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On the plus side, at least full screen playing of Quicktime files is going to be in Leopard without paying an additional $29. Maybe someday this amazing, new, and wonderful technological advancement could find its way over to your platform as well.

The last time I downloaded quicktime (many moons ago, right around the time itunes was first released for windows), there was no such option. Since then I have discovered these two gems: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alte rnative.htm
http://mlipod.sourceforge.net/ (outdated since winamp supports ipods directly now)

I use Quicktime Alternative: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alte rnative.htm

Real software has the same obnoxious habit of re-establishing crap in your startup routine. Voila, Real Alternative: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternati ve.htm

I use Quicktime Alternative: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alte rnative.htm

Real software has the same obnoxious habit of re-establishing crap in your startup routine. Voila, Real Alternative: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternati ve.htm

Or try Quicktime Alternative? Won't help itunes but at least you might get some .mov viewing out of it.

(someone linked Real Alternative below but thats no use in this situation)

Install Quicktime Alternative (http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alt ernative.htm)

Then try using media player classic to open the file. Quicktime alternative is a freeware quicktime codec, and will let you watch quicktime movies in an application of your choice. See also: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternati ve.htm

There is no need to be tied to realplayer or quicktime on windows.

You are receiving links to a useful mediaplayer and codec, cancel or allow? :-)

(Assuming you meant a PC with Windows installed when you say PC)

Let all your problems be solved: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternati ve.htm

Why does nobody suggest the use of Quicktime Alternative? And while we're at it, Real Alternative? Also the SHOUTcast-supporting Winamp Alternative, allowing connections to SC without Winamp?

Why does nobody suggest the use of Quicktime Alternative? And while we're at it, Real Alternative? Also the SHOUTcast-supporting Winamp Alternative, allowing connections to SC without Winamp?

How do they get away with releasing them for free on windows then?

I hate Quicktime.

Kudos to apple for hosting a heck of a good trailers site...

... problem is, it's sometimes the ONLY place where you can find trailers for some movies. I guess they have some sort of deal with studios. And they force you to install the latest versions of Quicktime... the last one being unnecessarily bundled with iTunes (which I hate downloading or installing since I don't like the concept of "music library" or the iTunes GUI). Plus, even if you go and download Quicktime, it's a watered down version of a commercial product that lacks features like full screen playback.

Media Player Classic is a seperate app and has its own sourceforge page, but it is also bundled with Quicktime Alternative, so just download QT Alternative and select MPC as an installation option.

I just tried a 480p "HD" trailer from Apple's trailer site's front page. Quicktime Alternative's Opera plug-in crashed Opera (Windows 2000), but Internet Explorer worked fine. The IE6 plug-in gave me the option of playing it in the browser or downloading. I downloaded and played the trailer using Media Player Classic. It looked great.

I hate Quicktime.

Kudos to apple for hosting a heck of a good trailers site...

... problem is, it's sometimes the ONLY place where you can find trailers for some movies. I guess they have some sort of deal with studios. And they force you to install the latest versions of Quicktime... the last one being unnecessarily bundled with iTunes (which I hate downloading or installing since I don't like the concept of "music library" or the iTunes GUI). Plus, even if you go and download Quicktime, it's a watered down version of a commercial product that lacks features like full screen playback.

Media Player Classic is a seperate app and has its own sourceforge page, but it is also bundled with Quicktime Alternative, so just download QT Alternative and select MPC as an installation option.

I just tried a 480p "HD" trailer from Apple's trailer site's front page. Quicktime Alternative's Opera plug-in crashed Opera (Windows 2000), but Internet Explorer worked fine. The IE6 plug-in gave me the option of playing it in the browser or downloading. I downloaded and played the trailer using Media Player Classic. It looked great.

What I can't figure out is why anyone uses WMP other than the fact that it comes with Windows. I explicitly uninstall the thing and then use the K-Lite Codec Pack. It comes with every codec known to man and most importantly Media Player Classic. I've tried others, including WinAmp, but nothing comes close to the sheer speed of MPC. Admittedly, for ripping MP3s, I do tend to use WinAmp. But that and Internet Radio and Internet TV are the only things I use it for. If I want to listen to MP3s, watch any form of video file, or watch DVDs, the K-Lite Codec Pack and Media Player Classic are the way to go.

