WMVs

[Darunia]

Some movies are MPG, some are WMVs... my computer will play MPGs, but not WMVs. They could out in scrambled text code. Is there a special download I need for this?

[etoven]

Some movies are MPG, some are WMVs... my computer will play MPGs, but not WMVs. They could out in scrambled text code. Is there a special download I need for this?

WMV stands for windows media video, it is one of the windows media player formats. To play it download:

windows media player 10 for XP Users: [Here]
windows media player 9 for for 98 Se, ME, 2000: [Here]

[Great Rumbler]

You can probably download some WMV-to-MPEG converters as well.

[Dark Jaguar]

Depending on his OS, he should already have Windows Media Player.

Anyway, I have to say there are way WAY too many formats for playing back identical data. I know, they all have their own little quirks like bitrates and whatnot, but seriously, STANDARDIZE!

[Darunia]

All right, I downloaded WMP, but when I download WMVs, they still come out as such in Netscape:


tÂëÂÞÅŸ§\¯)§Xˆa ½aú©‡5¸öÃSƒÂÇÈà ç
ŒYðòœ½„


NOW what do I need to do.

[Great Rumbler]

Download Mozilla-Firefox.

[lazyfatbum]

Hit save as instead of left clicking.

It may say 'txt' when you download it but windows will figure it out once it's completely downloaded

these things usually happen because Real player, BS player, Divx player, WMP, Winamp movie player and quicktime all try to force your downloads to become a part of their collective. So go in their settings and disable the 'Use this program to open these file types' boxso that each player you have only opens their respective file types.

[EdenMaster]

Yeah, GR is right. Get Firefox.

Have you tried DivX? It's a pretty good player that can play a wide variety of video files.

http://www.divx.com

[Dark Jaguar]

Yeah... But seriously, I am just tired of all these competing formats. It's too much for a consumer to expect to keep up with. I really don't want to waste space and possible memory overhead installing all this stuff. That's why I stick with a single media player and whatever formats it may support. If I decide to move on to a better player, I ditch the old one.

Fortunatly at least some formats seem to be winning over others. Unfortunatly, one of them is Quicktime. I really have no issues with their format, but the player insists on being memory resident and I insist on removing it each time it puts itself there when I start it up.

[A Black Falcon]

It's really not that hard... just download the codec, or plugin, and then run the file in any one of a bunch of compatible players...

As for why you can't run WMVs, no idea. I do sometimes have problems running WMVs in Mozilla, but that's easily solved by either running them in IE (if it's through a website) or RealPlayer (my video-file-watcher (not for DVDs though) of choice)... or WMP, if it really doesn't like working... but that's rare.

[Darunia]

Well, I have a 56k here, so large downloads (like web browsers) are a problem.. which is smaller, Firefox or Mozilla, and by smaller, HOW big are we talking? And will it conflict with my siblings' using Netscape?

[Dark Jaguar]

ABF, you may not have noticed what you did there. I mentioned my griefs against the lack of standardized video formats, and you list a problem I didn't even state at all. I never once said "it's too hard!". I simply said it's too much and gets old VERY fast. I hate searching the net and having to do constant research to make sure whatever codec or player I might pick up is something that won't be memory resident or is actually some sort of mal-ware.

Some people don't seem to take those precautions. I fix their computers.

[A Black Falcon]

Most video files are in common formats and don't require weird codecs though... I don't really have anything special codec-wise on my PC. Divx, but that's about it really... most relevant formats are already supported in realplayer/windows media player/winamp...

[Great Rumbler]

Firefox is only 4.6 MB. That won't take very long even on 56k.

[Dark Jaguar]

I don't bother with Realplayer...

[A Black Falcon]

GR: Why would Firefox fix problems with Windows Media Player? I don't think it would.

DJ: I like it...

[Great Rumbler]

It might be his browser that's causing it to mess up, if he's watching them embedded in it anyway.

[Sacred Jellybean]

It might be his browser that's causing it to mess up, if he's watching them embedded in it anyway.

That's what I was thinking.

I'm with DJ on the RealPlayer deal, also. WAY too many advertisements, so I get a tad paranoid-schizo about shady covertware.

I HATE it when applications prompt you to update. RealPlayer is one of them... "You must update your player to view the boobies, poor net geek! PLZ 4 TEH LOVE OF GOD CLICK YES". Bullshit. I could play the exact same file a month ago without downloading a damn thing.

[A Black Falcon]

Winamp has annoying 'please update' boxes too, when you have an older version, and I use that also... actually in a way it's worse than RealPlayer, because the 'please update, yes or no' box popped up every time I launched Winamp, with no option I could see to disable it, while with realplayer you just ignore it and it goes away... as for realplayer advertisements, for the most part it can be disabled... close the browser window so it doesn't open with realplayer, tell it not to bother you with ads, etc... I know, there's not-so-nice stuff in realplayer, and if you're not careful it likes to take over all your audio and video file associations, but it's got a nice look and a simple interface... Windows Media Player is massively bloated, is only really usable in a fullscreen window (ick!), and ... well, I like to avoid most MS programs... and Winamp is no good for video. It lacks too many basic controls.

[geoboy]

That's what I was thinking.

I'm with DJ on the RealPlayer deal, also. WAY too many advertisements, so I get a tad paranoid-schizo about shady covertware.

I HATE it when applications prompt you to update. RealPlayer is one of them... "You must update your player to view the boobies, poor net geek! PLZ 4 TEH LOVE OF GOD CLICK YES". Bullshit. I could play the exact same file a month ago without downloading a damn thing.

http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_...native.cfm

Real Alternative is a godsend. It lets you play Real media files without installing Real Player.

[Dark Jaguar]

Could you post a link that works?

[A Black Falcon]

That link does work.

[Dark Jaguar]

Well it does now.