Laurence Payne wrote:
On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 10:34:50 +0000, Tony Morgan
wrote:

...and again, you've snipped out the main question in order to lecture
us on a detail.
**** off troll.

You never contribute - only carp and try to start arguments.

So contribute. What codec do you recommend?


You are insisting on a 'This is the Best', answer to a question that
cannot have a 'this is the best' answer.

One must deal with the reality of the world rather than rail at how it
does not fit ones option of conformity.

In the Bittorret world, it appears that the Xvid codec rules
It would be a rare windows box that would not play a Wmv file
It would be a rate Mac box that would not play a Mov file

But then, people start getting concerned about size and quality. So they
start encoding into some of newer codecs H264 and such. Eventually, its
like complaining that your old turntable won't play cassette tapes and
CD's.

You can divorce your thinking for the requirement that unless it plays
in Windows Media Player, its just not standard enough. There are some
small, and free for distribution apps like Media Player Classic and
VideoLan that will fit onto most any disk you stick a video file on.

That said, its usually possible to install components so that Windows
Media Player WILL handle most all of those formats, but that sort of
invalidates the user friendly doctrine you were originally aiming at
because it requires the user to lift one or more fingers to prepare the
system. Far easier it to just stick a small player on the disk with the
instruction - 'if file not viewable on your computer, install this
application, and then enjoy the video.'