Latest DivX codec for Windows 95C

[assenort]

Hi guys,

I was wondering if someone would know which is the latest version of the DivX codec that works under Win 95C.

Thanks in advance for help with this question.

Best :-)

[PROBLEMCHYLD]

23 hours ago, assenort said:

Hi guys,

I was wondering if someone would know which is the latest version of the DivX codec that works under Win 95C.

Thanks in advance for help with this question.

Best :-)

These are the latest for Win 98 SE, not sure if they'll work on Win 95. Give it a shot and report back. Thanks

https://www.techtalk.cc/viewtopic.php?f=1047&t=390&start=67

[assenort]

Hi again,

I experimented with a bunch of DivX Codec releases, and found out that DivX Codec Pro 5.0.5 works perfectly under Win 95C. Version 6.0 and above do NOT work, however. Hopefully someone in my shoes will find this info helpful.

Interestingly enough, the movie rip that I used for my trials was DivX 3 video-encoded, and WMA2 audio-encoded. This prompted me to dig up and install decoder for WMA2 audio - thankfully, I had it in my software archive.

More trials will follow, and results will be posted. Win 95 is so much fun, despite the occasional hiccups - for example, every now and then my machine hangs on shutting down.

Best to all :-)

[sdfox7]

@assenort @PROBLEMCHYLD

According to this archived link, 5.0.5 "requires minimum Windows 98", but @assenort got it working on Windows 95 C.

You could probably try 5.1 to see if that works, since the requirements are the same. It's a minor point release and may still work. I'm not at a Win95 C machine ATM to test).

The page: https://web.archive.org/web/20031002033025/http://www.divx.com:80/divx/

The free download link for the Standard DivX 5.1 Codec: https://web.archive.org/web/20031002033025/http://download.divx.com/divx/DivX51Bundle.exe

Minimum System Requirements: https://web.archive.org/web/20031002004822/http://www.divx.com:80/divx/system_requirements.php

[assenort]

Hi again :-)

For the benefit of the community and per the suggestion of @sdfox7; I tried DivX 5.1.1 Pro Codec on my Win 95C machine. It works flawlessly.

In the process though I hit some snags. Namely, when I first tried to play DivX/MP3 encoded video file, Windows Media Player loaded up some crappy InterVideo Audio filter (iviaudio.ax), and not the Fraunhofer MP3 filter that I wanted, thus producing a garbled and crackling sound. This necessitated me to get rid of the InterVideo crap. After some search on the Internets, I managed to do this by the following:

1.   Start/Run

2.   regsvr32 -u iviaudio.ax
3.   Delete iviaudio.ax from Windows\System

4.   Restart comp. After that, Windows Media Player loads up the MP3 codec to play audio as it should.

I also had to install Radium MP3 codec 1.263 (believe it is a hacked official Fraunhofer MP3 codec; had it in my archive, it is also available on the Internets).

Finally, InterVideo WinDVD 3.0 (my software archive is bottomless) can play perfectly single AND double-layer DVD disks. It is awesome.

The only remaining problem so far is that no version of VobSub that I tried works under Win 95C. Have to figure something else out in order to display subtitles.

Hope this info will help other people.

Best :-)

Edited November 19, 2017 by assenort

[jumper]

VobSub 2.23 itself should run on 95, but might require a later version of DirectSound than you have installed. What versions of VobSub and DirectSound have your tried? And what exactly do you mean by "works under Win 95C"?

[assenort]

 

Hi jumper,

Thank you for responding. Here is what I can answer to your questions:

1. Currently, I have three players on my machine that I use to play DivX/MP3 encoded files:

- Windows Media Player 6.4

- Windows Media Player 7.1

- InterVideo WinDVD 3.0

None of these can display subtitles, even though VobSub filter loads up every time I open up a video file (a little green arrow pops up in the system tray).

There is one exception, though - in WMP 6.4, when the Captions option is selected under the View menu, then subtitles CAN be seen in the caption bar that appears within the player window - see pic below.

I tried to play around with the VobSub filter settings, but none of the tries produced any success in displaying subtitles.

2. The DirectX version installed is 8.0a (4.08.00.0400). VobSub is version 2.23.

3. My audio card is Yamaha AW724. The DirectSound driver for the card - YDSXG.VXD - is version 4.07.00.1040, and I believe it is the latest to support Windows 95C.

In addition, none of the versions of Media Player Classic (my preferred player) that I tried wanted to work - it simply refuses to start.

Best

Edited November 22, 2017 by assenort

[jumper]

I don't have a file with subtitles to test with, but my WMP6.01 does have View->Captions. Help counts it as an Accessibility feature.

So two more questions to help narrow things down:
- Does WMP7.1 have the View->Captions (or equivalent) Accessibility option?
- Does WMP6.04 display the subtitles as captions even without VobSub?

According to Videohelp.com, VobSub (up to 2.23) may only be for VirtualDub. WinDVD needs VSFilter:
The latest (2.41 and also xy-VSFilter) requires Windows XP SP3.
The earlier ones (2.24-2.37) all look okay in Dependency Walker on my 98se system.

[assenort]

Hi again Jumper,

Sorry for responding a bit late.

- WMP7.1 does not have "Captions" in the View menu.

- WMP6.4 does not display subtitles in the captions box when VobSub 2.23 is not installed on the machine.

- I uninstalled VobSub 2.23 and tried to install several versions (one at a time) of the VSFilter. It requires to put the stand-alone VSFilter.dll file in C:\Windows\System folder, and run the command regsvr32.exe VSFilter.dll. While the filter is loaded every time an AVI file is being opened up in WMP6.4, WMP7.1 and WinDVD 3.0, no subtitles are displayed. On a side note, I had to configure the filter via DOS command window in order to prevent vicious freezing every time I tried to play an AVI file in either of the above-mentioned players. The culprit was a checked option "Pre-buffer subpictures". Here is a very good guide on the matter, despite being in French:

http://sweetkaraoke.pagesperso-orange.fr/Tutoriels/Tutoriel1_1b.html

To re-cap the experience so far:

1. Only WMP6.4 can display subtitles, provided VobSub 2.23 is installed and Captions option is enabled (this opens up a caption box within the player window).

2. VSFilter loads up with all three player that I use, but subtitles are not displayed, even when Captions in WMP6.4 is selected.

3. No version of Media Player Classic that I tried works under Win95C.

Best :-)

Edited November 28, 2017 by assenort

[jumper]

Every version of WMP seems to have a different way to enable captions:
    Accessibility for Windows Media Player Videos: Captions

[assenort]

Good call, Jumper :-)

I must be sleeping in my old age, since I fidgeted with WMP7.1 settings a lot, but somehow missed the d*** thing.

So yes, WMP7.1 can also display subtitles with the help of VobSub 2.23, provided the latter is installed on the machine and the former has its Captions option enabled (see pic below).

Now, I have two dedicated Windows 98SE machines, on which I use my beloved Media Player Classic 6.4.9.1 to play video files. MPC has built-in capacity to load up subtitles regardless of whether or not VobSub is around. However, for the sake of the experiment, I installed VobSub and then used Windows Media Player 6.4 to play a movie. Subtitles popped up right away, even without the enabling of the Captions as on the Win95 machine.

Being a total noob when it comes to software engineering , I will make a humble guess that VSFilter and its successor VobSub were designed to make use of Directx 9.0. Since I have Directx 9.0c on my Win98SE machines, and only Directx 8.0a on my Windows 95C machine, I think the above-mentioned guess is the only explanation. It is probably totally futile to hope that someone will make it their pet project to make either MPC or VobSub version that will work on Win95 too. Pity...

Best to all :-)

PS. I forgot to mention that DivX Codec Pro 5.2.1 also works perfectly under Win95C. Even though the installation gives you some warning in the beginning that this codec version is not supported on Win95, it installs and works perfectly.

Edited November 30, 2017 by assenort

[cov3rt]

sorry if im just skimping here but why not just use vlc player? i guess i was wondering what the biggest differences would be from running for example an mp4 file on vlc player vs media player 6.4 on windows 95C. part of the reason i use vlc player now for the default of watching video ( mp4 ) mostly that is on 95C is that mp 6.4 wouldn't load mp4 and i use winamp 2.95 for mp3. there are a lot of different build options / software mentioned here so i was wondering if someone can sort of give me a conclusive answer to me. i basically want to know what would be the best software or softwares ( if more than one is needed ) to play mp4 and mp3 in highest quality possible. i noticed vlc player isn't bad for mp4, however the picture / video quality is limited a little and so i was wondering if anyone knows why, in 98SE, the quality seems to be the same as well, the sample file i use was a downloaded file off youtube that looks very nice in actual youtube playing at 1080p, however with vlc, it's limited somehow. 

[assenort]

Hi cov3rt:

I cannot speak for others, but myself I never liked the VLC player. It used to crash on me pretty often back in the days with the original WinXP release, if I am not mistaken. I am a die-hard fan of Media Player Classic (still keep using it today in Win10). Unfortunately, I was never able to find and old version of it that can run under Win95. Thus I resorted to using the otherwise hated Windows Media Player.

Best :-)

Edited January 27, 2018 by assenort