Can't play back AVIs recorded on G400 Marvel

[holee]

I finally installed a G400 Marvel.
However, while I am able to record AVIs just fine, they won't play back on other systems.

I get a message saying

'unable to download an approrpriate decompressor.'

I'm assuming that this means I don't have the right codec installed.

But I thought that whatever the G400 uses would be a standard codec. And I'm not entirely certain how I'd go about installing the right codec anyway, because I don't know what the right one is, or how I would find
it.

If anyone can shed some light on how I can resolve this issue, I would greatly appreciate it.


I'm running the G400 Marvel under Windows98SE. I'm playing it back on a Windows NT system with SP6 installed. The AVIs play just fine on the Windows98 machine, by the way.

[fluggo99]

The Matrox MJPEG compressor marks its AVI files so that whenever they're played, it's the codec called to play them. That proprietary code is vidc.dmb1; and no other codec uses it. Since your other systems don't have Matrox video hardware, they don't have this codec, won't recognize the data inside, and will refuse to let you see it.

What's weird is that the compression is standard. You can download the Morgan Multimedia MJPEG codec (www.morgan-multimedia.com), and once you set it up to handle files with the dmb1 code, your files will play on that system.

After you install it, go into Control Panel->Multimedia->Advanced, find it in the video codec section, open its settings, and tell it to accept the fourcc code 'dmb1'.

[holee]

I'll try that out. Is there a way to get the G400 so it'll record in a format that people can play without having to download a codec for it?

Would it require getting another encoder?

[holee]

According to Morgan Multimedia's site, the codec is not shareware. Is there a shareware one available? I was planning on making AVIs I could share, but this doesn't sound like it'll work.

[This_Idiot]

Try reading the Idiots Guides and FAQ's at the site proper : www.desktopvideoworld.com

Especially http://www.desktopvideoworld.com/guides/codec.html and the "links" page.

[holee]

Thanks for the pointer.

Sigh, I think I'm to give up on this.
I really like the MJPEG encoding, but darnnit, I don't like other folks have to install a new codec.

The plan was for me to create CDs with various video clips that people in my department can use. But it's a bit much to ask everyone to download a new codec for this. The idea was that people can just double-click and play the AVI file.

The weird thing is, I can load up the AVI files just fine in Quicktim 4.0. It plays it without the codec. I'm not sure why that is.

I guess the only other method then is to try another program that will let me do video captures, such as Adobe Premier, then.

If you folks have any suggestions on other alternatives though, I'd greatly apprecaite it.

[Elurew]

to my recollection, the matrox mjpeg is a wonderful hardware compression deally, so i don't think that their is any way for your office to download the codec anyway. However, mjpeg is still great to work with, but if you wanna be transporting these...either recompress to picvideo(free!) or morgan, or just mpeg or mpeg2.
sure you can load it in quicktime, your entire system's got the happy codec.

[dchip]

Holee, if you want the most universal format possible, why don't you compress the AVI's into MPEG-1 format? An up-to-date version of Windows Media Player on any IBM type PC should play such files just fine.

[kenobi]

holee. You want to do your edits in a nl video editor MediaStudio or premiere then export your video to a format everyone can use. you could also use use windows media tools(available for download on microsoft) and use it to convert your avi's you created with your rr to asf's that everyone can play.

------------------
Damnit Jim I'm a film maker, not a systems tech!

[holee]

Thanks guys. I have a far, far greater understanding of the basics involved in video capturing now than I did just yesterday. I really appreciate everyone's input.

So it looks like if I want to be able to share my clips with others, I should try to do MPEGs or Quicktime, correct?

Would you folks have any recommendations on which software suites I might try for that?

I did try to use the Avid Cinema to do this, but the Quicktimes I converted from AVIs had distorted proprotions for some reason (it was too tall and too narrow).

I really liked the tool that came with the All in Wonder, it let you encode MPEGs on the fly. Is there something like that I can use with the G400 Marvel? I'm not necessarily looking for something really snazzy.

[THX]

holee: There should be a copy of the LSX encoder program (.avi-->.mpg) on one of your Marvel G400 installation discs. It came with mine. You will be happy when you encode the videos to mpg, it cuts out a lot of space.

[holee]

THX -

It comes included? Really? Gee...that'll teach me to ignore installation discs. I just downloaded the video tools and drivers from the site since I figured the disc would be outdated. Gaaaaaaaaaah. I guess I'll have to run home to get the CD...

Well I downloaded the demo version of Ligos and I REALLY like it. The quality isn't that far off from the MJPEG AVIs. I wish I could figure out how to encode at a lower compression ratio, but this is still very, very good.

And the important thing - I can share this without anyone having to download a codec.

I also tried Xing and AVI2MPEG. To be honest, I couldn't REALLY tell the difference. AVI2MPEG had a little more artificating, but that was about it. I think Ligos had a little more colors though...

Thanks all, I appreciate all the help.

[Aryko]

holee,

Depending on what you want your output to look like, you might also want to consider Microsoft's new format called ASF (advanced streaming format). The video quality is quite acceptable and the compression is pretty amazing.

The encoder is available here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...ad/default.asp

If you have a recent version of Windows Media Player, you should have no problems playing an ASF file.

- Aryko