Mac user needs codec help

rfrankel

Guest

I downloaded the following file:

Xvid.Ita.Open.water.ScR.Nx-S Lions Gate Films THX.mpg

Its is a multiplexed mpeg 1/2 file, (Have no idea what that is)

I cant open it in either Quicktime Pro , WMV 9 (for the Mac) or VLC. I get error messages that apps dont have software/modules/codecs etc needed.

It appears that he codecs it needs are WMa 2 and WMV 3. (One is audio, the other video. Dont remember which is which)

Questions:
Where can I download those codecs? And even if I did could I open the file? In what app? How come WMV wont open a file with WMn codecs? Are codecs platform specific — can I put codecs created for Windows in my Quicktime library and have Quicktime access them?

As you can tell I’m kind of new at this. DivX Doctor has helped me somewhat sometimes, and VLC usually opens just about anything. But this encoding/decoding world seems to be Window-centric and with far too many standards.

anonymous

Guest

WMV3 is Windows Media Video 9. It can be embedded in an avi or a windows media container (extension asf or wmv). It appears Windows Media Player for the Mac will only handle asf/wmv, and not avi. In the past I’ve told people (incorrectly) to try WMP for the mac, but from following the threads it appears only ffmpeg can help you. It will transcode the WMV3 into an asf container and then you can play it in WMP.
courtesy of http://forums.3ivx.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard/topic.cgi?forum=9&topic=678

P.S: In the meantime you can hassle Microsoft support with requests for avi WMV3 support on the Mac, either in the form of a QuickTime plugin, or by enabling avi playback on WMP.
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/Feedback