How do I determine the codec used in an mpeg file

[Kepper]

Hi All,
I captured some video in MJPEG format. I then produced the video (with Videowave 4) as an MPEG-2 file. I gave the file to a potential customer so he could send a copy of it to his customer. His customer was unable to view it because he didn't have the codec. I used a Windows 98 system with the default codecs installed (along with Internet Explorer 5.5 and windows media player 6.4. Besides the motion jpeg codec installed by the buz software, the other codecs installed are standard for IE5.5 and media player 6.4 and windows 98. The guy I sent the video to could play it back fine on his windows 98 and Windows ME operating systems. The other guy has a brand new windows ME laptop from Dell.
My Question is: Is there a utility somewhere that I can use to tell me what codec was used in an MPEG video file. If you do a "properties" on a .avi file, you can find the information through one of the tabs in the properties window. The mpg files provide no such information.
OR: Am I barking up the wrong tree?

Thanks in advance.

Kepper

[Baldrick]

You need a mpeg2 codec installed to play mpeg2 files with windows media player. You can download and install a shareware DVD Player like WinDVD,PowerDVD and mpeg2 movies will work with media player.

[FredThompson]

That's an answer to a different question.

The question is: Is there a way to determine which codec is used for a data file?

It's something I've been struggling wiht as well. I've got a slew of codecs loaded on all my machines but that doesn't let me determine which are compatible with a video file.

[Faceman101]

MPEG doesn't have codecs, it is a codec. It is either in MPEG1 or MPEG2. Just like the admin said, install DVD software and the MPEG2 will play on his machine.

And the question isn't how do you determine a codec on a file. He is talking MPEG. On WinME goto properties and you can determine the codec used easily. Just like he said he has done before.

[shochan]

Mpeg is mpeg in 98 cant play it then it is mpeg2 if it can it, it is mpeg 1, or for avi you right click on it;properties;details.

[Kepper]

Thanks for the answers, guys. One more question on this: What about the different versions of mpeg codecs like ligos and panasonic? Are those distinguishable?

Thanks again,
Kepper

[FredThompson]

Well, I'll be durned, there IS a properties tab for AVI files which shows the compressor.

That only works for AVI files, though.

Take an AVI and change the extension to MPG. It will play with media Player and others but now you've got no easy way to tell the codec.

Relying on file extensions to reveal the codec necessary to play a file isn't going to be reliable. Media Player and other robust players don't use the extension to determine the stream type.

Do any of you know of shell extensions which will add properties information for MPG extensions sinilar to those for AVI? How about standalone programs that will tell this info?

[FredThompson]

To clarify:

There's a big difference between a stock setup and one used for development. Once a non-standard codec is loaded on a machine, "simple" solutions like sochan's suggestion won't work.

Try this: Load the HuffYUV codec and capture a stream with Virtual Dub.

What's the codec needed to play it? See the point?

Changing an MPG extension to AVI won't solve the problem, unfortunately.

Since the actual contents of a media file are not actually determined by the extension, there really does need to be a way to find out what format those contents take.