Codecs.. help please

[stewart2000]

ok, so this might be a dumb question for some, but here goes... a search for 'codecs' on google will give overwhelming results, and for a greenhorn to all this..geeezzzzz.

question...1 are codecs backwards compatable? or do i need to keep old ones around?

2 is there such a thing as good n' bad codecs that do the same thing?

(i had this one mpeg2 codec that put a logo in the top corner, very anoying!)

3 is there a package out there that will install all codecs, or do i need to download them individually?

thanks for any help

[Asmodian]

A quick look through the guides should give you an overview but...

1. Codecs should be backwards compatible; only in rare cases would you need an old version.
2. Yes.
3. ALL Codecs!?! that would be very bad. There are many packs that install lots of codecs and most of them suck. It is generally a better idea to only install the codecs you actually need, especially since some codecs conflict with each other.