Appliance, download the installer and install it.

Now, if a file refuses to play, you can run GSpot, choose to open the file and press ‘Render’. GSpot will attempt to play the file, and simultaneously match the codecs used with its own database of codecs. When a problem occurs, or some codec does not work as it’s supposed to (corrupt codec files), GSpot will tell you exactly what the problem is.Though there are a few problems with audio streams in video files, these generally get sorted out upon installing a codec pack. The same principles as with video codecs apply.

The lack of uniformity in compression algorithms has brought us to a stage where we have millions of video files available on the Internet, but unfortunately, too many different ways of encoding them. We hope you’re now better armed to deal with these problems in the future.

Hope you find my article useful & as always it's for only those who may not know these.

ChrisTheFeral · 05-22-2008, 07:37 PM

Very nice article!
I don't know whether you are typing this all up on your own but I am finding the exact same paragraphs on other websites, just a something I think would be helpfull is to leave a link under your article to your sources - that will also allow people to research deeper. If you did write this, then that's awesome you should link to your site

Great article though

keep the good work up

sushrukh · 05-22-2008, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisTheFeral

Very nice article!
I don't know whether you are typing this all up on your own but I am finding the exact same paragraphs on other websites, just a something I think would be helpfull is to leave a link under your article to your sources.

Great article though

keep the good work up

I don't have the habbit to steal other's articles.So, i can't give any link to my own article.And if you've found that article on other sites, that would have been posted by me only.I do write articles for some forums & sites (Bjorn3d, Driverheaven,BootDaily.com etc) .So, i can share my own articles wherever i wish to.Thanks for commenting though.

ChrisTheFeral · 05-22-2008, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sushrukh

I don't have the habbit to steal other's articles.So, i can't give any link to my own article.And if you've found that article on other sites, that would have been posted by me only.I do write articles for some forums & sites (Bjorn3d, Driverheaven,BootDaily.com etc) .So, i can share my own articles wherever i wish to.Thanks for commenting though.

I see, sorry, it is just that one time a few years ago somebody copied my whole website and credited it as their own work, they put ads all around it too and basically got the money and I got nothing

GREAT to see you posting tutorials dude, keep it up

sushrukh · 05-22-2008, 08:16 PM

Thanks my friend.I just thought that why not posting my collection of articles instead of posting normal posts so that it may become useful for atleast someone.

ChrisTheFeral · 05-22-2008, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sushrukh

Thanks my friend.I just thought that why not posting my collection of articles instead of posting normal posts so that it may become useful for atleast someone.

Very true. So it's all ok? We can be friends? :P

sushrukh · 05-22-2008, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisTheFeral

So it's all ok? We can be friends? :P

If you stop accusing me for everything.

djeuro · 05-22-2008, 10:05 PM

did you actually write this?

sushrukh · 05-22-2008, 10:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djeuro

did you actually write this?

You have doubts ?

If i could write that lengthy Vista Guide,then it's just a small baby compared to it.

I do write articles for various sites/forums like Bjorn3d,Driverheaven,BootDaily.com etc & also earn a bit of money from there.

ChrisTheFeral · 05-23-2008, 05:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sushrukh

If you stop accusing me for everything.

ach, I wasn't accusing you. But ok, it's cool - drop this subject of plagiarism

05-22-2008, 06:09 PM	#1 (permalink)
sushrukh Status: Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 192	Codec Headache How many times have you tried to play a video file in Windows Media Player and got a message that informs you of a missing codec? Sometimes, even this doesn’t happen, and the file refuses to play, or just plays audio with no video, or vice-versa. A codec (code-decode) is nothing more than a set of instructions given to a software media player so it can understand the file it’s reading. If you try and play a file that’s encoded and compressed with a certain algorithm, you need the same algorithm’s decoding capabilities in your computer’s software library. That’s why you need to have codecs installed on your computer. The DVD Codec Many users, despite having DVD-ROM drives, don’t prepare their systems for DVD movies. They don’t install all the software that comes with their drives.Software such as PowerDVD install MPEG-2 codecs, thus enabling your computer to play DVD movies. If the MPEG-2 codec isn’t installed, you’re never going to be able to play movie DVDs. This can cause confusion: regular data DVDs, such as the Digit DVD, will play fine. In order to make sure that you have an MPEG-2 DVD codec installed, go to Start >Run, type in DVDUPGRD /DETECT and press [Enter].You should see something like the visual shown alongside.If there is a codec installed, then you should tryand play the DVD movie with the program that installed it. If there’s no codec you need to install one.These codecs are installed along with any software DVD movie player, such as PowerDVD. Other Video Codecs Most of the movies you download from the Net (legally or illegally) are compressed DVD rips. Just as people started making MP3s from audio CDs, people now make AVI files from DVDs using a particular codec for compression in file size. Some of the more popular codecs are the DivX and Xvid codecs, which are freely available. You’ll often find that the same movie could be over 2 GB in size or just a few hundred MB. This happens because of the quality settings chosen when compressing the original DVD movie.Unfortunately, just as with DVD movies, AVI files encoded and compressed with a codec need the same codec to be installed on your system.Since there are hundreds of codecs available, just relying on your media player to figure out which one is needed,really isn’t a good solution. Windows Media Player, for instance, will often just not identify the required codec properly,and will try to connect to the Net and then give you an error message. There are two possible solutions that you can do to get rid out of this problem: 1. You can install codec packs that contain all the popular codecs used to encode the majority of files on the Web. These packs, such as Kazaa Lite Mega Codec Pack, should solve almost all codec problems you may encounter with your system.However, they also install a lot of unnecessary codecs which you may never use. For those who are paranoid about keeping their registry as clean as ever, manually choosing which codecs you want while installing the pack is, perhaps, a good way to go. 2. If you really want to get to the heart of the matter and find out which file was encoded with which codec, a third-party tool such as GSpot Codec Information Appliance will help you with all the information you need. All you have to do is go to GSpot Codec Information Appliance, download the installer and install it. Now, if a file refuses to play, you can run GSpot, choose to open the file and press ‘Render’. GSpot will attempt to play the file, and simultaneously match the codecs used with its own database of codecs. When a problem occurs, or some codec does not work as it’s supposed to (corrupt codec files), GSpot will tell you exactly what the problem is.Though there are a few problems with audio streams in video files, these generally get sorted out upon installing a codec pack. The same principles as with video codecs apply. The lack of uniformity in compression algorithms has brought us to a stage where we have millions of video files available on the Internet, but unfortunately, too many different ways of encoding them. We hope you’re now better armed to deal with these problems in the future. Hope you find my article useful & as always it's for only those who may not know these.

05-22-2008, 07:37 PM	#2 (permalink)
ChrisTheFeral Status: Forum Mod Join Date: May 2008 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 478	Very nice article! I don't know whether you are typing this all up on your own but I am finding the exact same paragraphs on other websites, just a something I think would be helpfull is to leave a link under your article to your sources - that will also allow people to research deeper. If you did write this, then that's awesome you should link to your site Great article though keep the good work up __________________ The only fool bigger than the person who knows it all is the person who argues with him. Don't worry TOO much about trying to stay alive, we are all going to die someday anyway... Last edited by ChrisTheFeral; 05-22-2008 at 08:04 PM.

05-22-2008, 10:05 PM	#8 (permalink)
djeuro Status: Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Chicago Posts: 189	did you actually write this? __________________ DjEuro Sorry for gramatic errors

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05-22-2008, 08:16 PM	#5 (permalink)
sushrukh Status: Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 192	Thanks my friend.I just thought that why not posting my collection of articles instead of posting normal posts so that it may become useful for atleast someone.