XviD on a Mac (FrontRow)

[Zak00]

I pretty much have my Windows machine set up to do anything I want. Encoding to XviD, transcoding AC3 to MP3 when necessary, etc. But I just bought a new Intel Mac and I want to watch my XviD videos on the new machine. VLC works, but what I REALLY want is to play them in FrontRow. My understanding is that it requires a special codec for QuickTime, but being a Mac newbie - I have no idea where to find such a thing.

So - my post here. Does anyone know where I can get an XviD codec for QuickTime on an Intel Mac?

Thanks!
-Zak

[redwudz]

You would likely get better responses in the Mac forum. Moving you.

[OmegaSupreme]

http://www.divx.com/divx/mac/playback/
http://www.3ivx.com/download/macos.html

Install both for maximum compatibility/flexibility/quality.

[Ai Haibara]

Doesn't 3ivX not work with Quicktime 7? The OT has an Intel Mac, and those are shipping with Tiger - which doesn't allow anything below QT7, unfortunately. (I haven't updated past QT6. )

But then, I don't even know if the Xvid components work with QT7, either. :/

[SERBIAN]

XviD QT component
AC3 QT component

[OmegaSupreme]

Doesn't 3ivX not work with Quicktime 7? The OT has an Intel Mac, and those are shipping with Tiger - which doesn't allow anything below QT7, unfortunately. (I haven't updated past QT6. )

But then, I don't even know if the Xvid components work with QT7, either. :/

3ivx works with QT7

[Utumno]

Unfortunately you cannot currently play XviD nor DivX using QuickTime (which includes FrontRow) because Intel-compatible QuickTime components are not available.

Neither DivX 6 nor 3ivx will work because they are not Intel-specific. An Intel-native QuickTime application (FrontRow) can only access Intel-specific components. Likewise, a Rosetta-based application (Toast 7, for example) can only access Rosetta (PowerPC) components. Because both DivX 6 and 3ivx are PowerPC-only, only QuickTime applications running in Rosetta will be able to see them. Encoding & decoding will therefore be extremely slow, way slower than in VLC.

I'm hoping that the XviD encode/decode component will move Universal shortly but many opensource coders don't wish to do so because it requires you use XCode and break compatibility with any Mac OS X version < 10.4.

[macsyrinx]

I am no expert on what you all are saying, but I beg to differ with Utumno. Recently getting a shipment of Intel iMacs, I set one up to play with FrontRow and a few other apps that I personally do not have. I installed the newest 3ivx and DivX from their respective websites as I get into that habit when we get Apple shipments. I put in a DVD, an iTunes albums into iTunes, an XviD music video into Movies folder, and some pictures into iPhoto. I wan't thinking of compatibility, just playing for playing's sake . Front Row worked just fine with all 4 apps. Now that I see this thread, I remember that I had no issues even though I played an XviD through FrontRow. I wonder why the different opinions.

[Utumno]

I am no expert on what you all are saying, but I beg to differ with Utumno. Recently getting a shipment of Intel iMacs, I set one up to play with FrontRow and a few other apps that I personally do not have. I installed the newest 3ivx and DivX from their respective websites as I get into that habit when we get Apple shipments. I put in a DVD, an iTunes albums into iTunes, an XviD music video into Movies folder, and some pictures into iPhoto. I wan't thinking of compatibility, just playing for playing's sake . Front Row worked just fine with all 4 apps. Now that I see this thread, I remember that I had no issues even though I played an XviD through FrontRow. I wonder why the different opinions.

Macsyrinx, that's fascinating - Apple's QuickTime component documentation differs from your experience, unless I'm misreading it. I quote from Apple's Developer TechNote on Universal QuickTime Components...

Rosetta is a translation process that runs a PowerPC binary on an Intel-based Macintosh. This technology allows applications to run as non-native binaries. Rosetta however, does not support mixing native and translated code in a process. It does not provide the equivalent of the traditional Mac OS "Mixed Mode" technology.

PowerPC-only components will NOT load into universal binary applications running natively on an Intel-based Macintosh. This means that components must be built as a universal binary or users will not be able to work with content that requires a non-native component in native applications.

Conversely, applications running under Rosetta will always load the PowerPC version of a universal binary component, never the x86 version. This means that media playback performance will be limited in non-universal applications.

I read this as QuickTime Player (native) can't playback DivX 6 (non-native component) because "PowerPC-only components will NOT load into universal binary applications running natively on an Intel-based Macintosh" as Apple states above. Frontrow is also native (well, it is on my 2.0Ghz Intel iMac at home). So, I'm confused now

Ut.

EDIT : There's an XviD QuickTime Component available based on the latest XviD codebase, but not native yet (apparently the author can't find libxvidcore.a compiled for Intel Macintosh anywhere, and has no Intel Mac to test upon). Might be worth a look to see if it functions in Frontrow.

[macsyrinx]

Strange. I have started setting them up today and showed the people all 4 Front Row apps. I will say, though, that when it comes to the movies part, it is quite sluggish, and if I play a movie all the way through, well, I guess I never got all the way through. After about 30-50 min, screen went black. I guess on my previous post I should have said that I mostly played music, flipped through pictures, played a DVD, but just 'tested' the XviD. It played for a while and then I moved on to the music. Didn't play it all the way through until today.

[Utumno]

Strange. I have started setting them up today and showed the people all 4 Front Row apps. I will say, though, that when it comes to the movies part, it is quite sluggish, and if I play a movie all the way through, well, I guess I never got all the way through. After about 30-50 min, screen went black. I guess on my previous post I should have said that I mostly played music, flipped through pictures, played a DVD, but just 'tested' the XviD. It played for a while and then I moved on to the music. Didn't play it all the way through until today.

Well I've installed DivX 6.0 (PowerPC) and it only works if I manually force QuickTime into loading in Rosetta. Otherwise I get the usual white-screen which means QuickTime can't decode the video and container. Forced in Rosetta, it's all absolutely fine, if a little bit choppy. Frontrow doesn't work on DivX 5 or XviD. macsyrinx I'd love to know what you've got installed in your /Library/QuickTime that means XviD gets even as far as you've got in Frontrow

[ILike2Watch]

DivX 6 for Mac for Intel - Beta 1
http://labs.divx.com/node/76

XviD/Avi Import Components for Intel - FREE
XviD_Avi_Import_Preview3_intel
http://n.ethz.ch/student/naegelic/download/

[broaddd]

Any update on this?