What are the codecs that everyone uses/needs?

[mastervampire]

there are so many codecs out there and so many different movies encoded, im a newbie, so whats the right codecs to use?

i mean i know about codec packs but there a quite a few of them, not sure what one to use and then which codecs to tick etc...

so can someone tell me all the codecs ill ever need? or just which codec pack etc..


any help would be great

thx

[Cobra]

The codecs you need depend on what you want to do.

So, what do you want to do?

Cobra

[Roderz]

Good question - and one that should be asked before jumping in head first

Genral advice is only the ones you need !
So if you got a divx file (find out with gspot) then install the divx codec (same for xvid etc....)
only codec's I've installed and need are divx3,4,5 & xvid.

Stay away from codec packs - can load far to much stuff you don't need

[mastervampire]

hmm thought i made it clear

just need to play movies like

AVI, DivX, XVID, ASF, MOV, MPEG

u know all those types, the usual ones

[lordsmurf]

I only have a few

For encoding:
MJPEG
HuffYUV
WMV8 and WMV9

For decoding:
DIVX 5.1
XVID
AC3
WMV
QT Alternate
Real Alternate
MPEG2 (Ligos and Cyberlink)
MPEG1 (Microsoft, came with Windows)

Not many more, though I'm sure a missed a few.

[bugster]

Find and use Gspot and/or avicodec. When you find a file that won't play, open it in one of these apps and it will tell you what codecs you need and if you already have them installed. Then, and only then, download and install any new codec.

Do not use Codec packs, not only can they cause conflicts and load things you don't need, I have heard that some may contain spyware.

[Angelot]

Agree!

I was such a fool downloading every codec and codec-packs I could find on the net...

I had to do a reinstall of XP....

Only download the ones you need!

[Hardcoreruss]

Only download the ones you need!

Agreed