Perian Alternative for Mountain Lion

[TheRainKing]

Hi, its me again!

I have been enjoying Mountain Lion but I couldn't help but notice that suddenly half of my avi's will no longer play, and since the team that developed Perian are no longer doing updates for it, I think its time to look for a new codec solution for the OS X? Anyone got any suggestions?

I realise that everything will probably play fine in VLC player, but I really liked being able to play avi's and stuff in Quicktime.

So any suggestions?

 

[Matt.Simmons]

Looking for a solution as well. VLC for now I suppose.

 

[NATO]

I was looking for a Perian alternative as a lot of my videos weren't playing. I looked around and just decided to install Perian anyway - everything works fine.

 

[Seamaster]

Yeah, just install Perian.

 

[Matt.Simmons]

Weird I installed it and it refused to play my .avi's in quicktime. Ill try it again.

 

[50548]

Hi, its me again!

I have been enjoying Mountain Lion but I couldn't help but notice that suddenly half of my avi's will no longer play, and since the team that developed Perian are no longer doing updates for it, I think its time to look for a new codec solution for the OS X? Anyone got any suggestions?

I realise that everything will probably play fine in VLC player, but I really liked being able to play avi's and stuff in Quicktime.

So any suggestions?

This was one of my suggestions when talking about ML...Apple didn't seem to bother about improved codec support, so we still need to rely on third-party benevolence.

Perian is dead, although developers promised one last version...we'll see.

 

[JohnDoe98]

This was one of my suggestions when talking about ML...Apple didn't seem to bother about improved codec support, so we still need to rely on third-party benevolence.

Perian is dead, although developers promised one last version...we'll see.

Maybe someone else will pick up the project, Perian's developers said they'd make the source public for anyone to resume their work if they wanted.

However, I'd like to know, is there any good reason not to use x264 for all videos, or aac for all music? Seems to me the other codecs should be dropped off once and for all.

 

[50548]

Maybe someone else will pick up the project, Perian's developers said they'd make the source public for anyone to resume their work if they wanted.

However, I'd like to know, is there any good reason not to use x264 for all videos, or aac for all music? Seems to me the other codecs should be dropped off once and for all.

Well, I'd love that but the landscape is much bigger than 264 or AAC - so the question is whether you support more stuff or not.

 

[heisenberg123]

This was one of my suggestions when talking about ML...Apple didn't seem to bother about improved codec support, so we still need to rely on third-party benevolence.

Perian is dead, although developers promised one last version...we'll see.

Why would apple support avi? Macs do not create avi's with any of their video editing software so really the only need are for torrents, now nothing against torrents I download tonnes but don't expect apple to help

 

[JohnDoe98]

Well, I'd love that but the landscape is much bigger than 264 or AAC - so the question is whether you support more stuff or not.

Ah, I see. It's a pragmatic complaint not a theoretical one. Well, in that regard I kind of like the current system, though obviously with Perian in jeopardy that makes things different.

Apple takes the high-road only supporting the future tech, kind of giving an incentive for people to move forward. That's fine so long as we get third-party tweaks that include support for the other codecs. But if those third-parties die out, then it's really annoying when things don't "just work", and that is a mark on Apple. So I'd be sympathetic with the complaint if FlipforMac, Adobe Flash-Player, Perian, etc. all stopped working.

People (I'm not saying you here) like to complaint that Apple's systems are closed, which is in part true, but they are flexible enough that if you do a little research, you can open them up to all the missing goodies. It's not clear to me why Apple should support everything under the sun. Find the best/most efficient way of doings things, and invest in that, let others pick up some change by adding additional support.

Same with Airplay Mirroring, give it for fully capable systems and let third-parties like Air-Parrot deliver the workable but less than ideal solutions. If Perian dies, some developer might be able to sell a all-in-one codec expansion for 5-10$. I'd probably buy that simply for the convenience, even though I wish everyone would just move on to x264 and HE-AAC.

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Why would apple support avi? Macs do not create avi's with any of their video editing software so really the only need are for torrents, now nothing against torrents I download tonnes but don't expect apple to help

We live in an interconnected world, if my friend makes a movie in windows and shares the file with me and it's an AVI file, then I'd like a way to play that back. Yes, VLC and other programs work just fine, but obviously the more integrated it is into your current system, the better. It's not that hard to add the support for these additional codecs. Again it comes back to the philosophy Apple is supposed to represent. "It just works". The consumer isn't supposed to have to fight the system to get what he wants his computer to accomplish.

 

[ac3320]

AVI's suck. Period. Why would you download an inferior BDrip (Xvid encode) when H.264 (x264) is so much better quality/size? It baffles the mind. Still, just install Perian. It works fine with 10.8. And stop worrying about AVI's man. That is seriously the crappiest container on the face of the planet, relegated with the likes of obese caucasian glasses-wearing butt juice smelling Windows XP peeps.

 

[Zerozal]

Yes. I use VLC player to play all my media files. Or use Perian, both are free open source tools. But both of them can't compatible with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion,

VLC works fine with Mountain Lion.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

We live in an interconnected world, if my friend makes a movie in windows and shares the file with me and it's an AVI file, then I'd like a way to play that back. Yes, VLC and other programs work just fine, but obviously the more integrated it is into your current system, the better. It's not that hard to add the support for these additional codecs. Again it comes back to the philosophy Apple is supposed to represent. "It just works". The consumer isn't supposed to have to fight the system to get what he wants his computer to accomplish.

