codecs installed but can't make them work

[anabellita]

sorry for the length of this post, folks. But I've been at this for a little while, am a totally newbie and have obviously screwed up bad!

So let's start from the beginning:

I was trying my very first "video trick", i.e., putting permanent subtitles on an AVI file, which according to GSpot had a DivX 3 Fast-Motion (Four CC DIV 4) codec. GSpot also pointed out that there were 4 compatible codecs installed.

When I went over to compress the video on VDub Mod, I couldn't find the appropriate DivX 3 codec listed, but I did find others. Clicked on one of those (which GSpot had pointed out with an arrow) and got a dialog box which was completely different form the on e on the guide. So I contacted the forum on the site where the guide was hosted, and was told to unistall and reinstall the lates DivX codecs. Did that, didn't work and was told to unistall and reinstall all my codecs. Couldn't be bothered back then, and got down to work last week. That's when my problems began.

In the past few weeks I've accumulated a whole bunch of spyware, adware and other crap. Ran Spybot Search and Destroy, got rid of almost anything and, in the cleaning process, unistalled the codecs as was told (that's me! good, honest, disciplined and obedient little girl!).

Obviously, I couldn't get any of my videos to play. Mind you, before I started this process, I hadn't come accross a single video that I couldn't watch and listen to practically perfectly.

Went back, installed the following one by one:
* Standard DivX 511 (Free)
* XviD-1.0-RC3-29022004.exe
* MPEG 2 filters for DVD SVCD (Figured I'd need this because I aim to create SVCD which my dvd player can support...doesn't read divx and haven't got a dvd writer)
*Radium MP3 Codec
* Dolby digital AC3 Filter
* OGG Direct Show Filters
* DivX MPEG-4Audio Compressor

HOWEVER, although GSpot managed to identify the codecs (I always got 2-5 compatible codecs installed for all my vfiles), the rendering always failed. And I still couldn't play my files with Windows Media Player nor Real Player.

Went back, got told to install FFDShow. Still didn't work.

Went back, was told unistall it all and try watching it with VideoLan 0.7.1..

That worked, I could watch my movie, but only on Video Lan, not on anything else. And Gspot stillfailed to render the files.

So:
The codecs were unistalled, but GSpot found them.
GSpot found them, but couldn't use them.
VideoLan worked, but no other video player did.

Went back.
Was told that perhaps GSpot was identifying Nero's codecs, that I should try unistalling that. But you see, I've got a full registered version of Nero, that I usefor burning my music CD's and am trying to learn how to use to edit audio with. Wouldn't want to pay again. And have got no idea where the serial number information is (I paid for it all at the store where I got the computer. It all came in together).

Went back (just can't get enough, can I?) and suggested to try re-installing the codecs now. Was told it was worth a try. So I went back to step one.
Still didn't work.

Went back.
Was told to reformat.
Freaked out.
Don't think I'm up to it... and haven't got the slightest idea as to where the my Win XP CD is. Plus, everything else on this maching is working flawlessly (wonders never cease).

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[aguillon]

Uninstall Divx 5.11. Re-install in that order Divx3.11, Divx4.12 and Divx5.11.

When prompted by Divx4 and Divx5, do not authorise them to handle Divx3 content.

Also - another remark - Div511 free does not provide any encoding capabilities - only playback. You need the pro version for that.

Cheers

[anabellita]

thanks!! I'll give it a go this afternoon and let you know how it went.

[anabellita]

hi! just tried erverything you said. Also, while I was wiating for an answer, I continued to do my research, and found that someonte on this forum recommended AVICodec.

I downloaded that and found lots of information that GSpot was not giving. For example, for various files that GSpot said I had up to 5 ocmpatible codecs, AVICodec said I had none. I therefore installed a couple codecs I seemed to be missing, and also uninstalled DIVX 511 and went through the steps you suggested.