What I can't figure out is why anyone uses WMP other than the fact that it comes with Windows. I explicitly uninstall the thing and then use the K-Lite Codec Pack. It comes with every codec known to man and most importantly Media Player Classic. I've tried others, including WinAmp, but nothing comes close to the sheer speed of MPC. Admittedly, for ripping MP3s, I do tend to use WinAmp. But that and Internet Radio and Internet TV are the only things I use it for. If I want to listen to MP3s, watch any form of video file, or watch DVDs, the K-Lite Codec Pack and Media Player Classic are the way to go.

What I can't figure out is why anyone uses WMP other than the fact that it comes with Windows. I explicitly uninstall the thing and then use the K-Lite Codec Pack. It comes with every codec known to man and most importantly Media Player Classic. I've tried others, including WinAmp, but nothing comes close to the sheer speed of MPC. Admittedly, for ripping MP3s, I do tend to use WinAmp. But that and Internet Radio and Internet TV are the only things I use it for. If I want to listen to MP3s, watch any form of video file, or watch DVDs, the K-Lite Codec Pack and Media Player Classic are the way to go.

What I can't figure out is why anyone uses WMP other than the fact that it comes with Windows. I explicitly uninstall the thing and then use the K-Lite Codec Pack. It comes with every codec known to man and most importantly Media Player Classic. I've tried others, including WinAmp, but nothing comes close to the sheer speed of MPC. Admittedly, for ripping MP3s, I do tend to use WinAmp. But that and Internet Radio and Internet TV are the only things I use it for. If I want to listen to MP3s, watch any form of video file, or watch DVDs, the K-Lite Codec Pack and Media Player Classic are the way to go.

What I can't figure out is why anyone uses WMP other than the fact that it comes with Windows. I explicitly uninstall the thing and then use the K-Lite Codec Pack. It comes with every codec known to man and most importantly Media Player Classic. I've tried others, including WinAmp, but nothing comes close to the sheer speed of MPC. Admittedly, for ripping MP3s, I do tend to use WinAmp. But that and Internet Radio and Internet TV are the only things I use it for. If I want to listen to MP3s, watch any form of video file, or watch DVDs, the K-Lite Codec Pack and Media Player Classic are the way to go.

I'm going to personally recommend a codec pack called CCCP, or the Combined Community Codec Pack. It's primarily meant for viewing anime, but I've never come across any video it couldn't play (aside from MOV and RM). It claims to be free of any sort of malware, and there are a lot of good people vouching for it.

If anyone has any information about malware being present in this codec pack, please respond to this post; since I have this installed on my system I'd be very interested in hearing it. :-)

I'm going to personally recommend a codec pack called CCCP, or the Combined Community Codec Pack. It's primarily meant for viewing anime, but I've never come across any video it couldn't play (aside from MOV and RM). It claims to be free of any sort of malware, and there are a lot of good people vouching for it.

If anyone has any information about malware being present in this codec pack, please respond to this post; since I have this installed on my system I'd be very interested in hearing it. :-)

Install FFDShow, Flash and Quicktime. If it don't play then it ain't woth playing.

> I applaud any attempt at open-sourcing software but I would
> worry about the quality of the code if their primary app
> is in this much of a mess.

Maybe they assume that most Windows users are idiots... Real Player for Linux if in fact quite neat application - GNOME style I would say. Real Player for Mac is a bit slow sometimes but again it works and is a little neat application. Only on Windows Real Player is real bloatware changing your settings (associations, putting shit in autostart etc).

On Windows boxes I tend to install Real Alternative which is basically stripped set of Real codecs and browser plugin. But I don't really know if it is legal to use it.

Great for those novice users of yours:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternati ve.htm :)

Sadly, there's no real alternative...

Thank god there is a Real Alternative

-

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/ratDVD.htm

needing to open Quicktime to play a video ... needs something like Nero ShowTime to play

Ah yes. The good old days. Luckily we have codec packs, and all I need anymore is Media Player Classic.

If you must... http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Codec_P ack.htm and download K-Lite... which includes RealAlternative, and a Quicktime Alternative (another usless program that takes over your associations)

Where's The Ban Firefox/Mozilla petition at?

Firefox
Real Alternative
All of the functionality of this debacle without the spyware.

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alte rnative.htm

Nuff said

There is none? Well check this out http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternati ve.htm

;)

You need QuickTime Alternative. My 3800+ X2 box couldn't playback 1080p mov trailers without chop using Quicktime 7 but using Alternative they play smooth as silk.

Why not Daemon Tools, which is free (although I'm a bit disappointed to learn that the latest version is adware, although you can select to not install the adware portion).

