Lately, there have been many people asking me how to get files to play. Here's some video clip stuff everyone needs to read:

Files come in pretty much 3 formats, rm/ram, mpeg, wmv, and avi.

Play the files with the correct player:

rm/ram(realplayer from real.com)

mpeg (Windows Media Player)

mov quicktime(apple.com)

wmv(Windows Media Player)

avi(Windows Media Player)

Sometimes, codecs need to be downloaded to decode the video (codec= compressor/decompressor). Divx is an example of this. Without divx, divx avi's won't play, or will play audio with no sound. Xvid is another example which is not so common.

Try downloading the file to your computer first, before you play it.

If your player crashes, try turning down the hardware acceleration. In the Windows Media Player use Tools > Options > Performance > Video acceleration, and slide the bar down. In real player use Tools > Preferences > Hardware.

(Advanced Users: If you have an old computer, sometimes ram is an issue to the point that it crashes when you try to play a big file. If you want to get real crazy, go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/encoder/default.aspx and you can compress the avi/mpeg file to a smaller wmv.)

Essential links:



http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/

http://www.divx.com/

http://www.xvid.org/downloads.html (rare, used more for dvd rips)

These tips should help 99% of you play 99% of the files you need. If for some reason you can't find the player/codec for a file, search google.com for something like "qwe file format" where qwe is a fake extension. Ususally you can find what player/codec is necessary to decode the video properly.

Uncle Steve :)

P.S. While I'm ranting here, download http://java.com/en/index.jsp the latest java plugins, run windows update all the time, defrag your hard drives, run lavasoft.com's adware regularly, use kazaa LITE, and live happily ever after.