BTW, I was aware of the divx511 bundle issue... just figured that, being a beginner and all, I'd start off with decoding, fiddling around with audio, subtitles, etc., and enconding to something readable by my standalone. I a) didn't think I needed DivXPro for that b) didn't want to fill my computer with ad/spyware again and c) am not quite ready to start investing i this... I think I willin the future, when I decide this something I really want to do in my free time. For now, I'm just on a discovery trip. Plus, I can always encode to XviD, or can't I?

Anyway, here's the what happened:
* AVI Codec is now able to say that Divx 3 is supported
* In fact, all codecs are now "supported", except for DivXNetworks DivX v5 (that's DX50)... strange, because it should have come in with DivX511, shouldn'it?
* I decided I'd take the risk and try out the divxprogain bundle. Maybe DX50 would be supported then. But no, it still isn't.
* I've noticed that I only have problems reproducing AVI files (even when GSpot and AVICodec agree that both audio and video codecs are supported). *.MPG files seem to work just fine.


oh! and when prompted by divx 4 whether to manage divx3 I obediently said no. However, DivX511 never asked the question.



I'll keep trying....

[Firk99]

Also - another remark - Div511 free does not provide any encoding capabilities - only playback. You need the pro version for that

That is not true, you can encode using the div511 free codec, however you don't have the advanced settings (b-frames, q-pel, etc)

[anabellita]

thanks for the info firk!

Truth is, I too had understood that 511 standard was for playback, not encoding... At any rate I'm not up for encoding quite yet (heck, can't get past getting dx50 recognized by the system!).

When I am, though I don't think I'll be needing super-features, not at the beginning, anyways. So even if it isn't an issue right now, it's good to know I won't need to install PRO when I first get started! For now, I'll just stick to adding various switchable subtitles and various audio tracks... see what I'm capable of.

But first... Gotta figure out what I'm doing wrong with the DivX5 codec (AVICodec says I have no DX50, and I just installed it) and then, what settings I messed up that have made all my AVIs unreadeable.

Off to uninstall DivX511ProAdware (again!) and to reinstall DivX511 Standard (for the 4th time is it?). Glad I can safely get rid of evil GAIN.

[anabellita]

Well, beats me. I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Went on ...found "solutions" like going into the registry (nothing there!) or fiddling with system.in (found nothing under "[drivers32]" -could that be it?)

At any rate, uninstalled 511Pro, reinstalled 511 Standard....

...still get:

Vídeo : 593 Mb, 825 Kbps, 25.0 fps, resolución 564*356 (16:9), DX50 = DivXNetworks Divx v5, No soportado

each time I try AVI Codec.

However, GSpot assures there are 5 compatible codecs installed:
*ffdshow decoder filter
*xvid moeg-4 video decoder
*divx decoder filter
*divx decoder filter
*3ivx d4 video decoder

Why woould I get divx twice (note: they both have the same FourCC code -DIVX- and are both version 5.1.1.1031)?

And if it found the codec, why can't it render the file?

going berzerk!

out of luck?
or simply ...got what I deserved for being such a and playing around like I was a big girl?

[fritzi93]

Don't know if this will help, but in the past I've seen DXMAN recommended. Supposedly can completely remove video and audio codecs and plugins from the registry. They can be tenacious, as you have found, and cleaning the registry is chancy without knowing exactly what you're doing.

Be careful what you delete. In G-Spot, you might be able to identify which codecs are the problem (e.g. misconfigured) by clicking on "more information". Have you done so? For clean codecs (no spyware) to reinstall, you could use the K-Lite codec pack, but be extremely selective, only install the ones you absolutely need.

No doubt there are others much more expert on this than me, but you might try the above. You certainly got yourself into a jam!

[anabellita]

thanks! will most certainly try DXMAN.

However, I think there is more of a problem of codecs not getting into the registry than out. Specifically, it's about divx511 being installed, but dx50 being "not supported"... or files not playing/rendering although all the appropriate. I get the feeling the codecs are "sticking" rather than "installing" and therefore cannot get into the registry (and thus cannot be read by the playback softwares).

