@Daniel-Buse

https://www.free-codecs.com/cinepak_codec_download.htm

Install the 64-bit version for Windows 7.

Do a virus scan on it before installing. I have just opened it with no issues. That version (1.10.0.11) is the version I have installed from some time ago.

Alternatively, you can use FFDShow to decode your Cinepak AVIs. Post back if you need a hand with that.

I prefer dealing with the original files, as transcoding results in quality loss (especially if it is a low-res lossy AVI already). Also, native AVIs are easier to edit in MEP than MP4-type files on a slower system.

@CubeAce

Hi Ray,

I have a CD of MEP (Video Deluxe) from about 2001. There were some AVI's on it that I cannot open in more recent MEP or VPX. I presume that it has to be decoded or I would have to use Cinepak. Interesting to see how a common format can become obsolete.

John CB

@browj2

Hi John.

This has always been a long term worry for digital stills photographers who want a safe format for archiving.

Adobe committed to always having an open DGG format and cameras that can capture the raw output in tiff are both fairly secure. Other than that all bets are off for stills.

I'm not aware of any such undertaking for any video formats.

Ray.

@CubeAce, @browj2

Hi

. . . . I'm not aware of any such undertaking for any video formats. . . . .

There are archiving standards for media format - however these are either set by a government standards organisation, or by the archiving organisation, the most common format being AVI.

. . . . This has always been a long term worry for digital stills photographers who want a safe format for archiving. . . .

In addition to safe format, there is the problem of which medium to use for archiving - magnetic media whether tape or disc, and optical media (writeable) all deteriorate over time, and cloud storage is the least reliable as it could disappear at any time.

This presents a problem for archivists as well as photographers and others. The media needs to be replaced on a regular cycle of copying from old to new.

This may partially account for the resurgence of film in photography, kept under the right conditions film can last for over a hundred years, magnetic media can be as low as < 5 years and optical media 5 - 25 years.

John EB

@johnebaker @browj2

Hi John.

I agree about storage and even printing your own images are not that reliable but touch my head, I haven't lost anything I wanted to keep since 1998 and as far as I know all formats are still accessible to me at present except a few 5.1 surround mp3 files I created a while back as the Fraunhofer-Gesellshaft player and encoder I had for that format does not seem to want to work on Windows 10.

Ray.

Thank you all for your time. It`s true that I can use any free, as I`ve done using the free VLC. But I think that is not the normal way to do this, as I`m using a paid software... which still needs a free one to do the job. :) All the best.

@Daniel-Buse

I think Magix is caught between a rock and a hard place here. It obviously cannot support every obscure codec; there are hundreds, if not thousands of them, and including them in the program may cause issues if Windows changes, for example, or indeed later versions of MEP. MEP does support the most popular codecs. The other issue could be one of copyright; while you and I can download and use eg Cinepak, including it in a commercial program that makes money for it's publishers is probably not legal without a royalty being paid to the owners of the codec.

Regarding VLC Player, it has it's own library of decoders (it is of course, free) and doesn't need a external codec to play most files. Unfortunately, VLC's internal decoders are not available to other programs.

Did you get your Cinepak files working in MEP?

@AAProds

``Did you get your Cinepak files working in MEP?``

Yes I did. But the result is not even close to the one converted with VLC.

So for conversions I`ll use VLC. It converts everything. 😉

@Daniel-Buse

That's odd. MEP should be doing just what VLC does: open the file. The "quality" on the timeline will be the same as VLC. The quality of any "conversion/result" after that will be entirely dependent on your MEP export settings.

The MEP Preview screen might look lower-quality but provided you set an appropriate bitrate, the export should look pretty close to original.

@Daniel-Buse

Hi

. . . . the result is not even close to the one converted with VLC . . . .

What is the difference?

Download an install MediaInfo and analyse one of the AVI clips and post the results in a comment, see this tutorial for how to setup and analyse a video clip if you are not familiar with MediaInfo, it may give a clue as to what the cause is.

John EB