Video Codecs

  • Thread starter Thread starter Greig
  • Start date Start date
G

Greig

I am trying to make a video codec, the default using
windowsXP pro. The default seems to be Cinepak. I have a
number of other codecs that I use. I want to make one of
them the default. Is there anything in the windows setup
or registry that I can change to do this.

Regards
Greig
 
Greig;

You cannot make a codec the "default". A video clip must be played using
the codec with which it was encoded. When you are encoding video, a default
is not possible because of the size/frame rate/color depth/bit depth, etc...
That is why you are presented with the laundry list of codecs currently
installed on your machine.

Bobby
 
All A/ V files contain an internal reference to a specific (generally
proprietary) codec, or, as a minimum, a class identifier (i.e. "UYVY"
denotes a registered YUV 4:2:2 subformat). As a result, one cannot simply
assign a generic, one-size-fits-all, default solution.

One can however, in many cases, designate an alternative decoder instead of
using the one specified in the file header. And thus, it is possible to
manually manipulate similar classes of codecs, particularly those that may
be found under the following registry keys...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\drivers.desc
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32

---Cinepak:
This so-called "Radius" Cinepak codec was originally owned by "Supermac",
subsequently by "Radius", and is currently owned by "Providenza &
Boekelheide;" a 16/ 32 bit version update (> than WinXP default) is freely
available...

http://www.probo.com/cinepak.htm .

Essentially a VFW (AVI) compliant version of the old Apple, Quicktime
Cinepak decoder, and initially supported under Quicktime versions 1 -> 3,
iccvid.dll has been an integral part of every version of Windows and DirectX
since 1995; now considered a legacy codec and included only for backwards
compatibility.

CTI also offers a variety of updated Cinepak tools and improved codecs, but
not quite sure exactly whom is really "On-First" these days.

The default registry entry for the Cinepak codec is
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Drivers32

"vidc.cvid"="iccvid.dll"

Considering all of the above, where does that leave your query?

My personal advice would be "leave well enough alone," but, it's your
system. You can go into the registry and, for example, assign a different
codec for the system to use whenever it sees a given fourcc identifier...

"vidc.yuy2"="msyuv.dll"

might be changed to

"vidc.yuy2"="huffyuv.dll"

Thus, whenever a fourcc of "YUY2" is specified the Huffyuv lossless codec
will be called by default.

Resources (check all content for current relevance):
http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/devdes/fourcc.htm
http://www.fourcc.org/
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2361.html

Good luck,
 
Back
Top