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BrentB · Jun 22, 2002, 09:39 AM

I need some help figuring out how to play a file in QT that works fine on a PC using Windows Media Player.

The first thing I did was choose "Properties" in WMP, so here's all about the file: the audio is Windows Media Audio V2. The video is Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec V3.

Now for my system. I'm using QT 5 on Mac OS X, with the following codecs in my /Library/QuickTime folder: 3ivx D4 PR1 Decoder OSX, msmpeg4v1.component, msmpeg4v2.component, On2_VP3.qtx, mAC3dec, & WMA Audio.

Now when I try to open the file (which has an .mpg extension) in QT, the player app opens, but no player window comes up. It just sits there.

So that's the situation. TIA for any help.

BB

P.S. Yes, I've tried opening in WMP for Mac. No luck.

lucylawless · Jun 22, 2002, 06:04 PM

tell me more about WMP player. Did you change the filename to something.asf or something.wmv? and if so, did that change the icon? What version of WMP are we talking about (did you try the OS 9 version)? With those codecs, I would bet it's an asf file, or possibly divx (did you try changing the name to something.avi?), but I have heard of people sticking divx content in an mpeg wrapper...try to find a program called Rosetta (OS X only I think) and see what it says about the file

BrentB · Jun 22, 2002, 06:30 PM

Sorry. I should have been clearer. When I first said I was using Windows Media Player, I meant the Windows version. (In Virtual PC.) It opened with no problem. And I didn't have to change the name; it's .mpg which works on Windows, and not on X.

And regarding the WMP I mentioned in my P.S.: that's WMP for Mac OS X. I haven't tried the 9 version of WMP. And I haven't tried experimenting with changing the extension.

Hope that helps. I'll look for Rosetta and let you know what it says.

BrentB · Jun 22, 2002, 06:52 PM

I downloaded Rosetta but it doesn't tell you any info about a file. Didn't do anything to help.

lucylawless · Jun 22, 2002, 07:17 PM

well, I get a lot of files from gnutella etc that are avi files that are mis-named mpeg. On Windows and OS 9, once a file is mapped to a program like QT or WMP, the program is smart enough to figure out what kind of file it actually is. For some sad reason, OS X is not that smart, and simply renaming the file download.mpg to download.avi is enough for quicktime to play it (while before quicktime would open but not open the file). If it's actually an asf or wmv, renaming will also work, causing it to open in WMP even if WMP wouldn't open it before the rename

lucylawless · Jun 22, 2002, 07:19 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by BrentB:
I downloaded Rosetta but it doesn't tell you any info about a file. Didn't do anything to help.<hr /></blockquote>Rosetta is often helpful for fixing mpegs that were mishandled in Windows and either don't play or don't play all the way through. I was hoping Rosetta could try to 'fix' the file and tell you it wasn't really an mpeg or something

direktor · Jun 23, 2002, 02:53 AM

Sounds like you need the msmpeg4v3.component if it exists, no?

Is it really any more complicated than that?

memento · Jun 23, 2002, 08:20 AM

Firstly, the video codec sounds very much like it should be an avi, not mpg. If I had the file I would do the following in OSX:

1. Change the extension to avi
2. make sure I had either the divx component or the ffmpeg component (I only have the ffmpeg component)
3. remove the 3ivx component (sometimes causes trouble)
4. try opening it in QT
5. if it does not open, change the fourcc code to (MP41, MP42, DIV5)
6. goto step 4

Usually one of the fourcc codes will allow the file to be viewed (unless it's using divx version 5.0.2).

lucylawless · Jun 23, 2002, 11:56 AM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by memento:
Firstly, the video codec sounds very much like it should be an avi, not mpg. If I had the file I would do the following in OSX:

1. Change the extension to avi
2. make sure I had either the divx component or the ffmpeg component (I only have the ffmpeg component)
3. remove the 3ivx component (sometimes causes trouble)
4. try opening it in QT
5. if it does not open, change the fourcc code to (MP41, MP42, DIV5)
6. goto step 4

Usually one of the fourcc codes will allow the file to be viewed (unless it's using divx version 5.0.2).<hr /></blockquote>that's usually a pretty good procedure (except I've never had problems with 3ivx, and I don't even have divx anymore, just ffmpeg), but in this case we know that WMP can play it, thinking that it's MP43, so there's going to be no fourcc mysteries. Also, there's a very real possibility that it's an ASF (so there will be no FourCC, right?), so before step 5 you should try changing the file extension to .asf. Also, you could try the DivxDoctor ( <a href="http://doctor.3ivx.com" target="_blank">http://doctor.3ivx.com</a> ) and Divx Tool ( <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/collectivesw/" target="_blank">http://homepage.mac.com/collectivesw/</a> ) because either/both of them might be smart enough to tell you about the file without getting tripped up by the extension like QT is.

[ 06-23-2002, 12:57 PM: Message edited by: lucylawless ]

istallion · Jun 23, 2002, 03:04 PM

As a last resort, since you know that you have the appropriate codec under windows, just open it in virtualdub and reencode it to a format that you know works with qt.

BrentB · Jun 23, 2002, 11:16 PM

Progress! I changed the extension to .avi, and nothing. When I changed it to .asf, though, it'll open and play now in WMP for X! One problem though: the video and sound tracks aren't synced. The audio lags.

lucylawless · Jun 24, 2002, 12:34 AM

so the audio lags in OS X and not in Windows? what happens when you pause and unpause (and wait forever because WMP sux), does it sync back up? What's the video resolution and framerate? What's your cpu and ram and hard drive space? did you try it in classic?

I'm glad you got it to play, though. [sarcasm]another victory for filename extensions[/sarcasm]

BrentB · Jun 25, 2002, 08:46 AM

Well, the good end to the story is that after restarting, the audio and video match. No more problems. Thanks everyone for the help.