Problems playing video files?

[jacatone]

I recently reinstalled WinXP and find several of my old video files won't play under WM Player. I tried alternative players and they won't play on them as well. How do I figure out what codecs I must be missing?

[j4ck]

There must be a better way, but try this:
Download the free DivX player here:
http://www.divx.com/divx/
(I am assuming you run Windows or MAC)

DivX probably has the codec you need, but in case not, try to run the video using the DivX player anyway. If it plays...then super! You have what you require. If the video does not play, then (I think) DivX will tell you what codec is required, you can google for it then download it. If DivX doen't tell you the required codec automatically, you may have to right click in the player viewer and select "Show Playback Properties".

It's a messy way just to find out what codec a video file requires, but I think it will work.