Ogg is not encrypted and it is only necessary to convert the format using an audio transcoder, it is not necessary to decrypt it. Audio Konverter and Audacity are two examples of transcoders that will convert ogg to mp3.

Apple's FairPlay DRM encrypts the file.

There is a description of Apple FairPlay DRM at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_AAC. There is some information regarding transcoders at http://www.free-codecs.com/Software/Audio_Encoders .htm

Other options for Ogg Vorbis support include Illiminable Ogg Codecs for Windows and OggDS. OggDS has been around the longest, but it's now unmaintained and last time I tried it it didn't support adding files to the Windows Media Player library (I had to drag and drop single files into the Windows Media Player window to play them). Illiminable also claims to support the new additions to the Ogg family such as Speex, Theora, and FLAC, so that one seems more promising.

There's also a program to edit Ogg Vorbis files inside Windows Explorer called Vorbis Extension.

...is your answer.

http://ffdshow.sourceforge.net/

Supports just about everything in use and works great. I use the builds from here when trapped in Windows:

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDShow.htm

Perhaps you were joking. Video playback on Windows is flawless, provided you have the right all-in-one codec pack.

You claim that downloading and installing codecs (using a GUI) on Windows is old-fashioned. How is the command line any more modern? Pedantically speaking, the GUI(1) was developed after the command line. I apologize; this is a definitely nit-picking, but trying to say the command line is more modern than the GUI is a laughably stupid point to make. Perhaps you meant to imply that the command line is more efficient than the GUI at certain tasks; in which case, I agree.

As for the poor souls who are looking for help on the forums, you would be helping them more by pointing them to a Google search for "windows video codecs" than just haughtily replying, "I don't know; I just use Linux."

I will grant that Windows codec packs are occasionally filled with spyware, but if you weren't so busy cavalierly trumpeting the apparent dominance of Linux over Windows, you'd know about reliable sites like doom9.org.

(1)I assume, of course, you consider the Apple LISA "the GUI"; you may define it differently.

Perhaps you were joking. Video playback on Windows is flawless, provided you have the right all-in-one codec pack.

You claim that downloading and installing codecs (using a GUI) on Windows is old-fashioned. How is the command line any more modern? Pedantically speaking, the GUI(1) was developed after the command line. I apologize; this is a definitely nit-picking, but trying to say the command line is more modern than the GUI is a laughably stupid point to make. Perhaps you meant to imply that the command line is more efficient than the GUI at certain tasks; in which case, I agree.

As for the poor souls who are looking for help on the forums, you would be helping them more by pointing them to a Google search for "windows video codecs" than just haughtily replying, "I don't know; I just use Linux."

I will grant that Windows codec packs are occasionally filled with spyware, but if you weren't so busy cavalierly trumpeting the apparent dominance of Linux over Windows, you'd know about reliable sites like doom9.org.

(1)I assume, of course, you consider the Apple LISA "the GUI"; you may define it differently.

I'm one of them. My laptop can play divx full screen no problems, but if you try to view quicktime at even 2x (which should be an easy scale), it just falls apart. Struggles to play 1x at times as well.

Now a happy user of QuickTime Alternative

Before I found Real Alternative and its necessary companion Media Player Classic I stayed far, far away from anything that used Real Player. I didn't want messages about Brittney Spears in my system tray, I didn't want to click 4 different links to bypass their premium player, and I certainly shied away from the massive load time.

I found out about it only after Click and Clack switched back to Real Player's format after having temporarily using Windows Media Player. Their reasoning was similar to mine; many older folks were having trouble locating the free Real Player. Despite the fact that Tom and Rau were able to make nice with Real Networks, I was never able to. But, thanks to my friend Sean, I shall never have to go through 4 different option menus to disable a message center again.

Besides, the Real Alternative codec seems better able to stream than Real's own player software. I assume the codec is just the "guts" of the player with no fluff...perhaps all of the extra system resources are being used by, oh, the message center checking on the latest dirt about TomKat or something.

Real was a big surprise for me too. I've refused to install real player, or real one player, or whatever the newest hyped name is, for some time now on any computer I come into contact with. Not only is it bad, it is intrusive. I highly recommend Real Alternative if you absolutely must play real files. It's worked perfectly fine for me.

