Codecs

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 7:16 pm

I downloaded some PGSM episodes a while back, but I could only hear the video and I only recently figured out that it's because I don't have codecs on my computer. I don't know anything else. What do I do? Where do I download them? If someone can help me, I give my thanks in advance!

Starscream · Post by **Starscream** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 8:07 pm

The main site is down, so I've uploaded the SLD Codec Pack here. This is the best thing for viewing PGSM, and is the latest version, so it should work - of course, this assumes you're using Windows Media Player ^^;;

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 9:54 pm

thank you, thank you and thank you again!

EDIT: I've still having problems with it! I downloaded the codecs and Bit Torrent again and Windows Media player says it can't read the file and the file is corrupt or something.

shansen · Post by **shansen** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 2:28 am

I just asked on the #tv-nihon IRC channel, and they say that all of the PGSM files are encoded using XviD. http://www.divx-digest.com/software/xvid.html has links to a few different versions of the XviD codec. Apparently, all versions of XviD should work.

In case that doesn't work, there's another option that has been recommended on a few different web sites for playing XviD-encoded files. It's a program called ffdshow. http://www.softpedia.com/public/cat/11/ ... 7-13.shtml is the first site I found that has a link to download it. (There are definitely other links, I'm sure).

If this doesn't work, then post back here with more details (e.g. what version of Windows Media Player you're using, what Windows Operating System you're using, etc.).

Alternatively, if you're comfortable with IRC (if you need an IRC client, mIRC is a very common - http://www.mirc.com/), you can connect to their channel and ask someone in there.

IRC network: irc.mircx.com
IRC channel: #tv-nihon

(http://mywebpages.comcast.net/emmbee/leech/ is a good IRC tutorial site - one of many out there.)

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 6:33 pm

Should I uninstall those codecs I downloaded yesterday and then download the ones you suggested then?

EDIT: I guess I should mention that I just bought my computer in October last year, so I have the latest version of windows xp. I don't know if this would help much, but I thought I should mention that I have cable internet too.

Ok, I think the codecs are okay now, but I'm having problems downloading it. I downloaded the episode from the site, and it saved immediately. After that, I right clicked, then clicked open with Bit Torrent. The file refueses to download and it stays at 0% complete.

shansen · Post by **shansen** » Sat Feb 14, 2004 1:57 am

RoastedTwinkies wrote:Should I uninstall those codecs I downloaded yesterday and then download the ones you suggested then?

Odds are the codecs won't interfere with each other, so you don't have to uninstall the previous ones. However, if they're not what you need, then they're just taking up space. If it were me, I would uninstall them but keep the install file (i.e. the .exe that was downloaded) in case it's needed in the future.

RoastedTwinkies wrote:I downloaded the episode from the site, and it saved immediately. After that, I right clicked, then clicked open with Bit Torrent. The file refueses to download and it stays at 0% complete.

First of all, I'm a little confused ... does this mean that you've been deleting the episodes after downloading them, or is this a new one that you're just trying to get? Maybe you got rid of the ones you downloaded before in case they were the source of the problem?

Anyway, putting that aside, what you downloaded first (the thing that saved immediately) was the .torrent file. This is a small file that contains all the data about the episode you're going to download. (You probably don't need to download it; BitTorrent should launch automatically if you just left-click the link of the .torrent file. It works either way.)

Once you open it with BitTorrent, it'll try connecting to the tracker, and then will look for people on the tracker who have the file. There can be several causes for a download failure:

- The tracker is down (solution: try reconnecting later)
- There's no one else sharing this file (solution: try reconnecting later, or ask someone to seed the file)
- File mismatch - sometimes, the .torrent file will "remember" where you saved the file the last time, and will assume that the file is still there. If you have moved/renamed the file, it might not work. Try downloading the .torrent file to a different directory and run it from there.

There can still be other problems, too. If you're still having problems, can you give us the exact error message(s) BitTorrent gives you?

Jumping back to codecs for a brief second, if you want to see which ones are installed on XP, do the following:

For classic Start Menu: Click on Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio Devices
For XP-style Start Menu: Click on Start -> Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio Devices (at least that's where I think it is).

In either case, click on the "Hardware" tab, and look for "Video Codecs". Double-click it (or single-click and then click the "Properties" button near the bottom of the window) to see which video codecs you have. If XviD is installed, "XviD MPEG-4 Video Codec" (or something like that) should appear in the list, along with several others (likely including some version of DivX).

The "Hardware" tab also lets you check out audio codecs, too, in case that's a problem.

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Sat Feb 14, 2004 4:42 pm

ok, everything is working fine now. I just finished watching the first episode. Thanks a lot, everyone!

shansen · Post by **shansen** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 1:56 am

RoastedTwinkies wrote:ok, everything is working fine now. I just finished watching the first episode. Thanks a lot, everyone!

Glad to hear it. I know it can be annoying when you spend all the time downloading a file + not having it work. I had the same thing with "Uninhabited Planet Survive" until I found out I just needed to use a newer version of XviD.

Anyway, I strongly recommend that people with file-related problems take a look at http://forums.animesuki.com/ ... they have specific forums for dealing with download/playback problems, BitTorrent problems, etc. There's a good chance that whatever problem anyone here is having has happened to other people + has been discussed in a thread over there. (That's how I was able to solve my XviD-related problem, by the way.)

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 5:16 pm

shansen wrote:
RoastedTwinkies wrote:ok, everything is working fine now. I just finished watching the first episode. Thanks a lot, everyone!
Glad to hear it. I know it can be annoying when you spend all the time downloading a file + not having it work. I had the same thing with "Uninhabited Planet Survive" until I found out I just needed to use a newer version of XviD.

