Guides for novices
Coping with Windows Media Audio format on the Macintosh by Otterman

I had a bunch of avi files on CD from a science fiction series called "Space: Above and Beyond". This series was written by the X files writers, and was surprisingly canned after one season.

The avi files could be played on most QT or DivX players available for the mac, but audio was a problem. None of them was playng any sound - I found out that the audio was coded as Windows Media Player (wma) format. This was a problem.

Via suggestions on the mean list, I finally ended up at the DivX Doctor II site

There, as instructed, I downloaded:

  • DivX Doctor II ver 2.1
  • 3ivx Delta 4 PR1
  • WMA Codec - link (archive of file from appleguru)

Note: You should have at least QuickTime 5 on Classic to proceed.

The software description says "DivX Doctor II updates DivX.avi videos to 3ivx QuickTime (.mov) videos. After the conversion you will be able to play the video smoothly, and the audio glitches inherant in the AVI format will be fixed. The conversion is fast."

Here are the steps I took:

  1. Installed the wma codec (a single file, 564kb) into SystemFolder: Extensions: QuickTime Extensions (the classic system folder).
  2. In the Finder, selected the DivX Doctor II application icon, selected File: Get Info. Clicked the box which said "Open in the Classic environment"
  3. Opened the 3ivx D4 PR1.
    1. Copied the "3ivx D4 PR1 Decoder OS9" codec into SystemFolder: Extensions: QuickTime Extensions.
    2. Copied the "3ivx D4 PR1 Decoder OSX" to ~/Library: QuickTime.
  4. Restarted Classic, and quit Quit QuickTime Player in OS X.
  5. Opened Div Doctor II.
  6. Dropped the avi file onto the Divx Doctor window.
  7. The end-result is a .mov file which you can play in Quick Time in Classic or OSX.

 

I must tell you, I haven't really a clue as to what I did - but the end result - the avi with the troublesome wma audio worked fine!

It's amazing at the help that is out there!

Cheerio!

Otterman

Update - The WMA codecs page is offline, but there is an alternative:

Eric Johansen (UCSF), 17 Jul 2003, "I found this little application: DivXWMAConverter . It specifically alters the WMA track on Divx Avi's to mp3...:-) which is my favorite audio compression algorithm by far..:-)

WMA ccodec was available when I checked on 20th August, but ust to be sure, I will keep a copy here.

See also

 

  1. "Viewing DivX movies on Macintosh computers", by Thomas Tempelmann. Mainly for Classic users.
  2. "How to play DivX files using Mac OS X". Version 1.9.2, by Pejvan Beigui, Project Omega.
  3. The DivX Doctor II site.
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