Hmm, and here @Fyrefiend was rtelling me to use mplayer. I remember helping a friend find all the codecs for mac once. A pain. I love VLC, use it on the PC because of the small memory footprint.
Yeah, it's definitely a lack of codecs. I'm just annoyed that the mac doesn't do this for me. Isn't that the point?
I wonder if I took it to the Genius bar at the mall, if one of their techs would "just do it". That would be interesting. Not sure I have that kind of support, since it's a corporate laptop, though.
Download Perian. It's an add-on for Quicktime that plays just about every codec except WMV. I think you need a separate download for WMV, Flip something-or-other.
About a year ago, I helped a @inxshopper get a myriad of videos working on her mac book pro. After quite a bit of googling, I stumbled on Perian, but had forgotten the name until you mentioned it to me today.
Still, unless you know about Perian, this is not a simple task. I had forgiven the laptop a couple weeks ago for not playing WMV files. That I understand. But why it can't play avi and mp4 files out of the box, I just don't get.
I'm a little confused why your Mac laptop wouldn't play mp4 files; that's a standard Quicktime/iTunes format. Are you sure there isn't something else messed up?
Also .avi files can be anything, though normally they're DivX/XviD (did I get the capitalization right?) and that's not something you can play in OS X automatically without downloading the codec.
I specifically looked up info on playing xvid files a long time ago when I first switched to OS X and overwhelmingly people talked about either Perian or VLC, so I don't think it's something hard to find...
It's played most other formats fine, so I don't know what could be blocking mp4. Copied to my nokia handset, the mp4 played just fine.
I guess "hard to find" should be defined. Not hard for techies, though it did take me some searching. But hard for someone that doesn't know that avi is not a type of encoding, rather a generic format that could mean, as you say, lots of things.
It's not like DivX (DiVX? whatever...) is an uncommon format. Why not include it in the OS? Or at least auto-download and install it for me. Even Ubuntu (or maybe it's Mint) does this now.
It would still be fun to take it to the mall and have the Mac genii figure it out. Even better if I could say "look, it plays just fine on my N97". If I had an N97, I'd probably do that. Then again, I'm a jerk like that. :)
never heard of perian before, happy to learn new things every day :) whenever i get a new mac i download loads of things and simply forget about it later on..... never change a running system, it just runs and runs and runs, while the linux lap is a continous piece of installing and fiddling.....
It would be nice if any OS would have the smarts built-in to automatically download necessary codecs, similar to how browsers can detect that they're missing a plug-in for Flash or something and will go out and automatically install them after getting your permission. But this is hardly an OS-X-only problem.
And I agree, for non-techies it's not readily apparent that you need to download codecs in order to play certain videos. It is surprising that this has not been automated to some degree.
I think people mostly download an app and they supposedly comes with a bunch of codecs. And if they need anything else, they download another app that supports that, rather than augmenting their first app.
Hmm, should this really be the OS's responsibility? I think this belongs in userland, though admittedly for OSX and Windows, userland and kernel tend to get mixed up.
In thinking about it, the onus should really be on the video player application. Ooops, looks like a lot of you came to that same conclusion. @Itkovian is right. It is often very difficult to tell the difference between OS and application these days.
I can accept the video playing stuff to be included in the UI part, but as you stated, getting the codecs is the responsibility of the app, not the UI per se.
I can accept the licensing argument from Linux which is, afterall, free to download. But buying a mac is an expensive endeavor, and I think they could throw that license in there (if it is required. Usually, decoding does not require a license. DeCSS notwithstanding)
32 comments so far
Are you using VLC on the Mac?
4 months, 3 weeks ago by adewale
Not yet, but come on. It should 'just work' on a mac. It should not be as difficult as Linux. Just confused why people think these things are so easy
Mplayer and VLC coming up next
4 months, 3 weeks ago by bogart
VLC is an absolutely essential tool for the Mac. Ignore MPlayer though. The Mac version isn't that good.
4 months, 3 weeks ago by adewale
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html
4 months, 3 weeks ago by adewale
Hmm, and here @Fyrefiend was rtelling me to use mplayer. I remember helping a friend find all the codecs for mac once. A pain. I love VLC, use it on the PC because of the small memory footprint.
thanks @adewale!
4 months, 3 weeks ago by bogart
also miro http://www.getmiro.com/ or boxeeTv play a lot
4 months, 3 weeks ago by denise
VLC it is.
4 months, 3 weeks ago by Itkovian
@denise: Sadly, I used Miro to download most of these videos. And it won't play them. It should go out and grab the codecs for me. blech
4 months, 3 weeks ago by bogart
oops. in that case i would try vlc. it is always good choice. ,-P
4 months, 3 weeks ago by denise
@bogart: sounds like you either dont have the codecs, or too many codecs over lapping!
4 months, 3 weeks ago by BUGabundo
Yeah, it's definitely a lack of codecs. I'm just annoyed that the mac doesn't do this for me. Isn't that the point?
I wonder if I took it to the Genius bar at the mall, if one of their techs would "just do it". That would be interesting. Not sure I have that kind of support, since it's a corporate laptop, though.
