Which xvid decoder do you use??? (was: mala crashing on certain attract videos)

[TheShanMan]

[Edit]I'm slightly altering the purpose of this thread. To answer the xvid decoder questions, please see the 5th post in this thread, by me.[/Edit]

Now that I have the emu-movies installed, I've found that mala crashes on certain ones (e.g. punchout) and plays others in a distorted fashion (kangaroo). But if I play either in WMP they play just fine.

I saw a post (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=76200.0) saying that searching on mala xvid will give you a bunch of results talking about the problem and how to solve it, but I sure couldn't find solutions (other than get rid of the offending videos - not a very satisfying solution - who wants to discover a bad one when a friend is over to play games - first it crashes mala, then you have to remember which one and remove it, then restart mala - not very impressive!).

Are there solutions to this (e.g. install a different xvid codec??? I just installed the one WMP told me to install) or is this a limitation in mala that we just have to wait until the author solves?

Personally it's bothersome enough to just disable videos altogether, and that's a big disappointment.

[Circo]

Ok the stretching problem is why I decided to make the new MAME set, currently it is only available on the FTP or Torrent, but if you purchased a DVD set you should have access to the FTP.   The reason that it is not currently shipping on the dvds is because it is still a work in progress (#-T at the moment).

What you need for mala is the MAME SQ Horizontal set.  All videos are the exact same resolution 320x240 including vertical ones.  (Vs the old set that has many different resolutions based on the original game resolution)  They are letterboxed on the sides to prevent stretching.  It has been awhile since I used MALA (because of video screensaver issues) but there may be away to turn off video stretching (I know there is in mamewah).   While I am very aware of the stretching issue, the crashing issue I have not yet encountered.  But the newer set should fix that too since they are all the exact same resolution. 

You will also find that the new set is of much higher quality and content.

[BadBoyBill]

I think its great that your doing them in a higher resolution, but I really don't like the letterbox idea.  I'm not exactly sure how all the frontends handle video out there but I use your videos and I offer the option to have fixed width, or fixed height or both(stretch).  Letterbox makes it alot harder to skin vertical videos so that they look good.

[TheShanMan]

I think I was misunderstood. I have no stretching issues. Kangaroo just looked all garbled.

However, I installed a different codec (ffdshow) and that solved both problems.

I did notice that some videos fill my 411x411 box (and by fill, I don't mean a 1:1 aspect ratio - I just mean that with aspect ratio maintaned, it fills as best as possible) and others don't. This wasn't the case with the crashing codec I think, so I think ffdshow is just more hit and miss about resizing.

[TheShanMan]

So to slightly alter the direction of this thread, I've found that one xvid decoder caused crashing or garbling on certain videos. I found another one (ffdshow) which doesn't seem to have any quality issues, but also doesn't consistently stretch videos to fit my 411x411 video region.

I'd like to know which xvid decoder you use, whether you have experienced any problems with videos in mala, and whether it allows the 320x240 videos to stretch to fill a larger region (maintaining aspect ratio, of course).

[Circo]

I use xvid from the xvid movies site, the link is on my site.  It is the newest version I believe. 

The new set, becaused the verticals are letterboxed stretches perfectly while maintaing aspect ratio.  (Horizontal Set)

[TheShanMan]

Thanks! I'll try that one tomorrow - if you use it then it must be good!

[DeLuSioNal29]

I use K-Lite Mega Codec Pack 3.7.5.

You can find it here:  http://www.codecguide.com/download_mega.htm

During installation I chose "Profile # 5: Lot of Stuff".  Make sure you choose this option, as it will give you the maximum codecs installation.

Good Luck!

~ DeLuSioNaL

[waveryder]

I'm using XviD-1.1.2-01112006 final from the xvid team and have never had a problem with previews. I also have Wmplayer setup as an emu in mala with music videos. They play as previews and most are 720x576, with no issues.

[Silver]

One thing to remember with different MPEG4 codecs is that in theory they are cross-compatible. i.e. they can decode each other.

The most obvious example is that the XVID codec can decode DIVX encoded files (and vice versa). When you install Xvid codecs you usually get a setup screen asking which "FourCC" you want it to decode - typically XVID, MP4 and DIVX if I recall.

So if you have loads of codecs installed it may not be obvious which one is chosen to decode the video.

[Minwah]

Anything wrong with DivX (from divx.com)?

[Circo]

Anything wrong with DivX (from divx.com)?

Not with mamewah, but EVERYTHING else yes, big problems with divx.