Vid Codec issues..

[Horseysi]

Hi again folks,

My constant trauling through the world wide web has led me to find that my Sony Handycam has recorded movies in three different types of MPEG format. Some of the movies are not supported on my PC, hence the icon having a grey box around them. Aparently I need the relevent codec to be able to work with these. Can anyony be more specific here, as now my brain is throbbing!!
Can I download the relevent codecs? What the hell are codecs?? If anyone can help me I will be eternally grateful.

Regards,
Si

[guns1inger]

Codecs are the small pieces of software that decode (or encode) video.

If you just want to watch the videos, the simplest solution might be to install a player such as VLC or The KM Player, which have a lot of built-in codecs and can play most formats.

If you want to edit and re-encde then you first need to determine what codecs you need. Programs like MediaInfo and G-Spot can tell you this. Once you know what you need, you can download that codec, install it, and play your videos.

Do not be tempted to take a scatter gun approach to solving your problem by installing a codec pack. Despite what some might tell you, these are bad news.

[nitro1973]

THis is sony camcorder, is it HD camcorder? if yes it is avchd format camcorder for sure.
then the simplest solution for avchd is Splash player. playbacks AVCHD much better than kmplayer and vlc.
but... it doesnt support mpeg-2 yet

Kmplayer and vlc like guns1inger said have lots of codecs and will play mpeg-2 footage very well, but in my opinion both suck at avchd :/

[minidv2dvd]

what sony cam model?