Codec Packs

[BCFDoobee]

I want your votes on who has the best codec packs available...I've used Nimo in the past (and now), but I'm having trouble viewing some movies, even though g-spot doesn't show any problems...and I'm just curious if YOU think there's any better codec packs out there....Thanks all

[Malicious Intent]

www.kazaalite.tk
Codec Pack on the left hand side. Never been anything I havn't been able to play. Great stuff. They also offer a Real alternative and Quicktime Alternative.

[Wolfie]

www.kazaalite.tk
Codec Pack on the left hand side. Never been anything I havn't been able to play. Great stuff. They also offer a Real alternative and Quicktime Alternative.

I'll second that.

[phalkon30]

K-lite codec pack has been great to me.

The problem with Nimo (in the past anyway) was that they had too many codecs, and most were outdated. It was confusing, and if you just installed with default settings you would get conflicts between drivers.

Your specific problem could be because of something calle ffdshow, google will be your friend here. Download and install it, see if that helps.

[wingnut2600]

me 4... k-lite codecs

[MarkB]

The great thing about K-Lite's codec pack is that it's constantly being updated.

[simon_says_horrible]

You don't need much codec if you have Windows OS. DivX codec and Real/Quicktime player is fine but Nimo (hack) codec will clog your system files near the future. The quality has been tricked that's why people have no problems at all because of its artificial video quality.

[SimbaK2K]

codec packs suck, all of em IMO. I just download the few (about 5/6) audio and video codecs and install em seperately. Least ya know what your installing then!

[method77]

codec packs suck, all of em IMO. I just download the few (about 5/6) audio and video codecs and install em seperately. Least ya know what your installing then!

that is correct. Also get a program called
AviCodec and it should help a lot

[Evil_Dweller_01]

You better uninstall that crappy and troublesome Nimo Codec Pack and install Kazaa Lite Codec Pack

Just like the others have...it's been great for me too

[BCFDoobee]

codec packs suck, all of em IMO. I just download the few (about 5/6) audio and video codecs and install em seperately. Least ya know what your installing then!

Here's my level of knowledge on this whole thing: what 5 or 6 do you recommend then?

And (not just to you Simba, but for everyone) Why do some .avi files play on both wmp and the divx player, but others will only play on the divx player, even with the latest divx codec??

[phalkon30]

I think because you assume that if its .avi, its divx. There is also xvid, standard mpeg4, just .avi, etc.

Usually for me if it doesn't play in WMP, it doesn't play.

Top things you need (IMO): Divx, Xvid, ffdshow, ac3, and thats about all I can think of....

There are advantages to having a codec pack though.
-Some codecs are only offered if you agree to spyware. Codec packs give you the codec WITHOUT the spyware.
-You don't have to search for a bunch of separate codecs constantly to see which ones are updated. The k-lite codec pack is constantly updated and beta tested before release, its allways the most current available.
-5-6 codecs will play 99% of the movies you watch. But what about those 1% that don't play? Often they use obscure codecs that are hard to find updated versions of.
-Remember that codec packs only install what YOU tell it to. If you don't want a bunch of obscure codecs, install only the ones you think you'll use.
-Codec packs often come with nice utilitys. K-lite comes with a program called Gspot, which helps identify what a movie is encodec with. They sometimes come with advanced media players, antifreeze programs, options to switch back and forth between codecs (if a codec is not backwards compatible), and encoding tools.

My point is, yes, you can usually get away with installing some codecs separately. But why? Its so much more work to keep track of all of them, install them all, find updated versions of them, etc, why not just use a codec pack.

[WoGiTaLiA]

Im going to be a minority, but Ive found that the Nimo Codec player is the best.

Ive tried the Klite one, but it causes my movies to get audio sync problems, that get worse as the movie goes on, they cause huge static splashes whenever a big bass event occurs, and sometimes dont work. This is just a personal experience, but Nimo worked fine and Klite didnt.

[sifu]

that is correct. Also get a program called
AviCodec and it should help a lot

Got to agree with post 2 or 3 up; much better to install codecs individually than use codec packs. I've been using AviCodec for a while, but I've recently stumbled across GSpot. Not the cDc BackOrifice front end of the same name ;-), but a very similar tool to AviCodec. Except it also tells you if you have multiple compatible A/V codecs installed for one file, good if you want to do a spring clean, and it can also render the file to test for freeze frames, completeness, etc. so you know whether to use VDub (mp3-freeze frame version) or similar to fix it. It doesn't install any DLLS to the system dir but keeps them in GSpot's native folder.
While we're on the subject of recommending apps, get GRCs 18kb DCOMbobulator to completely turn off DCOM rather than pi**ing about with MS updates every time a variant of the SoBig virus gets released. DCOM is rarely used by most ppl - I've only ever used it once and that was only for some distributed programming.

Gspot: http://www.headbands.com/gspot/
DCOMBobulator: http://grc.com/dcom/

[ROMANTICGUY50]

You better uninstall that crappy and troublesome Nimo Codec Pack and install Kazaa Lite Codec Pack

Just like the others have...it's been great for me too

I agree. I use the Kazaa Lite Codec Pack. It work's fine for me.