Anyway, I strongly recommend that people with file-related problems take a look at http://forums.animesuki.com/ ... they have specific forums for dealing with download/playback problems, BitTorrent problems, etc. There's a good chance that whatever problem anyone here is having has happened to other people + has been discussed in a thread over there. (That's how I was able to solve my XviD-related problem, by the way.)

I tried to burn the episodes to a disc, but it's not working because I have an invalid format thing. I tried using DVD+R and CD-R. What type of disc do you recommend specifically for burning the episodes?

shansen · Post by **shansen** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 2:31 am

An "invalid format" can mean a lot of different things ... the disk might not be considered valid if the drive can't read the format, the files themselves might be in an invalid format if you're trying to burn standard Windows .avi files as files to be played back in a DVD player (as opposed to burning them simply as data and only being able to view them in Windows Explorer), etc.

Personally, I've burned a whole bunch of stuff on CD-R, since all I had for a while was a CD burner. Recently, though, I got a DVD burner (supporting all standards: DVD+/-R, +/-RW along with CD-R). I burned some stuff using DVD-R's, and it worked fine. Everything was burned as data only, so in order to play the files I have to put the disk in the computer, bring up Windows Explorer, and then play the files (or copy them back on to my computer).

Anyway, I guess the questions that need to be asked are:

- Which program are you using (Nero, RecordNow, Easy CD/DVD Creator, etc.)?
- What format do you want the files on the disk to be (only data, readable on a DVD player, etc.)?
- Which standards does your DVD burner support (for DVD, there's: +R, -R, +RW, -RW; for CD, there's only CD-R and CD-RW).
(R = Recordable, RW = rewritable, by the way)

Also, it would be helpful to know exactly what the error message says, and at what point in the burning process it says this.

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 3:06 am

shansen wrote:An "invalid format" can mean a lot of different things ... the disk might not be considered valid if the drive can't read the format, the files themselves might be in an invalid format if you're trying to burn standard Windows .avi files as files to be played back in a DVD player (as opposed to burning them simply as data and only being able to view them in Windows Explorer), etc.

Personally, I've burned a whole bunch of stuff on CD-R, since all I had for a while was a CD burner. Recently, though, I got a DVD burner (supporting all standards: DVD+/-R, +/-RW along with CD-R). I burned some stuff using DVD-R's, and it worked fine. Everything was burned as data only, so in order to play the files I have to put the disk in the computer, bring up Windows Explorer, and then play the files (or copy them back on to my computer).

Anyway, I guess the questions that need to be asked are:

- Which program are you using (Nero, RecordNow, Easy CD/DVD Creator, etc.)?
- What format do you want the files on the disk to be (only data, readable on a DVD player, etc.)?
- Which standards does your DVD burner support (for DVD, there's: +R, -R, +RW, -RW; for CD, there's only CD-R and CD-RW).
(R = Recordable, RW = rewritable, by the way)

Also, it would be helpful to know exactly what the error message says, and at what point in the burning process it says this.

First off, I have several programs, and I've tried using all of them and they don't work. I have Windows Media Player, Real One Player and Record Now.

Second, I don't have a burner yet, but I have been able to make data discs with video with the CD burners I have. Though, I would like to eventually make DVD readable discs once I can afford a DVD burner, all I want right now is a data disc.

The problem is, there is no error message. When I stick a blank DVD in the drive, the players don't even acknowledge it. It says something like, 'please insert a disc' or something like that. The PGSM episodes take forever to download, so I don't want to just delete them completely after I'm done watching them.

Thanks again for your help!

Dinozore · Post by **Dinozore** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 3:41 am

All I have to say on the subject of codecs is that someone really needs to make a Mac version of Xvid...

shansen · Post by **shansen** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 3:08 am

RoastedTwinkies wrote:First off, I have several programs, and I've tried using all of them and they don't work. I have Windows Media Player, Real One Player and Record Now.

Second, I don't have a burner yet, but I have been able to make data discs with video with the CD burners I have. Though, I would like to eventually make DVD readable discs once I can afford a DVD burner, all I want right now is a data disc.

The problem is, there is no error message. When I stick a blank DVD in the drive, the players don't even acknowledge it. It says something like, 'please insert a disc' or something like that. The PGSM episodes take forever to download, so I don't want to just delete them completely after I'm done watching them.

Thanks again for your help!

All right ... I'll see if I've got this straight. You have a CD burner drive only (i.e. no DVD burner drive). You have been able to make data discs while using blank CD's. When you tried to insert a DVD into your CD-burner drive, no program would recognize it.

Based on this, the issue is that you're using recordable DVD's in a CD-burner drive. CD burners can only burn on to CD's. DVD's use a different kind of laser, and as such you need a DVD burner to be able to burn anything on to them.

So, until you get a DVD burner drive, you'll only be able to use CD-R's and CD-RW's in your CD burner drive.

Here are a couple of links I found from cdrfaq.com ... hopefully it should clear up any confusion:

http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq01.html#S1-8 - "Can I copy DVDs with a CD recorder?"
http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq03.html#S3-49 - "How do I copy DVDs onto CD-R?"

Also, the main page itself (http://www.cdrfaq.org) has a lot of answers to other questions.

RoastedTwinkies · Post by **RoastedTwinkies** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 2:22 pm

Just as an update, I finally managed to burn the episodes onto CD-Rs. Thanks again!