Noob to OSX: Can't playback DivX/Xvid's

[midimidi]

Hi all - finally got a kickin ol G4 up and running. I have the latest version of OSX (10.4.3?) and its got the latest version of Quicktime 7.

Could someone take me through the steps to load DivX, Xvid, and AC-3 codecs correctly - for the matter, which ones to download? I've tried about four different codecs, mixing each and can't get any of my files to playback. Everytime I try to load media, Quicktime crashes. QT does playback standard OSX-friendly files fine.

Some examples (all of these crash QT):
One sample file is an HD-sized Xvid (1280x768) with two channels of CBR audio created from Windows Movie Maker.

Another is an Xvid with AC-3 audio from VirtualDub.

Or how about just a plain ol DivX v3 with 2-channel MP3 audio?

[rumplestiltskin]

Try playing the files with VLC. It should not require the installation of those codecs.

You also use something like MPEG Streamclip to convert the files to MPEG4 or H264 for QT-friendliness.

[terryj]

Download the following codecs and install them:
Divx 5.21
( from what I understand 31vx and QT 7 do not get along, so don't download that)
AC3 component.

the above need to be installed in /Library/Quicktime/

You will also need to download and install the Flip4Mac
WMV componet to handle some Windows based file types.

once you have done that you are set, for most types.
Outside of that get a copy of VLC to play the files that
Quicktime is stubborn on.

[midimidi]

Thanks! Worked!