4 months, 3 weeks ago by bogart
@bogart: on windows I tell ppl to use klite mega codec pack from free-codecs.com. on linux (ubuntu) I recommend medibuntu.org, on mac I have no idea!
4 months, 3 weeks ago by BUGabundo
sounds like a plan for a field trip. do not forget to take pictures!
wouldn't quicktime convert and play the files? never tried it, because i do not like quicktime, but still ....
4 months, 3 weeks ago by denise
Hmm, yeah I can help not at all on mac issues. Vlc and free-codecs.com always sort me out on windows.
Have sometimes found mac codec support to be a very strange thing.
4 months, 3 weeks ago by alexleonard
Download Perian. It's an add-on for Quicktime that plays just about every codec except WMV. I think you need a separate download for WMV, Flip something-or-other.
4 months, 3 weeks ago by jezlyn
Why no one mentioned Perian http://perian.org/? :P It's small, simple, awesome.
4 months, 3 weeks ago by sachaqs
hey @jezlyn! lol
4 months, 3 weeks ago by sachaqs
Great minds, @sachaqs! :D
4 months, 3 weeks ago by jezlyn
Flip4Mac I think.
4 months, 3 weeks ago by Itkovian
About a year ago, I helped a @inxshopper get a myriad of videos working on her mac book pro. After quite a bit of googling, I stumbled on Perian, but had forgotten the name until you mentioned it to me today.
Still, unless you know about Perian, this is not a simple task. I had forgiven the laptop a couple weeks ago for not playing WMV files. That I understand. But why it can't play avi and mp4 files out of the box, I just don't get.
4 months, 3 weeks ago by bogart
I'm a little confused why your Mac laptop wouldn't play mp4 files; that's a standard Quicktime/iTunes format. Are you sure there isn't something else messed up?
Also .avi files can be anything, though normally they're DivX/XviD (did I get the capitalization right?) and that's not something you can play in OS X automatically without downloading the codec.
I specifically looked up info on playing xvid files a long time ago when I first switched to OS X and overwhelmingly people talked about either Perian or VLC, so I don't think it's something hard to find...
4 months, 3 weeks ago by jezlyn
It's played most other formats fine, so I don't know what could be blocking mp4. Copied to my nokia handset, the mp4 played just fine.
I guess "hard to find" should be defined. Not hard for techies, though it did take me some searching. But hard for someone that doesn't know that avi is not a type of encoding, rather a generic format that could mean, as you say, lots of things.
It's not like DivX (DiVX? whatever...) is an uncommon format. Why not include it in the OS? Or at least auto-download and install it for me. Even Ubuntu (or maybe it's Mint) does this now.
It would still be fun to take it to the mall and have the Mac genii figure it out. Even better if I could say "look, it plays just fine on my N97". If I had an N97, I'd probably do that. Then again, I'm a jerk like that. :)
4 months, 3 weeks ago by bogart
never heard of perian before, happy to learn new things every day :) whenever i get a new mac i download loads of things and simply forget about it later on..... never change a running system, it just runs and runs and runs, while the linux lap is a continous piece of installing and fiddling.....
4 months, 3 weeks ago by denise
It would be nice if any OS would have the smarts built-in to automatically download necessary codecs, similar to how browsers can detect that they're missing a plug-in for Flash or something and will go out and automatically install them after getting your permission. But this is hardly an OS-X-only problem.
And I agree, for non-techies it's not readily apparent that you need to download codecs in order to play certain videos. It is surprising that this has not been automated to some degree.
4 months, 3 weeks ago by jezlyn
Fully agree. They haven't really sorted out making this stuff simple for people yet.
4 months, 3 weeks ago by alexleonard
I think people mostly download an app and they supposedly comes with a bunch of codecs. And if they need anything else, they download another app that supports that, rather than augmenting their first app.
4 months, 3 weeks ago by Itkovian
@jezlyn: errr many linux distro do that for FREE codecs!
4 months, 3 weeks ago by BUGabundo
Hmm, should this really be the OS's responsibility? I think this belongs in userland, though admittedly for OSX and Windows, userland and kernel tend to get mixed up.
4 months, 3 weeks ago by Itkovian
In thinking about it, the onus should really be on the video player application. Ooops, looks like a lot of you came to that same conclusion. @Itkovian is right. It is often very difficult to tell the difference between OS and application these days.
4 months, 3 weeks ago by bogart
I assume the issue with a lot of this is licensing? I do find that if you install VLC on Windows/Linux you can generally play pretty much anything.
4 months, 3 weeks ago by alexleonard
I can accept the video playing stuff to be included in the UI part, but as you stated, getting the codecs is the responsibility of the app, not the UI per se.
4 months, 3 weeks ago by Itkovian
I can accept the licensing argument from Linux which is, afterall, free to download. But buying a mac is an expensive endeavor, and I think they could throw that license in there (if it is required. Usually, decoding does not require a license. DeCSS notwithstanding)
4 months, 3 weeks ago by bogart