Which Mpeg-4 Codec do I install?

[common-sense]

We have ffdshow, xvid,divx, 3ivx. They all seem to decode each other's formats...
However, if you install all of them...do they override or mess with the other's codecs?

Once and for all, should I just install 1 mpeg-4 codec? ....if so, which one?

Divx 6, kopei xvid, some other guy's xvid, 3ivx?

Thanks

[Cobra]

If you are just playing back files, you could try mPlayer with the codec pack - it's standalone, and means you do not need to install codecs on to your system.

[celtic_druid]

mplayer doesn't need any extra codecs for MPEG-4 decoding.

ffdshow is the only decoder yuou mentioned that can handle all the fourCC's. I'd still install XviD though since I prefer it over libavcodec for encoding. No reason why you can't have all 4 installed though. 3ivX is out of date, so I can't see much point installing it. The filter with the highest merit will get used for decoding. So if ffdshow is enabled for DX50 and it has a higher priority than the others, it will decode DivX 5 stuff.

[common-sense]

I guess I should have been more specific....I have windows 2000.....and I'm using the old windows media player and media player classic....(I can't stand the new windows media player)....so I can't play mpeg-4 out of the box....

Whats better...ffdshow or divx 6?