How to play .MP4 file?

Bacchus

Hey, I have an MP4 video file I can't play on my PC. In winamp I just get sound, no audio.
I did a google but I just get a whole mess of install one of these packages, reconfig this, uninstall this, get this plugin, undo everything you just did and do it again but blindfolded.

I downloaded the free version of Realplayer (which is supposed to play mp4s) but I just get the audio again. Can anyone explain (simply) what I need to play .MP4 files.

Thanks

Speedway

use Quick Time. i watch Mp4 video files from my phone on it the whole time. No problems at all.

Bacchus

Tried Quicktime too. It just froze up.
I think I need a splitter and a decoder installed so Winamp/Windows Media Player/ BSplayer/etc. can play em.

Speedway

thats strange, there are codec packs available for WMedia player i think for Mp4 though. have you got the latest version of quick time? I think theres a codec pack for realone player too which you can use

DMC

VLC Media Player does the biz for me.

irlrobins

DMC wrote:

VLC Media Player does the biz for me.

Yea VLC plays practically everything.

Bacchus

Well, I'v just downloaded VLC player and one or two other codecs. I'll try em out later.

I have the latest Quicktime and Realplayer (the freeware versions) but neither seem to work.

biko

If you haven't tried it already - first dwnld file to your PC.
Then File/Open QT and find file that way.
QT can get a little confused sometimes...

Bacchus

Thanks for the tip. I'll check back tommorow if I'm still havin problems (no net at house - God bless work for free Internet ). Thanks for all the advise.

angelofdeath

vlc will play it without any codecs installed, if you want to play it in any other directshow compatible player (wmp, mpc, bsplayer, winamp etc..) download matroksa splitter and ffdshow from www.x264.nl

gamer

i find vlc pays any av/ video file half the time winamp just plays the audio track from the files.press f for full screen mode.

aaf

VLC or foobar2000 is what I use. Also, check out the foxytunes extension for Firefox - allows you control your media player from within Firefox. Very handy.

conzy

Just downlaod the divx player

http://www.divx.com/

It comes with all the neccesary codecs, and plays AVI, Xvid, DivX, MP4........

Fighting Irish

bsplayer(nicer interface) or vlc player

8T8

It kinds depends on what is in the .mp4 file as you can have;

Audio only [e.g AAC]
MPEG 4 ASP [e.g DivX]
MPEG 4 AVC [e.g H.264]

To play the file in Windows Media Player or any other Directshow media player you need a Directshow compatible decoder and a media parser which is able to split the audio and video from the .mp4 container and tell the player which codec to use.

If you install ffdshow decoder from this link and tick the box for H.264 support and make sure AAC and MP3 are ticked under the audio support. Now install Haali's Media Splitter and you should be able to play your .mp4 file in WMP.

Alternatively I would recommend CoreAVC which is the best MPEG4 AVC decoder available but it is a commercial application but very much worth it if you have performance issues with H.264 content.

Bacchus

Okay, VLC player worked a treat. I also got the latest codecs (K-Lite package I think) and it works in Windows Media Classic player now too. Thanks for the tips guys. Much appreciated.