Video Codecs

[Zach]

I've been contemplating "covering all my bases" and installing that apparently popular K-Lite Codec Pack (http://www.free-codecs.com/K_Lite_Codec_Pack_download.htm).

Is this a good idea or a bad idea?

If not a bad idea, should I go with the "full" version or just stick to the standard one? (Remember: My goal is just to get all the codecs I may ever need on my system and be done with it. I have no "specific" need ATM.)

Thanks for any input!

[iradic]

hi

on doom9 you will hardly get 'its a good idea' response :)

i suggest you to install codecs/filters etc individualy as you need them ... learning how to install/uninstall them is easy and most of them come with an installer

i recommend you to visit http://www.inmatrix.com/zplayer/formats/
for more info about formats / decoders / filters etc (this info works for every directshow based player not only zoomplayer)...

bye

[Paulcat]

It would depend on why you need all these codecs, if you are simply playing video, use a player like Media Player Classic that plays almost anything and leave it at that. If you are editing and doing other video work, you will know already that codecs change continually, new ones come out and older ones get used less.

I have XviD 1.1.0 beta for video (and all Mpeg4 video), AC3 filter 1.12 (I think that is the version), and the Core AAC filter. That's it apart from the standard ones that came with windows..

The more crap you have on your system, the harder it is to fix a problem when you have one!

[thecrock]

I don't install codecs until i need one, codec packs can cause conflicts.
Download gspot-it's free, this will tell you what codecs you have installed and which codecs you need to install to play a particular file.
Peace

[SeeMoreDigital]

It's an awful idea... Only install what you want when you want it....

That said, if I was to suggest a codec pack... it would have to be Matroska's ;)


Cheers

[Zach]

Okay, thanks, guys.

This whole idea started when I got some videos from my brother (home movies) that he somehow managed to convert to DivX. (He wanted me to make a compilation DVD to send out to family members.)

The tooltip (believe it or not) in Windows Explorer said they were encoded with the DivX 5.2.1 codec, but whenever I tried to load them in Nero's NeroVision Express, the thing crashed. I then spent a weekend using TMPGEnc 3.0 XPress to convert them all to mpeg-2, and that worked, but the audio was lost for some reason.

Anyway, this thread isn't about all that; I was just thinking after the fact that maybe if I installed one of those codec packs, everything would have worked "out of the box" from the get go. But on the other hand, cluttering up my system with extraneous codecs was something I felt a little leery about doing, hence why I sought the opinions of those here on this forum. :)

Again, thanks!

[echooff]

Don't trust windows explorer for this information. The best out there IMHO is gspot. There could be various reasons you lost the audio in Tmpgenc express, it doesn't like vbr audio and can't handle ac3 input. You could always extract the audio seperately then add it back after encoding to mpg.

[RLLMoFP]

I've been using Codec Pack All in 1 (http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Codec_Pack_All_in_1.htm) for a couple of years and have had great results. It's the only package I have to install on a freshly built machine to view anything I might encounter.

[thecrock]

RLLMoFP, what is your avatar?

Oh, i see it now.