Also, it's weird that this would only happen with *.avi files, isn't it? *.mpg are working fine.
...of course, all my *.mpg happen to use codecs that are not used by *.avi.... coincidence?

As for the K-Lite Codec Pack... I've seen Packs so completely NOT advised, that I think it might be better to just simply re-install after dxman's done cleaning?

At any rate, will try dxman and get back to you!

[fritzi93]

No, the point is, you could pick a single, solitary codec out of K-Lite and install just that one. Uncheck all the rest. Yes, it's not hard to get spyware with a codec, but K-Lite should be clean.

You're wise to be wary, though. On my last computer I made the tragic mistake of installing Nimo codec pack (Curse you Nimo!), which ended up with a format/clean install after backing up some files to another hard drive. Thing is, I only installed a couple of codecs.

Anyway, I recently had codec difficulties, the cause of which was a DivX MPEG4 codec. I don't recall that G-Spot had any further identification other than it was misconfigured. I got rid of everything DivX in Device manager and reinstalled only two: DivX 5.1.1 (from K-Lite) and a hacked (DivX3) one, 4DivX3917. No problems since, but I don't pretend to know why it worked.

Hope you don't end up having to back up files and format.

[Firk99]

On the divx website www.divx.com is a program called BigFix pack 1.6b http://www.btinternet.com/~digital56k/BigFix1.6b.exe

Give it a try

[fritzi93]

On the divx website www.divx.com is a program called BigFix pack 1.6b http://www.btinternet.com/~digital56k/BigFix1.6b.exe

Give it a try

Interesting that the list of fixes mentions NIMO several times. Figures. Has anyone had success with the Big Fix? If it works as advertised, it should be quite useful.

[anabellita]

This is just to thank you all for all the suggestions. Unfortunately, I've had a lot of work since yesterday, and probably won't be able to dedicate time to this until this weekend, but I will certainly be trying it all out this weekend and will get back to you to tell you how it went.

[anabellita]

OK, here's a "quick" rundown of my weekend...

I ran Dxman. Didn't have it do anything, though, because I wasn't sure what I wanted to remove, and what I wanted to keep. There were two plugins that were tagged "not existent", but stupid me, I didn't write down what they were, but if I remember correctly, they were had something to do with mpeg4. Doesn't matter anymore, anyway, because after running Big Fix, that has changed.

I told Big Fix 1.6. not to remove anything, just to unregister. I'm not sure what it is id did (or how to undo it) but it disabled a host of things, including Direct Show, so now not even GSpot will work. I'm guessing that it did a little of what was suggested in doom9.org to do in the registry, that is, eliminating all the lines under [dirvers32] that had no values. Just in case it might help, and at the risk of being a real pain in the neck, here's the log:

* Disable XP AVI Properties Handler
Removing registry key
Success

* Remove G400 filter
Attempting to unregister G400 filter
Checking for file (C:\WINDOWS\System32\divxg400.ax)
File not found

* Remove Bicubic Resize filter
Attempting to unregister Bicubic Resize filter
Checking for file (C:\WINDOWS\System32\bicubic_resizer.ax)
File not found

* Remove DivX Anti-freeze filter
Attempting to unregister DivX Anti-freeze filter
Checking for file (C:\WINDOWS\System32\divXaf.ax)
File not found

* Remove XviD filter
Attempting to unregister XviD filter
Checking for file (C:\WINDOWS\System32\xvid.ax)
File found
Unregistering XviD filter...
Success

* Set FFDShow does not handle DivX
Setting option for FourCC DIV3
Setting option for FourCC DIVX
Setting option for FourCC DX50

* Check FFDShow is installed
Checking for installation path in registry
FFDShow filter found (C:\Archivos de programa\ffdshow\ffdshow.ax)

