Consider this another episode in the ongoing drama "dpc faces broadband." I have an iMac 350MHz with Comcast broadband access. Last week Comcast increased its theoretical download speed to a spiffy 3 MB/sec, so I thought I would try downloading some movie clips. Some of these are xyz.rm files, which I have viewed successfully using RealPlayer - thanks to goose! However, the overwhelming majority of movie clips are xyz.mpg files. And I have not been able to view them using QuickTime Player 4. (This is the version that came with my iMac.) I am running Mac OS 9.0.4. Here is what happens. I am sure I am getting a successful download of the xyz.mpg files onto the desktop. Download Manager tells me so. 8-) A downloaded file icon has the stylized QuickTime "Q" at the top, bordered by film sprockets. Underneath this, there is a black bar with the white capital letters "WAV" (or "UAV") on it. Underneath this, there is the file name xyz.mpg. When I double-click on this icon, QuickTime Player 4 *tries* to open up. I can see the dotted lines coming out from the icon. Then I get an iMac error message which says: "Couldn't open the file "xyz.mpg" becaues the sound information was in a bad or damaged format." That's my story. I surmise that the error message is inaccurate. I doubt that the dozens of xyz.mpg files I have tried to open recently *all* have sound problems! What is going on here? Oh - could someone link this to the Macintosh Conference? Thanx!28 responses total.
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Quicktime 6.0.3 is available for download. It has MPEG-4, which may do the trick. You can install it on OS 9.0.4, but you might also want to do the upgrades 9.1, 9.2.1. and 9.2.2, also from the web. (I had to upgrade an iMac to 9.2 to use it with some digital camera software, so I've just been through this.)
Are you using RealPlayer to view the .rm files? If so, note that it can also play .mpg files, among other formats, I'm sure.
I'm not sure what it's like on Macs, but on Windows RealPlayer depends on whatever codecs the OS has installed to play non-RealMedia formats.
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MacOS X is *not* going to make him happy on a 350Mhz iMac.
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One thing that may do the trick is to use one of many free downloadable tools to check the file type (a four-character code which the Mac uses to associate the file with the appropriate icon and application), and try changing that code to "MPG " (the fourth character is a space). Quicktime might be choking over the fact that the file is and mpg, but the filetype Quicktime is trying to see it as is wav. One of the tools to do this is ResEdit. There are lots of AppleScripts and contextual memory modules also. (Check control-click.com for the latter.)
Thanx, people. No, an upgrade to OS X is not possible. No, RealPlayer is not invoked when I double-click on these *.mpg files. Instead, QuickTime is invoked. Hence the problem. 8-) According to the definitive book, Todd Stauffer's "How to Do Everything with Your iMac," QuickTime Player 4 is supposed to be able to translate, and read directly, .mpg files. The QuickTime PictureViewer does a fine job of displaying .jpg files, so I don't believe I have a defective copy of QuickTime. Making things even more intriguing, I downloaded a *.asf movie trailer just now. I got the same QuickTime icon, plus the same bad-sound error message.
(I don't use a Mac and so can't help Dave with his problem, but being a Comcast customer myself, his statement that Comcast has increased download speed to 3 megabits/sec caught my eye. So I went to http://www.dslreports.com and ran their connection speed measurement tool. Lo and behold, I'm now getting 3 megabits/sec. I think that's better than double what it was before. Sweet! (Upload speeds are still pretty pokey, though.))
Surely "double clicking" is not the only way to open a .mpg file! Save it to disk, start up RealPlayer, use File | Open, and it will work. Promise!
txt dd not 666 understand adcdc to exit pass
It does no good to invoke Satan here...
<<< you are sure about that ???????????????? >>> <g> dpc - waht browser (and versin) ar yo using? are you d/l the file and then truing to oppen it .. or tryign to open whilst browsing?
Tsty, I'm using Internet Explorer version 4.5, the one that came with my iMac. I am not given a choice with mpgs; they *always* download when I click on them while browsing. And then when I double-click on them, I get the stupid "bad sound" error message.
Instead of double clicking on them, did you try what was suggested in #11? Upgrading to the latest free version of QuickTime would most likely install the necessary codecs if you don't already have the right ones.
#8 above is the only suggestion that actually addresses the problem you're describing. The file DATA is in .mpg format (the actual filename extension is irrelevant) but the file METADATA codes the file as a .wav file, which is why the "WAV" appears on the bottom of the icon. This is what is causing QuickTime to choke on it. Fix the metadata (file type code) and it should open without a problem.
Well, I can report progress-regress. I tried selecting a downloaded *.mpg file and then using File|Open with various players. RealPlayer said it would try to add a plugin, but then said, after visiting its Web site, that "Currently, AutoUpdate has no plug-in available to play your selection." Windows Media Player for the Mac got a "bad format" message and gave up. Windows Media Player *did* condescend to accept a plugin so that it now plays *.asf files (at least sometimes). This past weekend I took people's advice and went to apple.com. I tried playing a trailer and was informed "QuickTime 5 required." A little light bulb went on over my head. Maybe the files I have been trying to read require the standards used by QuickTime 5, instead of the older ones used by QuickTime 4. So I downloaded QT 5 with no problem. Then QT5 actually *played* a trailer successfully!! Hallelujah, I thought. The trailers on the Apple site don't say they are in *.mpg format, but QT5 showed that it wasn't just lying there on the hard disk. Regrettably, my toothpaste dropped to the floor (I was crestfallen) when I clicked on a *.mpg file on the Web. A new error message: "Attempt to load *.mpg failed." So now the stupid *.mpg files don't even get downloaded. And this is with the current QT5. Should I just give the whole thing up as a bad job?
no, just brush your teeth more.
I'll have to remember that toothpaste pun. It is truly a groaner.
Glad you liked that old Tom Swiftie. 8-)
I want to emphasize what *is* working on my iMac--and
flawlessly: Internet Explorer 4.5, Outlook Express 4.5 (including
support for .pdf and .doc attachments), RealPlayer Basic, Windows
Media Player for the Mac, and Microsoft Office for the Mac.
So everything is perfect, except for my complete failure to
download *.mpg files. Oh - did I also mention the fact that
some *.wmv files are downloaded and transformed into text files?
I think that I have two invisible pieces of software
on my machine:
1. iMac File Scrambler. This transforms regular *.mpg
files into unreadable *.wav files (whatever they are). It
also randomly transforms *.wmv files into text files.
2. QuickTime 5 Download Blocker. This prevents the
download of *.mpg files, and is a new feature of QT5 not found
in QT4.
It sounds like maybe your browser's file associations are screwed up somehow. Have you tried with a different web browser, just to see what happens? I like to keep two installed so I can try the other if one doesn't do what I want.
There is a control panel called File Exchange. Open it. Examine it. See what it does. Then check the lists in it to see if it is responsible for the weird file-typing you're getting.
Thanx! I hadn't thought that anything could be wrong with Internet Explorer. Silly me. 8-)
No joy. Everything seems OK in the File Exchange control panel, and with IE.
dpc .. can you start quicktime independently? should be able to witha double-click. after quicktime is opened (and nothing is playing), click file:open and anvigate to teh *content* you want to see. select that content and see of it plays. let us know .....
dpc ????
whore ????
You have several choices: