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General discussion

DivX and 3ivx

Dec 20, 2007 10:41PM PST

The DivX software appears to need at least a G4 power PC in order to function well according to their home page. Have you had experience with the avi issue, (not playing well with Q-time ?) i have tried the 3ivx codecs and got into trouble, then had to have the helpful folks at the Xlab site clue me in about keeping the DivX and the 3ivx separated away from each other and not in the HD Library Q-time folder at the same time.

Any thoughts on this ? (700 MHz SL PPC3 iMac, OS X 3.9 with 768 MB of SDRAM

Thanks in advance

Discussion is locked

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What avi issue?
Dec 20, 2007 11:02PM PST

Please tell us. There is FLIP4MAC, and maybe VLC PLAYER that you can try and use to play .AVI files. Of course I'll leave the research to see if your machine can use those.

"got into trouble"

I'm not sure what the trouble is. Maybe some advanced scripting will help if you want to flip codecs in and out but I declain to write such things and would try the solutions I noted above.

Bob

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sometimes
Dec 21, 2007 12:26AM PST

Sometimes you just can't get there from here. Maybe The flip4 mac and the VLC and the mplayer solutions ALL assume that everyone has kept up with the times but i have not been able to do that. i am a panther player and a PPC G3 user. The occasional avi will sometimes play in quicktime 7+ pro but many other avi files will not. 3ivx notwithstanding. VLC notwithstanding DivXDoctor notwithstanding

http://www.macos.utah.edu/documentation/multimedia/avi_playback/solution_2.html i DID learn the hard way that having the DivX and the 3ivx in the same quicktime library folder will crash the quicktime and if i persist can crash the finder too. i promise not to under estimate you (i would never do that) if you will grant me the same courtesy.

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Keeping up.
Dec 21, 2007 12:42AM PST

I know that issue. The fix is to stick with files your players can use.

Another fix is to transcode them "somewhere" before you get them on that elder Mac.

-> Yes, some will flame out over the ever advancing video formats but there is a solution which may include some other Mac or PC.

Armed with your link I see you could write a script to move the right files in and out as needed. But I don't do that in the forums.

Bob

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Are you saying that
Dec 21, 2007 1:43AM PST

Flip4Mac and VLC are not available for your OS?

P

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It is just not going to happen
Dec 21, 2007 11:59AM PST
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/avidivx.html
No i am not saying that. What i have been trying to say is that having tried those solutions (and others) over the last 3 days, the resulting failed action (and some crashing) has convinced me that for this particular 121 mb avi file (and some of the others) which definitely do not open and play using VLC and won't open and play in flip4mac and which will not open in any other DivX DoctorII or avi playing solution such as 3ivx because (like me) the iMac i use is quaint and antiquated and slow and not powerful enough to use DivX nor Mplayer OSx2. And given my age, and physical condition, the purchase of newer stuff is likely to be too late for me to benefit much since because of my one foot in the cemetary and the other on the banana peel (so to speak) condition i need to save what little $ i have left for my heirs to give to the undertaker. Just because you have ppc4 to my ppc 3 doen't mean that every thing i try to relate in my limited way is wrong, just different as to capability.
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more succinctly
Dec 21, 2007 12:12PM PST

Yes it is true, i have flip4mac installed, (have had it for quite a long while since it first became available) and i have had VLC (also, for an even longer long while) the only late-comers copied to my hard drive recently have been the latest DivX and Doctor II and 3ivex etc software pointlessly added in hopes that there might be a work-around extant.

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Workaround.
Dec 21, 2007 12:35PM PST

Transcode that video to something that works on your machine. Try HANDBRAKE and then move to some PC or Linux to geterdone.

Just FYI, there are some real badly encoded crud you can download out there that will crash on Linux and Windows too. It's not you.

Bob

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That's where I was going too,
Dec 21, 2007 8:45PM PST

This piece of video that is causing you grief may be one of those pieces of video that were put together incorrectly.

Is this video available to the rest of us? Is it something you downloaded from somewhere? If so, where?

If you have already answered these questions, ignore them.

P

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to you both
Dec 21, 2007 11:30PM PST

Thanks for your inputs. i will be looking at handbrake.

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flip4mac, new thread?
Dec 22, 2007 12:39AM PST

Wouldn't you just know it?! Now flip4mac wants us download the new (vers 2.2.049) free update. i have the player pro version installed now (vers.2.1.3.10)
My previous bad experience with losing my pro version of q-time 6+ when taking the "free update" (and taboma had this issue too) has me in a tizzy. i never create or upload to sites or build videos to the www, i don't blog (except at other's sites i might post a thought) i DO like to watch and look at videos, utube for example from links received in my inbox from trusted friends. The utube experience has been less than stellar. More often than not the audio is choppy in the extreme making me wonder if this new update is designed to improve this. i finally disconnected the flip4mac from most downloads taken and went back to using the old discontinued wmv 9 software (also poor compared to q-time mepgs but not so choppy as to make it totaly unwatchable) for most clips/videos. So my questions are: (1) Want me to start a new thread? and (2) Will the new flip4mac update make bad matters worse or better in your opinion? (3) Will this latest update ruin my "player pro" version? i await your thoughts.

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I suspect the choppiness
Dec 22, 2007 1:45AM PST

to which you refer in your "utube experience has been less than stellar. More often than not the audio is choppy in the extreme" comment has less to do with the applications being discussed and more to do with the computer used.

My wife uses a 5-6 year old G4 Quicksilver tower. I use a 2-3 year old G5 flatpanel. We are on the same ethernet wired LAN and broadband connection. I maintain both machines and, for the most part, they are identical (relative to applications and utilities). The G4 playback of YouTube is painful for me - very choppy, lots of "stutters" and the audio is impacted as well. Since she does not visit these types of sites often, she does not care. On the other hand, the G5 playback of YouTube is just fine...

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yes i agree,thanks
Dec 22, 2007 10:27PM PST

Yes i agree, thanks. Now that you have jogged my feeble mind, i recall seeing several error msgs. from the VLC software as i attempted to play certain avi files (while attempting that work-around) that had stated: "computer too slow", "frames dropped etc" or some such . With frustratingly intermittant regularity, many utube files play beautifully while many others won't. Is it your view the window$ software also needs more then my handi-dandy little G3 can keep up with ?

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Regretfully, yes...
Dec 23, 2007 2:03AM PST
Is it your view the window$ software also needs more then my handi-dandy little G3 can keep up with ?
This ends up being one of those "system" things... Even if the application is up to the task, the hardware may not be - in this case, the G3. The converse can happen, too - that is, the hardware *could* be up to the task, but the application is not.

Admittedly, I have not seen the intermittent behavior to which you refer (on my wife's G4 - it is a consistently bad expereince from YouTube - and MySpace... and any other video site.
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On the subject of QT Pro
Dec 23, 2007 3:45AM PST

The loss of the Pro version of QT 6 when upgrading to QT 7 was a direct result of not reading the warning. Software Update clearly stated that upgrading from 6 Pro to 7 would result in the loss of the Pro status.
This could not be classed as an "issue"

In the case of Flip4Mac, as the update is only a "point" upgrade, I doubt you would lose your Pro status. Check their website if you are in doubt.

P

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fine print
Dec 23, 2007 11:02PM PST

Some of we humankind (not me or nor taboma, apparently) are better at reading and understanding the fine print. i have grown a lot more cautious lately, but even so i still miss things, given this too all quickly advancing senility of mine. i note the warning on newer version of q-time stands out more, given my new-found caution, then in previous iterations. Was it ALWAYS so clearly marked ? i would prefer to doubt that it was, but if you say it is so, then i must accept your statement since it is in the past and not so easy to revisit. Two pro version purchases later it is almost (not quite) a moot point. Thanks for your input. i HAD gone to their (flip4mac) site and couldn't find anthing about whether it would take my pro player version away. The data there, from my own perspective, is sketchy at best, mostly puff, but just because I couldn't find it is less than reassuring. Sometimes it takes a Phildelphia lawyer to separate the nuggets of real data from the raw ore. And sometimes the coders themselves, in spite of their belief in their own infalbility, WILL get it wrong. i go now to re-read what i have already read. My original flip4mac free version didn't play well with q-time pro until i upgraded, despite all the glowing promises. Have you, yourself taken the update ?

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Updated
Dec 24, 2007 1:34AM PST

I am not using the PRO version of Flip4Mac but I have updated the free version on a number of occassions. In fact everytime it says there is an update, I update.

It has worked well for me, so far.

P

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mystified
Dec 26, 2007 12:24AM PST

This unworthy sorceror's apprentice has deleted all but the divX and the flip4mac and now it has (so-far) been working fine playing avi and utube but i am pretty sure it was (as you have suggested) poorly designed software (maybe from cloned? knock-offs) that was gumming up the works. Time will tell. Still hesitant to upgrade the flip4mac since the original one appears to be working well for now.
"if it ain't broke dom't fix it" words to live by

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Please you are able to view something
Dec 26, 2007 1:20AM PST

Keep going

P

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(NT) make that "Pleased"
Dec 26, 2007 9:29AM PST
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flip4mac
Dec 24, 2007 12:17AM PST

The flip4mac by telestream page: http://www.flip4mac.com/wmv_upgrades.htm
states that updates are free but little else about their effect on the previously purchased software.
Whether this will screw up my "player pro" version appears to be a variation of the "get the haircut first and then grow it out as best you can and switch barbers later if dis-satisfied game" i am beginning to infer that my reg. number might possibly be used to fix such a problem but what do you Mr MacFixit believe ?.

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tried this too
Dec 24, 2007 12:37AM PST

Tried this forum too, lest you think i am not really trying.
http://forum.flip4mac.com/forum/
But found it to be gazillions of haystacks with very few needles to be found.
From all the panic-stricken posts there, one might begin to think that perfection (even partial perfection) is nigh on to un-attainable with flip4mac.

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It's worse than you suspect.
Dec 24, 2007 1:19AM PST

The number of badly encoded videos people have shown me to crash all sorts of players has me shaking my head in disbelief (How can they create that?)

Bob

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You could try emailing
Dec 24, 2007 1:45AM PST

them and asking a specific question. That might set your mind at rest over the loss of Pro status.

As Bob points out, there is an awful lot of badly encoded stuff out there that really should never have seen the light of day.

P

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late getting back 2 you
Mar 18, 2008 12:12AM PDT

Sorry to be so late getting back to you on this issue. As i fretted about previously, the newest flip4mac update did indeed gum up the works for me again, displaying now a video that is virtually un-watchable all full of shadow images, halo effects and the like. In order to view .wmv these days, i must first go to file>info and change open-with to the old original (crummy) version of windows for mac viewer. Old iMac owners beware this new improvement in technology from flip4mac, it is probably meant for the newer equipment. Not usable (or reversible apparently) for the iMac SL G3 ppc OS X 10.3.9

apprentice formerly known as grasshopper

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Did you look here
Mar 18, 2008 6:40AM PDT
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not as yet
Mar 18, 2008 10:13PM PDT

Not as yet, going there now. Cheerio

G

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went well
Mar 18, 2008 11:24PM PDT

That went well ..... The uninstall software is contained within the Flip4mac file folder. Once that UN-install of the updated pro version is completed, the previous older version's dmg will work it's magic and the new older pro version (serial number and all) is remembered and sitting in its rightful place in the system preferences. Thanks

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(NT) you're welcome
Mar 19, 2008 1:46AM PDT