* Set 3ivX does not handle DivX
Reading 3ivX settings from registry
Failed (3ivX may not be configured)

* Registry: Remove any invalid drivers
+ Checking drivers
+ Checking midimapper - Entry is ok
+ Checking msacm.imaadpcm - Entry is ok
+ Checking msacm.msadpcm - Entry is ok
+ Checking msacm.msg711 - Entry is ok
+ Checking msacm.msgsm610 - Entry is ok
+ Checking msacm.trspch - Entry is ok
+ Checking vidc.cvid - Entry is ok
+ Checking vidc.iyuv - Entry is ok
+ Checking vidc.mrle - Entry is ok
+ Checking vidc.msvc - Entry is ok
+ Checking vidc.uyvy - Entry is ok
+ Checking vidc.yuy2 - Entry is ok
+ Checking vidc.yvu9 - Entry is ok
+ Checking vidc.yvyu - Entry is ok
+ Checking wavemapper - Entry is ok
+ Checking wave - Entry is ok
+ Checking midi - Entry is ok
+ Checking mixer - Entry is ok
+ Checking aux - Entry is ok
+ Checking msacm.msg723 - Entry is ok
+ Checking vidc.M263 - Entry is ok
+ Checking vidc.M261 - Entry is ok
+ Checking msacm.msaudio1 - Entry is ok
+ Checking msacm.sl_anet - Entry is ok
+ Checking msacm.l3acm - Entry is ok
+ Checking msacm.l3codec - Entry is ok
+ Checking vidc.3ivx - Entry has no value
Removing 'vidc.3ivx'='' - invalid entry
+ Checking vidc.mpg4 - File does not exist (mpg4c32.dll)
Removing 'vidc.mpg4'='mpg4c32.dll' - invalid entry
+ Checking vidc.mp42 - File does not exist (mpg4c32.dll)
Removing 'vidc.mp42'='mpg4c32.dll' - invalid entry
+ Checking vidc.mp43 - File does not exist (mpg4c32.dll)
Removing 'vidc.mp43'='mpg4c32.dll' - invalid entry
+ Checking vidc.XVID - Entry is ok
+ Checking vidc.3IV2 - Entry is ok
+ Checking vidc.DIV3 - Entry is ok
+ Checking vidc.DIV4 - Entry is ok
+ Checking msacm.ac3acm - Entry is ok
+ Checking VIDC.IV31 - Entry is ok
+ Checking VIDC.IV32 - Entry is ok
+ Checking msacm.divxa32 - Entry is ok
+ Checking vidc.DIVX - Entry is ok

* INI files: Remove any invalid drivers
Checking drivers

* Checking DivX version
DivX version is at least 5.0.5

* Checking DirectX version
DirectX version is ok (4.09.00.0902)

I then reloaded DXMan. The following plugins were found to "not exist":

* Intel Video 5.2 Compression Filter (file: Ir50_32.dll)
* Intel Video 5.2 Decompression Filter (file: Ir50_32.dll)
* MPEG-2 Video Stream Analyzer (file: sbe.dll)
* Mpeg4 Decoder DMO
* Mpeg 43 Decoder DMO
* Mpeg 4s Decoder DMO
* StreamBufferSink (file: sbe.dll)
* StreamBufferSource (file: sbe.dll)
* WMAudio Decoder DMO
* WMSpeech Decoder DMO
* WMV Screen decoder DMO
* WMVideo Decoder DMO
* .RAM fil Parser

So I'm starting to feel the situation is worse than it was before. Before, at least I knew what was installed and what wasn't, now, I have no idea.

At any rate, as of Friday, I believe the problems could be boiled down to:
* problems recognizing the presence of the DX50 codec, in spite of having divx511 installed (porperly, I believe... at least I tried)
* mpeg4 plugins not existing
* no *.avi files being read, regardless of the codecs being used and of the fact that they were installed ("supported", as per AVICodec; 2 to 5 "compatible codecs installed" as per GSpot).

