Correction, Virtualdub will work fine, Windows Media Encoer....bleh.

WMV doesn't seem to be a very Linux-friendly file format...

Windows Media Encoder worked for me fine

gold2040 wrote:

Windows Media Encoder worked for me fine

Indeed it works "fine". But the WMV format is still crap and should be avoided.

Say what you will about WMV, but in reality it's the only codec everyone (read: XP users) has on their computers without downloading anything (after all, that "built in" factor in general is what Microsoft lives on).

If I want something only for myself, I would use XviD (and in the past DivX), but if I want to either send it to someone who isn't a pro or post it in a commercial site of mine, I would without a doubt use WMV.

Well, supposedly MPG is the only other "built in" codec (and even more so if you count none XP users), but it's like a WAV file compared to MP3.

And that's before even considering only WMV, Quicktime and RM can use streaming servers (and the latter two are just as annoying as WMV if not more and aren't even "built in")!

It's fine for you but @ VOGONS we tend to think of everyone and of the future.....not just Windows users. 😉

Say what you will about WMV, but in reality it's the only codec everyone (read: XP users) has on their computers without downloading anything (after all, that "built in" factor in general is what Microsoft lives on).

which is not entirely true. When people with Media Player 10 convert avis to wmv this will not play correctly (e.g. sound will play, picture won't) on new Windows XP installations (even with SP2 integrated). That's a problem I ran into, because I refuse to install that thing here with its drm features 😀

WMV is evil. It's a closed format and you cannot edit it any further. Avi or mpeg is muchmuch better, besides who doesn't have xvid decoders installed these days 😀

WMV's actually pretty easy to edit; even with microsoft's stranglehold on apps that parse it, it's easy to mux to mkv or avi with freely available tools, or convert to something else with many tools. Not to say it's very easy, or a particularly good codec, but at least it's not totally closed anymore.

mpeg on the other hand I could never in good conscience recommend to anyone with more than a 66mhz 486. >.>

Wait a minute, what does WMP 10 have to do with converting AVIs to WMVs? That's Windows Movie Maker and it only has 2 versions. Version is bundled with the original XP and version 2 is bundled in SP2 and I've never heard about anyone having a problem with playing a v2 WMV in a v1 system.

MPG files can be easily converted too. It's Quicktime and especially RM files that you usually must stay with.

Then again, once a file is already compressed, I wouldn't really want to change its format and lower its quality even more.

And who doesn't have xvid decoders? How about the average newbie (in spirit, not in computer experience)?

Wait a minute, what does WMP 10 have to do with converting AVIs to WMVs?

the codec. v10 is not bundled with SP2. XP comes with v8 and SP2 comes bundled with v9. To verify this I just checked my XP Pro CD (it's a SP2 version). The wmplayer.ex_ is v9. In SP2.cab are only 9 .exe files and none is a wmplayer one.

You may have never heard of a problem between the versions before. Good for you, now you have heard of it.

Can Windows Media player automatically download the codecs it needs? Such as Divx/Xvid? I've never had any luck with WMP and codec downloads so I assume not.

Anyways it's a simple matter to send a link to Klite codec pack. As long as the user has a broadband connection they are only a minute away from having every codec they'll ever need.

foxyshadis wrote:

mpeg on the other hand I could never in good conscience recommend to anyone with more than a 66mhz 486. >.>

So all the billions of dvds sold are just bought by people with old 486s? 😉

Oh, you meant the codec...I didn't realize it's bundled with the player. So is trying to play a v9 WMV via a v8 codec fails too?

I assume not too about automatic downloads for WMP. Well, I guess there's a slight chance DivX can be downloaded automatically, but I bet XviD can't.

Sending a link to the pack is good for a close friend, but not for just "anybody you know" (especially business associates) or each and every visitor in your site...

I do wonder how many DVDs are used on computers and how many of standalone machines.

So is trying to play a v9 WMV via a v8 codec fails too?

I don't think so, but a wmv encoded with the codec that comes with v10 definitely fails to render properly (I remember now that you do see the video, only it is totally screwed up colorwise, much like the predator view in the first movie 😀)

Wait a minute (again)...the predator effect is caused because of your screen card. I have Radeon and all I had to do to fix it was going to its Control Center=>Video=>All Settings=>(after scrolling all the way down - took me quite a while to realize that...) Windows Media Settings - and unchecking the option "Windows Media Video Acceleration".

P.S.
Another symptom that this fixes is the annoying file that is created and left on your desktop each time you play a WMV.

it was fixed when I downloaded and installed the wmv v.10.0 codec from MS.

Well, obviously this acceleration had a purpose. But unless you upgrade - which you did and I didn't - disabling it fixes the problem.

gulikoza wrote:

foxyshadis wrote:

mpeg on the other hand I could never in good conscience recommend to anyone with more than a 66mhz 486. >.>

So all the billions of dvds sold are just bought by people with old 486s? 😉

That's mpeg-2, and that's 4-8 megabits a second, a whole different league from someone recording video on their computer. If someone was making a dvd of it, of course it'd be a great idea. I wouldn't recommend mpeg-1 ever because even though it's widely compatible, it has to be 2-3 times the size of an mpeg-4 (divx,xvid) to look as good, compared to an extra 5 megs to download a codec once. Especially with dos-type games that chew up bitrate for decent quality.

Although really, zmbv is extremely better suited to this sort of video, normal video codecs butcher it, especially wmv. if you have to, just bundle the decoder with the video.