Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Is there a way I can use wmv files, without using Flip4Mac

iPowers

iPowers

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 23, 2006
269
0
Arizona
Flip4Mac is pathetic. I can't make videos for it, because it doesn it half way. I can't import it into quicktime or imovie without it saying, "added on by flip4mac"

I can barely even use it.

Is there something else our there that can let me do all this stuff without all this stupid crap on it?
 
The basic Flip4Mac is little more than a WMV decoder plug-in for Quicktime. If you need encoding functionality, I believe you'll have to pay Flip4Mac for that. AFAIK, there's no other way to encode WMVs on OS X.

Although, someone else might know better than I do...
 
epochblue said:
... AFAIK, there's no other way to encode WMVs on OS X.

Although, someone else might know better than I do...
Click to expand...
You are correct. Flip4Mac or one of its big brothers is currently your only option for handling Windows Media content on the Mac. For a while, Flip4Mac had competition from Popwire's WMV-9 Component. However, Flip4Mac bought it out.
 
What exactly do you mean by "use"?

If you mean 'encode into' then I think you'll have to pay for the Flip4Mac encoder thing.

But think for a moment about *why* you want to encode into a proprietary format that isn't even the best quality available. What's wrong with H.264? (Open standard, higher quality, smaller filesize - but Windows users do need Quicktime or an equivalent installed) Or if you want super-accessibility, how about Flash Video On6 (I think that's the right one) - proprietary again, but more widespread than .wmv, and better quality than .wmv
 
Yeah, I don't know what you mean by "use" either. Every .wmv I've played using flip4mac as worked great through qt.

@jdavtz -- h.264 is just as proprietary as .wmv and final size and resolution all depends on the bit rates used. (way to keep the Apple is better than Microsoft spirit going:) ) If you want something not proprietary you should go with xvid or divx.
 
If you're up for jumping into Parallels or Bootcamp, I would bet that there's a free wmv to mpeg converter for Windows.
 
killerrobot said:
... h.264 is just as proprietary as .wmv and final size and resolution all depends on the bit rates used. (way to keep the Apple is better than Microsoft spirit going:) ) If you want something not proprietary you should go with xvid or divx.
Click to expand...
No. H.264 is part of the MPEG-4 standard, specifically MPEG-4 Part 10. Numerous vendors and developers use it. OTOH, DivX is based on Microsoft's rejected draft for MPEG-4. Xvid and DivX are non-standard by definition.
 
MisterMe said:
No. H.264 is part of the MPEG-4 standard, specifically MPEG-4 Part 10. Numerous vendors and developers use it. OTOH, DivX is based on Microsoft's rejected draft for MPEG-4. Xvid and DivX are non-standard by definition.
Click to expand...

h.264 is what comes standard with every Apple product, much like .wmv comes standard with every Windows product-- that's why I said it was proprietary. Sure other people have jumped on and supported them.

It seems to me that the non-standard xvid is supported more than either one because of 3rd party developers -- so I brought it up because it seems like the preferred choice, from my experience which is not all inclusive I know, for burning/ripping nowadays.
 
Proprietary standard or universal standard, bottom line is the only reason you should ever want to even think about encoding in .wmv is if:

A) It's a corporate thing and that's what your organization has licensed to use(in which case your hands are tied)

B) You want to encode video in .wmv format for a proprietary device that uses wmv for video. IE a xbox360(although the 360 does support mpeg-4 now, however it only supports 5.1 audio in .wmv format).

Any other situation, use H.264 or another mpeg-4 based standard, you'll get much better results and OS compatibility will be a non-issue.
 
killerrobot said:
h.264 is what comes standard with every Apple product, much like .wmv comes standard with every Windows product--...
Click to expand...
Saying something is proprietary doesn't make it proprietary. Neither does asserting something is a standard make it a standard. H.264 is a published standard by a recognized standards-setting body. In this case of H.264, it is published by two recognized standards-setting bodies, the MPEG and the VCEG. Windows Media is not a standard at all. It is merely a Microsoft format.
 
Quick question about Flip4Mac:

I use it to view WMV files online. It gives me the option to "Save as QuickTime." Thus, when I do so, I have a QuickTime file saved onto my computer. My question is whether or not this is legal to do?
 
mark476p said:
Quick question about Flip4Mac:

I use it to view WMV files online. It gives me the option to "Save as QuickTime." Thus, when I do so, I have a QuickTime file saved onto my computer. My question is whether or not this is legal to do?
Click to expand...

Yes as long as you don't upload the files to the internet and call them your own then your fine.
 
Is there a way to make VLC play embedded stuff in Firefox? (Or Safari, I'm not too picky).
 
Guys playing the videos is no problem. That isn't my concern. Converting si the same. However, if I mport a wmv onto imovie, it says, "made by flip4mac" right on the page. If I export a video into wmv format, it does it half way. It is annoying really. I"m making my concern toward the importing part more.
 
iPowers said:
Guys playing the videos is no problem. That isn't my concern. Converting si the same. However, if I mport a wmv onto imovie, it says, "made by flip4mac" right on the page. If I export a video into wmv format, it does it half way. It is annoying really. I"m making my concern toward the importing part more.
Click to expand...

i would recommend using VLC to convert the wmv movie. its very simple to do so and will be able to be played by imovie
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back