Seems no one is giving serious answers so i guess i will be the only one

Freeware or open source software:
01. Firefox, http://www.getfirefox.com/
02. Winamp, http://www.winamp.com/
03. Miranda, http://www.miranda-im.org/
04. Media Player Classic, http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli
05. ffdshow, http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDShow.htm
06. CDBurnerXp Pro, http://www.cdburnerxp.se/
07. Daemon-tools, http://www.daemon-tools.cc/
08. uTorrent, http://www.utorrent.com/
09. XnView, http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pierre.g/xnview/enhome.htm l
10. ExactAudioCopy, http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
11. Dev-C++, http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html
12. 7-zip, http://www.7-zip.org/
13. Real Alternative, http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternati ve.htm
14. QuickTime Alternative, http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alte rnative.htm
15. Process Explorer, http://www.sysinternals.com/utilities/processexplo rer.html
16. Uniform Server, http://www.uniformserver.com/
17. nLite, http://www.nliteos.com/ (sp+hotfix+driver slipstreaming and ability to remove almost anything from the windows installation disc, including wmp, ie, drivers, services, etc, you can get your windows install disc down to 180MB with a 70MB RAM footprint after boot).

Commercial/Shareware software.
01. NOD32, http://www.nod32.com/ - simply the best antivirus software out there
02. Cinema4D, http://www.maxoncomputer.com/ Great modelling/rendering program (also available for OS X)
03. mIRC, http://www.mirc.com/ not the best irc client, but it has a tiny memory footprint/feature ratio
04. Directory Opus, http://www.gpsoft.com.au/ replace Explorer with a far better file manager.
05. UltraEdit, http://www.ultraedit.com/ great editor for many textbased formats
06. Visual Studio, http://microsoft.com/
07. Nero Burning ROM. http://www.ahead.de/ my burning program of choice

Seems no one is giving serious answers so i guess i will be the only one

Freeware or open source software:
01. Firefox, http://www.getfirefox.com/
02. Winamp, http://www.winamp.com/
03. Miranda, http://www.miranda-im.org/
04. Media Player Classic, http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli
05. ffdshow, http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDShow.htm
06. CDBurnerXp Pro, http://www.cdburnerxp.se/
07. Daemon-tools, http://www.daemon-tools.cc/
08. uTorrent, http://www.utorrent.com/
09. XnView, http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pierre.g/xnview/enhome.htm l
10. ExactAudioCopy, http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
11. Dev-C++, http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html
12. 7-zip, http://www.7-zip.org/
13. Real Alternative, http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternati ve.htm
14. QuickTime Alternative, http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alte rnative.htm
15. Process Explorer, http://www.sysinternals.com/utilities/processexplo rer.html
16. Uniform Server, http://www.uniformserver.com/
17. nLite, http://www.nliteos.com/ (sp+hotfix+driver slipstreaming and ability to remove almost anything from the windows installation disc, including wmp, ie, drivers, services, etc, you can get your windows install disc down to 180MB with a 70MB RAM footprint after boot).

Commercial/Shareware software.
01. NOD32, http://www.nod32.com/ - simply the best antivirus software out there
02. Cinema4D, http://www.maxoncomputer.com/ Great modelling/rendering program (also available for OS X)
03. mIRC, http://www.mirc.com/ not the best irc client, but it has a tiny memory footprint/feature ratio
04. Directory Opus, http://www.gpsoft.com.au/ replace Explorer with a far better file manager.
05. UltraEdit, http://www.ultraedit.com/ great editor for many textbased formats
06. Visual Studio, http://microsoft.com/
07. Nero Burning ROM. http://www.ahead.de/ my burning program of choice

Seems no one is giving serious answers so i guess i will be the only one

Freeware or open source software:
01. Firefox, http://www.getfirefox.com/
02. Winamp, http://www.winamp.com/
03. Miranda, http://www.miranda-im.org/
04. Media Player Classic, http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli
05. ffdshow, http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDShow.htm
06. CDBurnerXp Pro, http://www.cdburnerxp.se/
07. Daemon-tools, http://www.daemon-tools.cc/
08. uTorrent, http://www.utorrent.com/
09. XnView, http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pierre.g/xnview/enhome.htm l
10. ExactAudioCopy, http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
11. Dev-C++, http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html
12. 7-zip, http://www.7-zip.org/
13. Real Alternative, http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Real_Alternati ve.htm
14. QuickTime Alternative, http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alte rnative.htm
15. Process Explorer, http://www.sysinternals.com/utilities/processexplo rer.html
16. Uniform Server, http://www.uniformserver.com/
17. nLite, http://www.nliteos.com/ (sp+hotfix+driver slipstreaming and ability to remove almost anything from the windows installation disc, including wmp, ie, drivers, services, etc, you can get your windows install disc down to 180MB with a 70MB RAM footprint after boot).