AVI is a dead and old container. No need to create support for it, if you only need it to share things you buddies create. Tell them to use proper and modern containers, such as MP4.

 

[Blue Sun]

I use MPlayerX. Its essentially a clone of QuickTime player, except it has full codec support built-in.

The GUI is beautiful as well, I highly recommend it.

 

[JohnDoe98]

AVI is a dead and old container. No need to create support for it, if you only need it to share things you buddies create. Tell them to use proper and modern containers, such as MP4.

I agree the world should move into h264, but I was merely pointing out a use beyond torrents so as to explain why some people would like to see this from Apple. There is an inconsistency with Apple's philosophy of aiming for simplicity and things just working and them trying to push superior standards on everyone. While the latter is for the best, it comes at a cost of having to rely on third-party tweaks or apps, and things not just working.

 

[TheRainKing]

h265 will be out next year.

Same quality, half the bit rate!

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

There is an inconsistency with Apple's philosophy of aiming for simplicity and things just working and them trying to push superior standards on everyone. While the latter is for the best, it comes at a cost of having to rely on third-party tweaks or apps, and things not just working.

But on the contrary it fits with Apples philosophy of having things as simple as possible, and not to provide features which has nothing to do with the rest of their portfolio.

Also, it opens up a potential market for third party vendors.

 

[Eodvince]

Install Perian. If that doesn't work, you probably can't play those specific AVIs in Mac OS X. AVI is a container, not a format. Or Have you tried AVS iMedia Player ? It is free and This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Why would apple support avi? Macs do not create avi's with any of their video editing software so really the only need are for torrents, now nothing against torrents I download tonnes but don't expect apple to help

My Canon digital camera A590 creates .AVI movies. Is that a torrent?

(yeah I realize this post is old)

I don't like having to convert those movies to H264. It's compressing something that's already been compressed once and that can only result in lower video quality. Many torrents have moved to MKV anyway (I'm not sure of anything commercial offhand that uses MKV; I use it with some DTS sources like DVDs to preserve the DTS soundtrack). I really don't know why Apple can't add a plugin support setup for iTunes. I'm forced to load XBMC onto my AppleTV units to avoid converting.

Frankly, I find it strange that Apple constantly updates their RAW camera compatibility to ensure OSX works with all the latest and greatest digital cameras for photos, but they can't be bothered for video? It's really odd and unprofessional, IMO.

 

[50548]

My Canon digital camera A590 creates .AVI movies. Is that a torrent?

(yeah I realize this post is old)

I don't like having to convert those movies to H264. It's compressing something that's already been compressed once and that can only result in lower video quality. Many torrents have moved to MKV anyway (I'm not sure of anything commercial offhand that uses MKV; I use it with some DTS sources like DVDs to preserve the DTS soundtrack). I really don't know why Apple can't add a plugin support setup for iTunes. I'm forced to load XBMC onto my AppleTV units to avoid converting.

Frankly, I find it strange that Apple constantly updates their RAW camera compatibility to ensure OSX works with all the latest and greatest digital cameras for photos, but they can't be bothered for video? It's really odd and unprofessional, IMO.

This thread is old, but here it goes again anyway - just install Perian AND Flip4Mac on ML and you're good to go. I can't even remember having difficulties opening video files.

And if you REALLY need some wider codec support for those few problematic files, download VLC or MPlayerX and that should be enough to play them.

ALL of the above are free downloads.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

This thread is old, but here it goes again anyway - just install Perian AND Flip4Mac on ML and you're good to go. I can't even remember having difficulties opening video files.

And if you REALLY need some wider codec support for those few problematic files, download VLC or MPlayerX and that should be enough to play them.

ALL of the above are free downloads.

Unfortunately, that doesn't help with iTunes/AppleTV, which is what I would need to use a stock AppleTV to view the content around the house. I have any number of viewers I can use on my computer itself and so that really isn't the issue.

 

[wiz329]

Maybe someone else will pick up the project, Perian's developers said they'd make the source public for anyone to resume their work if they wanted.

However, I'd like to know, is there any good reason not to use x264 for all videos, or aac for all music? Seems to me the other codecs should be dropped off once and for all.

Thought I'd jump in here.

There are purposes to other codec, and especially containers. AAC is lossy -- many people prefer the quality of FLAC.

x264 is a great codec, but other containers that QT won't play (.mkv for example) are great, especially for playing videos with high sound quality (DTS or DTS HD).

Honestly, if QT is good enough for you (and you don't use iTunes for ATV or anything -- which I think the iTunes player sucks anyways), you should just switch to VLC. Waaaaay better. You can't do hardly anything in QT, even something as simple as selecting a subtitle or audio track.

 

[TwoBytes]

VLC is great but No perian no thumbnails in finder of the video or preview which is what gets me. We need system support. I have folders if video which is great to flick through. When 10.9 comes out, I guess you won't be able to so this and the file you want with ease