[nycdunz]

i cant seem to convert avi files no more, i drag em in and nothing, does anyone else have this problem and know of an alternative way i can converto divx avi files to quicktime .mov format?

[OwlBoy]

Hmm, why do you do this still?

The official DivX codec can be installed along with 3ivx, and it will play the audio in AVI files properly right in Quicktime w/o needing to do a DivX Doctor on em.

DivX Doctor is really an old method to overcome the audio bug that was fixed with newer DivX versions.

Get the Official (and free) divx codec here: http://www.divx.com/divx/download/

If for some reason you HAVE to convert AVI files to .mov, use quicktime pro and just do a "save-as" with the movie self contained.

-Owl

[Zimphire]

Thanks OwlBoy, I did not know that.

[Lew]

There are still reasons to only have 3ivx installed on a Mac. If you have a slower G3-based machine the DivX codec can be a bit choppy (and the current DivX has performance issues with QT7 anyway).

[nforcer]

DivX 5.2.1 is messed up with Tiger. You will experience weird problems with Quicktime and a few unrelated apps (I believe Automator somehow had 2 Help menus with it installed). I do not recommend it. Instead I use VLC to play whatever avis and mpgs I have.

[rocky2]

Why is it that after years in development and paying 14,000 yen for 10.4 and $39 for the Pro Upgrade QT7.01 STILL cannot play avi files out of the box. Apple, this is PLAIN UNACCEPTABLE and to make matters worse the damned DivX 5.2.1 plugin is screwed with Tiger. I have just downgraded to DivX 5.1.1 which was supposed to fix the problem and now all I can get is sound from these avi files.
To add insult to injury, the FREEware VLC 8.2 plays the files just fine. What is the magic ingredient that VLC code jockeys have mastered that QT meisters at Apple cannot get their collective heads around?
If they can't code QT Pro to handle avi, how the hell are we supposed to believe Stev's RDF that porting from PPC to Intel is really only going to take a couple of hours if our code is Cocoa clean.
AAARghhhhhh. I am hot, tired, pissed and emotional!

[nforcer]

Originally Posted by rocky2

Why is it that after years in development and paying 14,000 yen for 10.4 and $39 for the Pro Upgrade QT7.01 STILL cannot play avi files out of the box. Apple, this is PLAIN UNACCEPTABLE and to make matters worse the damned DivX 5.2.1 plugin is screwed with Tiger. I have just downgraded to DivX 5.1.1 which was supposed to fix the problem and now all I can get is sound from these avi files.
To add insult to injury, the FREEware VLC 8.2 plays the files just fine. What is the magic ingredient that VLC code jockeys have mastered that QT meisters at Apple cannot get their collective heads around?
If they can't code QT Pro to handle avi, how the hell are we supposed to believe Stev's RDF that porting from PPC to Intel is really only going to take a couple of hours if our code is Cocoa clean.
AAARghhhhhh. I am hot, tired, pissed and emotional!

As I understand it, avi files are just wrappers to various types of video data. They would have to add support for the various codecs (Xvid, Ogg Theora, etc.) if they wanted Quicktime to be able to play a lot of the .avi files you can download. I have often wondered why Apple has not done this, but I assume supporting these codecs would encourage their use, and that goes against their whole "h.264 is the best, everyone should use it, buy quicktime pro today!" marketing strategy.

[Uncle Skeleton]

Originally Posted by rocky2

...QT7.01 STILL cannot play avi files out of the box....

It's my understanding that no computer or OS on earth plays divx files "out of the box." You get better compression using some codec (divx, xvid, 3ivx, etc) than the codecs that come included with your OS, and in exchange your audience has to install the codec to reap the benefits (watching your movie with better compression). That's the way things work (everywhere), so you might as well get used to it.

What is the magic ingredient that VLC code jockeys have mastered that QT meisters at Apple cannot get their collective heads around?

That magic ingredient would be piracy. VLC spends developer time to target media formats used primarily by video pirates. Apple doesn't, and for good reason. If you want to download grey market media or use a grey market compression technology, it's pretty silly to complain about having to use a grey market style player, especially when it's free. QT is a corporate technology, and it caters to media that obey the official specs defined by corporate standards bodies, not to the bastard step children of those technologies that are cobbled together by a group of anarchist hackers who live in a shadowy netherworld unbound by geography (10 points if you know that reference...). Anyway, except for this tiger incompatibility (I haven't upgraded yet so I can't comment), QT actually does play 99.99 % of AVI(-like) files after you simply install the software used to create those files, and that's pretty darn good, and more than you can expect for files that defy the official spec.

Think about it this way, do you complain about having to install Excel in order to read Excel documents? Excel was used to create the document, and Excel is (in general) necessary to open and "play" the document. It's the same case with divx.

[MacMan4000]

Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton

It's my understanding that no computer or OS on earth plays divx files "out of the box." You get better compression using some codec (divx, xvid, 3ivx, etc) than the codecs that come included with your OS, and in exchange your audience has to install the codec to reap the benefits (watching your movie with better compression). That's the way things work (everywhere), so you might as well get used to it.



That magic ingredient would be piracy. VLC spends developer time to target media formats used primarily by video pirates. Apple doesn't, and for good reason. If you want to download grey market media or use a grey market compression technology, it's pretty silly to complain about having to use a grey market style player, especially when it's free. QT is a corporate technology, and it caters to media that obey the official specs defined by corporate standards bodies, not to the bastard step children of those technologies that are cobbled together by a group of anarchist hackers who live in a shadowy netherworld unbound by geography (10 points if you know that reference...). Anyway, except for this tiger incompatibility (I haven't upgraded yet so I can't comment), QT actually does play 99.99 % of AVI(-like) files after you simply install the software used to create those files, and that's pretty darn good, and more than you can expect for files that defy the official spec.

Think about it this way, do you complain about having to install Excel in order to read Excel documents? Excel was used to create the document, and Excel is (in general) necessary to open and "play" the document. It's the same case with divx.

Not ALL .avi files are pirated movies...

[Uncle Skeleton]

Most are, especially before about a year ago, and by that time there was already a perfectly fine 3rd party solution. I might also point out that not all non-pirate avi files are illegitimate mp3-in-avi hack jobs, and QT plays them just fine.

The fact is, divx "avi" files (with mp3 audio which most have) are not spec compliant, and the only reason they exist at all is because they were a more convenient way to pirate DVDs than the alternatives. You can't expect Apple to break a sweat over a non-standard document format that is primarily used for naughty reasons.

[MacMan4000]

I take it you don't have the Star Wars III workprint then?
(its in DVD format, aka VideoTS folder)


(don't bug me about stealing movies... I saw it 3 times in theaters first )