Query for DVD Codec Installed

**frodobaggins** · 12-18-2003, 11:02 PM

Does anyone know how (in VB) to check whether a dvd codec is installed before invoking mswebdvd ?

I need to be able to check for a codec to be able to issue a warning and keep it from crashing if someone enables dvd and has no codec installed.

Frodo

**aultl** · 12-19-2003, 01:12 AM

I cannot give you the entire answer as I do not know however I can get you started. If you run msinfo32.exe and select components->mutimedia->video codecs there is a list of installed codecs, meaning this information has to be available somewhere (via API call or registry). If you open visual basic and click on the project menu then choose components then select msinfo32 1.0 type control. Again I do not know how to use the control but you should be able to get this info from it.

**frodobaggins** · 12-19-2003, 01:32 AM

Originally Posted by aultl

I cannot give you the entire answer as I do not know however I can get you started. If you run msinfo32.exe and select components->mutimedia->video codecs there is a list of installed codecs, meaning this information has to be available somewhere (via API call or registry). If you open visual basic and click on the project menu then choose components then select msinfo32 1.0 type control. Again I do not know how to use the control but you should be able to get this info from it.

Get a nice crash from that

**deadweasel** · 12-19-2003, 04:02 AM

Originally Posted by frodobaggins

Get a nice crash from that

Yay! API strikes again!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

*coughs and goes back to API project*

**frodobaggins** · 12-19-2003, 12:54 PM

Originally Posted by deadweasel

Yay! API strikes again!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

*coughs and goes back to API project*

Wasn't API that crashed, it was that crap type library

**aultl** · 12-19-2003, 08:08 PM

Originally Posted by frodobaggins

Wasn't API that crashed, it was that crap type library

I said I did not know how to use it

. I played with it for about an hour and all web searches returned no info on it. So here is the _Really Bad_ way to do it. Run "msinfo32 /nfo c:\file.nfo /categories +all" this will save the info in an XML file and then just parse the xml for Catagory="Video Codecs" and load it.

**Alphared** · 12-20-2003, 03:16 AM

msinfo32.exe will not tell you if you got DVD decoder installed. It shows video codec installed, but not decoders. If you must check, you need to figure out the decoder's name and do a 'file exist' check. The quickest (& easiest) way is to let the dvd crash and report the error instead of checking if they had DVD decoder installed.

**frodobaggins** · 12-20-2003, 03:18 AM

Originally Posted by Alphared

The quickest (& easiest) way is to let the dvd crash and report the error instead of checking if they had DVD decoder installed.

That's pretty much what I decided to do.

Frodo

**aultl** · 12-20-2003, 04:09 PM

Originally Posted by Alphared

msinfo32.exe will not tell you if you got DVD decoder installed. It shows video codec installed, but not decoders. If you must check, you need to figure out the decoder's name and do a 'file exist' check. The quickest (& easiest) way is to let the dvd crash and report the error instead of checking if they had DVD decoder installed.

?!? Codec stands for enCOder/DECoder, and when I run msinfo32 on my system it tells me that I have the xvid codec installed and the divx 5.0 codec installed as well as the Microsoft MPEG-4 codec. Could you please clarify which codec you are talking about? DVDs are encoded in MPEG-2 so as long as you have a DVD drive and an MPEG-2 decoder you can watch DVDs, unless I am making a really big mistake. I do not own a DVD drive yet (christmas present).

**deadweasel** · 12-20-2003, 10:04 PM

MPEG2 yes, but in a different format. Just like DivX movies are technically MPEG4, but in avi format. Most programs have the ability to play an avi or mpg, but special software (other codecs) are needed to read the .vob files on a DVD. That's why despite the fact that WMP 6.4 can play .MP2s, it cannot play DVDs on its own.