How do you tweek your codecs

[entwood]

Does anyone know how Windows maintains Video & Audio codecs or how to tweek them.

I used Gspot and was able to see what was on my computer, but I didn't understand what I saw.

Is there a guide that explains how to tweek/delete/modify and prioritise codecs.

[gitreel]

Most of the codecs have their own configuration utility. In divx and xvid, you can change the quality options.

[entwood]

Sorry I didn't say what I meant.

I'm really surprised that there is no guides written for maintaining all the video and audio codecs that collect in windows.

For ex. if you had several different mpeg2 codecs on your system. It would be nice to tell windows which one to use. And to delete the other two.

I'm sure some people know how to maintain their codecs so that Windows Media Player choses the best codecs and deletes the rest.

[gitreel]

You can tell the computer which one to use by using the preference for that codec.

You really don't need a guide for this.

I don't use media player. If it is mpeg2, then why not use your dvd player program like powerdvd or windvd? That is what it is for. They have more capabilities and features than media player anyway.

[entwood]

Good you understand me. You may be right about not needing a guide, but since I'm new to this I get all my info from guides.

At the same time there's a lot of guides and small apps written to help control how widows runs. I'm surprised that no one has written a guide on how to maintain codecs them. Gspot does some of this but I didn't find a guide for it. I've seen a lot of posts where people try to work with them and get so frustrated they reimage.

Here are some things I'd like to know.

How do you set the preferences?
How do you disable a codec if it's bad? I don't want to delete - I might not be able to replace it if I made a mistake.
Is there a place like the registry or *.inf where you can edit these things

I've got win2000 and I can find the video codecs in device manager or the multimedia control panel. All I can do is remove them.

thx again

[lordsmurf]

DXMAN

[entwood]

Its a bolt of lightining from on high.

Thanks I'll try it out.

[entwood]

Ok, I'm just saying this for the record. If anyone wrote a small guide explaining how Windows uses and maintains codecs. I'd be happy.

[David K]

I agree that such a guide would be welcome.

From my own experience trying to figure it out, it seems that this is rather complicated stuff. Windows was not designed to easily configer the codecs in the way that you want.

So now some programmers are trying to design programs to do it. Media Player Classic will allow you to see which codecs are rendering certain file types, and allows you to block certain ones and set preferences.

The last time I went to the G-spot home page, the creator of that program was planning to incorporate a way to pick codecs in the program eventually.

[jameshgross]

entwood,

I would suggest that in stead of saying that someone should write a guide, YOU write the guide after doing the research and learning all about codecs.

[entwood]

Thats a valid point.


My comment was meant as a suggestion. It's possible that some people reading these forums are already experts on the subject and would want to write a guide. I'm just pointing out that there's a need for one.

As far as research my guess is that I'd have to start looking at how Windows supports Multimedia, both with the Direct X and Video for Windows APIs. I'd then read a few books on Software Development for Multimedia in Windows.

At that point I'll be an expert on the topic and I'll write my guide about editing codecs.

Look for my guide in 2007

[kitty]

Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Hardware Tab -> Device Manager Button -> Sound, video and Game controllers -> Video Codecs -> Properties Tab -> Right-Click a codec -> Settings Button

Doesn't MS make it so easy?

[entwood]

Ok, you didn't read the start of the thread. We cleared this up in post 2 & 3.