Removed DivX Now Video Won't Work At All

[ChrisBrown]

Hi, I'm a new MAC's and have inadvertently cocked it up!
A few weeks ago I borrowed a movie on a memory stick that wouldn't play on my MAC, after a google search and some quick research I downloaded and installed Div X and bingo all okay!
Tonight I decided to look at one of the video tutorials on the apple web site (PC to Mac tutorial!). When I tried to run it Div X tried to open it but couldn't and kept giving the same error message. I decided to remove Div X by dragging it to the trash (is this the correct way to uninstall???) this removed visible signs of Div X but when I tried to again run the video tutorial I got the same Div X message? On a further search I found this software seems pretty difficult to remove but there were some instructions on various forums. I followed

http://picotweet.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-to-fully-uninstall-divx-7-mac.html

This has now gotten rid of the Div X message however I now get no video at all and the sound plays with an echo?
I can only assume I've deleted something when removing all those files as per instructions on the link. Any help would be greatly appreciated?
What application would normally play videos (would it be quick time?)

Thanks

Chris

 

[smirk]

Cocked it up, indeed.

It sounds like you didn't uninstall Divx correctly. I don't use Divx, but does the installer have an uninstall function? If so you could try installing Divx and then uninstalling right away with the installer.

If you're certain you have manually removed all the Divx components, then yes, you could try installing Quicktime to see if it fixes your current problem.

Good luck.

P.S. For viewing videos in other formats check out the Videolan player (http://videolan.org/) or the Flip4Mac Quicktime plugin, among others.

 

[Makosuke]

Divx is something of a special case on the Mac--it DOES have an uninstaller (very unusual), and it's almost certainly a good idea to use it to remove whatever stuff it sticks in your system. The uninstaller, if I remember correctly, should be in the Divx folder in your Applications folder, along with a few other Divx tools.

The first thing to try would be downloading a fresh version of Divx, installing it, then immediately using the uninstaller to remove it. With any luck, that will fix your issue.

If it does not, and you have a QuickTime updater you can install, that would be the next thing to try--you didn't say if you're running 10.6 or an earlier OS version, so I'm not sure exactly what version of QuickTime you're using.

Useful tip: If you install the free plugin Perian, it will enable QuickTime to play very nearly any video format, including any of the non-DRM'd formats that Divx includes. It's well worth installing, just to have it on there. You can also install the free Flip4Mac QuickTime plugin provided by Microsoft, which will enable you to play most types of WMV video, including almost all of the handful of things Perian doesn't cover.

As for what app to use to play stuff, QuickTime Player is the default. VLC, as smirk said, is another option, and it will play very nearly anything. I personally prefer Mplayer OSX Extended over VLC--it's also free, and also able to play very nearly anything, but it's got a somewhat more streamlined interface as it isn't trying to be everything to everyone.

 

[akinator]

Chris,

In addition to uninstalling DivX properly, you have to open Safari Preferences and remove the DivX extensions that have been installed there. Uninstall will not remove those as they are in Safari's app folders, if you follow what I am saying. After this, Safari will stop trying to use DivX for opening video on websites. hope this resolves the issue for you.

aki