A QUESTION FOR THE COMPUTER BUFFS

[richard coates]

Hi. Can anyone help me. I have just had a some of my music used for a tv show and they have sent me a copy of the programme on a cd, however for me to see the cd my comp. is asking for something called codex. Could anyone tell me first what is codex and second how do I go about getting it?
Kind regards Richard

[JimN]

Are you sure that's the correct spelling, Richard?

The more common computer-connected term is "codec". A codec is a file or sub-application which allows a (typically: multi-media) application to play back particular files. Each type of file you might want to play requires a specific codec.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codec

If you "open" the CD in Windows Explorer (or the Mac equivalent), what does the directory and file structure look like? A correctly-encoded CD (whether pressed or CD-R) should look like a single directory containing as many files (with names in the format *.cda) as there are tracks on the disc.

Is that what you have?

JN

[Bill Bowley]

Richard,

To make an easy 'fix', go to: http://www.codecguide.com/features_mega.htm

and download and install the free Mega pack of codecs. that will give you just about everything you will possibly need for the problem you describe. By the way, the download for this is at the bottom of the page, don't be confused by the download at the top, that is not for the codec pack.

Hope this helps,

Regards

[Bob Dore]

Bill's suggestion should work ok. Failing that pm me and I'll get you to run some checks to find out exactly what you've got. I have just about every codec ever invented on my desktop so will be able to sort it out in time.

Technical explanation:

There are lots of different ways of encoding video files. From the DVD standard, Blu-Ray standard, Windows Media, a host of AVIs and more. Some create very small files with reduced quality, some create larger files at better quality. More recent ones can create a small file with a high quality. To watch the video, the video program checks to see how it was encoded and looks for a second program on disk called the codec. This program translates the contents of the file into video before displaying it.

If it can't find the codec that was used to create the video, you get an error message.

Bob.

[Didier]

There is a freeware utility called "mediainfo" which analyses any video file and shows which codecs are needed.
There are also some freeware media players such as "Media Player Classic" or "VLC Media Player" which intergrates most codecs, and can play almost any kind of videos.
(make a google search to find and download these freewares)

Didier

[richard coates]

Hi Jim. The cd is asking for codec and states error cood10d1. I have folloed someone else advice on the question and some how it has changed the whole of my comp now it is help big time
regards richard

[richard coates]

Hi Its Richard again. I have got into the file concerned and it says two things
3d icons mpg
russian enamel sets mpg
the latter is the tv programme I wrote the music for
regards Richard

[Bob Dore]

Hi Its Richard again. I have got into the file concerned and it says two things
3d icons mpg
russian enamel sets mpg
the latter is the tv programme I wrote the music for
regards Richard

Whereabouts are you?

Bob.

[Bob Dore]

Extract and run this program and tell us exactly what is says. It will not do any damage or change your PC. I wrote it and so I know exactly what it does.

Bob.

[richard coates]

Hi Bob. I live in Great Yarmouth