3ivX MP4 Audio Encoder expired

[au7usa]

I have the Gabest "RealMediaSplitter.ax" filter installed on my machine, but every time i try to access a Real Media file through Direct Show it de-activates my installation of 3ivX MP4 audio encoder, or should i say "expires it".

I was just trying to get TMPGEnc to load RealMedia through DirectShow to see if it was possible.

I noticed a couple of other "obscure" audio applications have the same effect. The only solution seems to be to uninstall 3ivX, then pick the leftover pieces out of the registry, and reinstall 3ivX.

Does anyone know about a bug in either RealMediaSplitter filter, or 3ivX MP4 audio encoder? (It's probably a bug in 3ivX since i can cause it to happen with more than just Gabest filter)

[au7usa]

I think i've got something!

I thought i might be having a weird filter interaction, but there appears to be more to it. I noticed that everytime you play MPEG4 content through these filters they request the file:
http://www.3ivx.com/wmp_mp4_logoicon.gif

Could fragmented packets be telling the 3ivX Audio Encoder to turn itself off? I wondered what would happen if this "Counter" was blocked.

Well when you block it, the media type icon no longer appears in Windows Media Player. The other result is that it hasn't suddenly "Expired" for no good reason, but this may be a coincidence.

Regardless (proud of me aren't ya!) of wheather its doing what i think its doing, i don't like the idea of my PC contacting a site without my knowledge! They never told me their software contained Spyware.

[bick]

I'm surprised that there isn't more info about this. I was getting the popup when I played a SVCD mpg file! (audio: MPEG-1 Layer II - 2.0).

After I blocked the 3ivx.com domain, everything now runs fine.

I'd really like to know what they are doing. Sounds alot like spyware to me.