Commercial/Shareware software.
01. NOD32, http://www.nod32.com/ - simply the best antivirus software out there
02. Cinema4D, http://www.maxoncomputer.com/ Great modelling/rendering program (also available for OS X)
03. mIRC, http://www.mirc.com/ not the best irc client, but it has a tiny memory footprint/feature ratio
04. Directory Opus, http://www.gpsoft.com.au/ replace Explorer with a far better file manager.
05. UltraEdit, http://www.ultraedit.com/ great editor for many textbased formats
06. Visual Studio, http://microsoft.com/
07. Nero Burning ROM. http://www.ahead.de/ my burning program of choice

I second Microsoft Power Toys and add some more:

* AutoIt for simple automation tasks and creating small programs with graphical user interfaces

* Firefox, of course. Opera is also a good choice.

* Daemon Tools for mounting ISOs as virtual CD/DVD drives

* Trillian--AIM, ICQ, IRC, MSN, and Yahoo messenger client


* QuickTime Alternative

* RealPlayer Alternative

* IrfanView--small, free, fast image viewer



* SysInternals utilities--useful for admins

* Scanner--shows hard drive usage as stacked pie graph of files/folders

* 7-zip: similar to WinZip or WinRAR or StuffIt

* Foxit [PDF] Reader--a lite alternative to Adobe


Following ones aren't free but are very useful Windows-only programs:

* FinePrint--n up printing, universal print preview, etc.

* MaxiVisa--use a networked computer like a secondary display

* TextPad, though I opt for the open-source and FREE SciTE

I second Microsoft Power Toys and add some more:

* AutoIt for simple automation tasks and creating small programs with graphical user interfaces

* Firefox, of course. Opera is also a good choice.

* Daemon Tools for mounting ISOs as virtual CD/DVD drives

* Trillian--AIM, ICQ, IRC, MSN, and Yahoo messenger client


* QuickTime Alternative

* RealPlayer Alternative

* IrfanView--small, free, fast image viewer



* SysInternals utilities--useful for admins

* Scanner--shows hard drive usage as stacked pie graph of files/folders

* 7-zip: similar to WinZip or WinRAR or StuffIt

* Foxit [PDF] Reader--a lite alternative to Adobe


Following ones aren't free but are very useful Windows-only programs:

* FinePrint--n up printing, universal print preview, etc.

* MaxiVisa--use a networked computer like a secondary display

* TextPad, though I opt for the open-source and FREE SciTE

If you're planning to watch any sort of movies on Windows, there are a few useful programs (some of which are cross-platform):

• VLC media player - a nice all-purpose media player that works with DVDs in addition to many other formats.
• QuickTime Alternative and Real Alternative - free versions of the QT & Real codecs that allow you to play those formats without the need for a separate movie player for each. Also includes browser plugins and Media Player Classic, another free media player similar in appearance to old versions of Windows Media Player.
• ffdshow - a codec that allows Windows Media Player to play videos encoded with divx, xvid, and a bunch of other stuff.
• MPlayer, of course, also exists; I haven't tried it on Windows myself, though, so I can't say how well it works compared to its incarnations on other OSes.

If you're planning to watch any sort of movies on Windows, there are a few useful programs (some of which are cross-platform):

• VLC media player - a nice all-purpose media player that works with DVDs in addition to many other formats.
• QuickTime Alternative and Real Alternative - free versions of the QT & Real codecs that allow you to play those formats without the need for a separate movie player for each. Also includes browser plugins and Media Player Classic, another free media player similar in appearance to old versions of Windows Media Player.
• ffdshow - a codec that allows Windows Media Player to play videos encoded with divx, xvid, and a bunch of other stuff.
• MPlayer, of course, also exists; I haven't tried it on Windows myself, though, so I can't say how well it works compared to its incarnations on other OSes.

Indeed, RealPlayer software has left a very bad taste in my mouth and I haven't used it in years.

Instead I use RealAlternative

As for Real being irrelevant, I noticed on the bittorrent sites RMVB (Real Media Variable Bitrate) encodes of various movies & tv show.

The quality is very good and the filesize is significantly smaller. The re-encodes (from divx/xvid) are on par with with the original files.

Check it out for yourself
http://www.google.com/search?q=rmvb+reencode+torre nt

> I've always hated RealPlayer, but on the Mac their product is seriously nice. Most of all, what else would you use to play real-streams on the web?

For a stored stream, I use Net Transport to download it, and then the Real Alternative codec to play it in my media player of choice.

As for radio streams: Doesn't WinAmp play those?