I realize how I'm a pest... but pretty please ?

[anabellita]

Went back up a few posts, reread them with more care... I'd forgotten about the K-Lite pack option!

I think I'm going to unistall what I have and try that. I believe I had it installed before I got into this mess anyways (not sure, though)

Then I'll google for Direct Show, which I no longer have...

geez! this is becoming a full-time job!

[iker]

Hi there!

Seems like we're both going through the same curse. Every single problem you pointed out, sounds quite familiar. It all started when I installed the Nimo Codec Pack, and since then my computer never recovered from that silly mistake. Seems like that's not your same problem though... I've been able to somehow get past it doing some tweaking (that i can´t recall exactly..) but never got the machine to work as smoooth as it used to. Additionally my After Effects has turned useless, as it can't take any compressed video, from any source, anymore; that means having to do a lot of decompressing on Vdub, with the consecuent loss of time and hard drive. BTW, if anyone could bring some light onto this matter, i'd really appreciate it.

Let's move on to your issues, but beware: I'm not an expert, my advice might just be WROONG!! So.. please... don't blame me... :P The only solution I can remember for the DX50 codec issue (again, I'm playing by ear... i can't remember what I exactly did at the time.... i've had so many codec problems, and tried sooo many things.... ) is to change the FOURCC code of the file that won't play... ever done that? Try the Avi FourCC Code Changer (should be somewhere in the Tools section). Try changing it from DX50 to Divx or Div5for example. Always make a backup of the file prior to changing the code; I once forgot the initial values, and then the new ones wouldn't work... so I ended up having a 700Mb useless file... That might help with that issue... To me, it seems like DX50 is a non-standard value that some coder programs use instead of the standard code (any experts around? am i right??)...

Ooops! Even if you do that... you still won't be able to watch any videos, are you? Or is your "no *.avi files being read" problem suddenly gone...??

Can't really help you with the MPEG4 codecs not existing issue... I just found out I have the same problem! Anyway, Cyberlink PowerDvd handles all my MPEGs correctly... so I don't need to bother.. Probably yours play well too.

And finally, my AviCodec and Gspot give different results depending on the codecs used for the files... I got rid of some "Codec Misconfigured" and "Codec not Registered" errors uninstalling my Divx, running a registry cleanup, and finally switching back to an older version of Divx (mine is 5.0.2Pro)... This has been the trickiest part of it all, as I tried a lot of possible solutions, until finally my avis played in Virtualdub.... I registered/unregistered codecs and filters, installed and reinstalled a lot of stuff (Divx, Xvid and ffdshow among them) ... Perhaps that'll work for you.... Eventually it worked for me, even if I still can't get After Effects to take any Divx, Xvid, or even Indeos.... I'll be working on it for ages I think.

As I said, I can't recall the whole process exactly, but I hope that can help you a bit. Just let me know what you get, I'll see what I can do... and good luck!!

[g_i_l_s_t_e_r]

didnt read the whole thread....?

but if its for watching, just use videoLAN.

[aguillon]

One remark: it regards FFDSHOW - I was not aware you were using FFDSHOW. For the uninitiated, FFDSHOW can be difficult to use.

FFDShow is a pain in the ass as regards Codecs - it actually has its on set of Libracodecs which by default it tries to use to play XVID and DIVX 3 4 and 5.

Your problems might be related to FFDSHOW. Go into FFDShow configuration and click on 'Codecs'
Under DIVX3,4,5, make sure the codec used says 'Disabled', and not LibraCodec. This might create playback problems otherwise.

For Xvid, I must sometimes switch around. I have XVID 1.0 rc3 installed (Koepi), another XVID codec (XVID 4) and of course Libracodec.

Some files play under rc3 while others crash and I have to switch to XVID 4 - that s where FFDSHOW is useful to me, in a sense that I can choose which codec renders the XVID stream (depends on which codec encoded it)...

Go figure - it s all a hit and miss process