I get a fatal error message every time I try to install the DIVX codec on my XP pro 64 bit systems.  Where can I find a codec that will work with DAZStudio and Poser animations and XP Pro 64 bit and Windows Media Player 11?

One thing you should try before giving up, is to use the "Run as Administrator" option on the installer.

Thanks.  I will give it a try.

Quote - I get a fatal error message every time I try to install the DIVX codec on my XP pro 64 bit systems.  Where can I find a codec that will work with DAZStudio and Poser animations and XP Pro 64 bit and Windows Media Player 11?

64-bit version of XP? That's a rare gem. I wonder if they made it work for that. In fact I'd love to have you try our installer for PD Pro 5.1b on this too. Let me know if you feel adventurous.

We have similar issues on systems with UAC. I recommend

• disable UAC (temporarily, bring it back up after installation) - not sure if XP 64 has UAC.

• run the installer as Administrator

In the case of Dogwaffle we also see the necessaity to run the installed software once as administrator, so that it can create a Temp subfolder where UAC otherwise prevents it. ("Unknown error, quitting" error message appears otherwise).

I'm installed DivX on 64-bit WIndows 7 just fine. Your mleage may vary.

One place I visit especially for XP systems to find codecs and particularly to find codec packs and alternate movie players (Windows Media Classic) is www.free-codecs.com  or so I thought but right now the site doesn't seem to respond.

plus I don't know if they have them for 64-bit XP.

hope this helps

-Philip

Hi there!

Codecs for web deploment are one thing, and maybe DivX is still the way to go (although you can also use flash video). Personally I haven't used it for some time as I preffer the standard WMV for compatibility purposes (mostly because I don't want to tell ppl to download some codec or VLC player to playback whatever I send them).

For working, I'd definitely recommend against it. For editing I use uncompressed AVI files, but they can be pretty big. If you're willing to shell out like 99 bucks or something like that, you can check the Cineform codec. That one simply rocks, outstanding image quality without the premium file size.

I totally agree:  as long as you work with the video you should use uncompressed or at the least use a codec that is not lossy. (and I'm at a loss to recommend one - pun intended). If you work with Quicktime as the container, I believe the 'Animation' codec (they call it Compressor, not codec) is not lossy, but I might be wrong. I know that this one does support 32-bit depths, hence also alpha channel. Many codecs or compressors don't carry the alpha channel.

I only use DivX (or Xvid or similar) when it's time to publish it to the web or wherever, to make the file small and manageable to send or even just to then load that into another tool for rendering, such as in Carrara when it's an animated texture in a shader. Most typical use is to save a screen capture to AVI for further upload to youtube. Actually, mp4 and wmv are my preferred formats there. But yes, only for final viewing, rarely as the format used for working with it.

Be aware also that some codecs put requirements (aka restrictions) on the dimensions of the video. Some will require that the width and/or the height are multiples of 2, 4 or even 8. Try saving a video that's 377x251 or other odd dimensions. Some codecs will just not save it. Others will silently try, but you may not be able to recognize the video during playback. It also may be a different experience between different viewers. Some viewers do better with odd dimensions than others.

There are some codecs that also carry alpha channel (transparency masks) but typically WMV and DivX won't, as far as I know. Some of the Intel Indeo (4.5 I think?) do. If your video is rendered with alpha channel containing something, be aware of that. It's probably better to keep it as an image sequence (such as Tiff, Targa, or Png sequence) in that case while working with it, as long as your editing tools support image sequences in addition to AVI files.

In other words: there's not just one answer, not just one cookie-cutter solution to this. It can depend a lot on what type of video or animation it is too (panoramic sweep on lanscapes vs. talking heads on static backgrounds, 8-bit color vs. 24-bit, etc...)

-Philip

www.thebest3d.com/pdpro5 - 'nuf said

The thing is I told DAZStudio to use uncompressed video, but Windows media player will not play it on both my machines.

Thanks everyone.  I will try all your advice.

I still get the same error running the stand alone DivX installer as Administrator.

Quote - The thing is I told DAZStudio to use uncompressed video, but Windows media player will not play it on both my machines.

Thanks everyone.  I will try all your advice.

Most of the time uncompressed video will have a way too high bitrate for realtime playback. Editing software will have no problem dealing with it, though.

Quote - I still get the same error running the stand alone DivX installer as Administrator.

There are other (older) versions of DivX also at free-codecs.com perhaps some of these work better?

Did you try with UAC disabled? The installation can fail if UAC prevents installation of drivers, dll's and other system files in the C:WINDOWSsystem32 or similar areas.

AT least on Vista and win7. I don't know if UAC exists in WinXP/64

Or it could be blocked in similar way by antivirus software if you have a version that includes something commonly called 'total protection' where it acts a bit like UAC and prevents installing files in the system folders. If you suspect you have that, and disabling UAC didn't do the trick, try disabling the a/v (again, only temporarily). WHich a/v do you use, incidentally?

-Philip

Thanks guys.  I have never heard of UAC on XP Pro.  A search turned up nothing.

The DivX pages don't seem to mention XP64 at all, so it may well be that you can't install them (more detail about the error might permit further diagnosis).

Quote - I totally agree:  as long as you work with the video you should use uncompressed or at the least use a codec that is not lossy. (and I'm at a loss to recommend one - pun intended).

I have really good luck with the Lagarith compressor, which comes in both 32 and 64 bit formats. The software is free (donation ware) and can be found at http://lags.leetcode.net/codec.html. It's lossless, and can do both 24 bit and 24 with an alpha channel. I use Lagarith for any render I make that isn't a series of stills.

Not sure if that goes to the original problem, though. When I was still on XP (32 bit, however), I had some luck with XVid, but I haven't used it in a long time. It also has the advantage of being free.

I have DivX, but I only use it for playback on my 32 bit (Vista) machine, and not too often at that.

Thanks guys.