[smileLP]

obviously QT plays most movies

but sometimes i have DL'd something that won't play in QT

VLC plays almost all of those

but once in a while, even VLC won't play certain DL'd files

they could be damaged, of course

but in case they're not, are there any other movie players besides VLC that someone might recommend; something that maybe has opened some movie files neither QT nor VLC would open?

thanks much!

[smileLP]

(or maybe a player that can play somewhat damaged files? or a software that can sometimes repair them?) thanks again

[Chuckit]

I have found that sometimes MPlayer will play files VLC will not. I think the files must be a sloppy encode or something, but there was one source that I downloaded some music videos from that would only play in MPlayer (literally — I've not found anything else that will do it). VLC is usually the champ, though.

The only exception would be Windows Media 9 files, which you'll need Flip4Mac to play (it costs money, but it's literally the only game in town).

[P]

VLC doesn't play WMV3 (which I think is Windows Media 9, not 10, but I may be wrong) and the old Indeo codecs. To play files with Indeo encoded video, use Quicktime in OS 9 - that's the only way I know of to view them on a Mac. You'll need to grab those codecs separately - Apple has them. Some WMV3-files play in Windows Media Player for Mac, but not all, and the rest don't play in anything.

[Chuckit]

D'oh. I think you're right that it's 9 that started WMV3. My bad.

[Uncle Skeleton]

WMV3 is the 4CC for both Windows Media 9 and Windows Media 10 (I think that's what you were saying, but why not be explicit).

In my experience WMP will play anything Flip4Mac will play, but Flip4Mac has better performance. Although WMP handles incomplete downloads better.

WMV3 supports DRM protection, but no mac product does, and I'm pretty sure the only things that don't play in macWMP/flip4mac are DRM protected (or corrupt)

VLC plays WMV1 and WMV2, but its WMV2 support is half-assed. I always get significant distortion from perfectly good WMV2 files when playing them in VLC. I never use MPlayer since the Mac OS ports of it are all terrible (the interface, not the engine I assume). Anyone have experience with WMV2 in MPlayer?