How to download mp4 files on vista?

[xRedWonderx]

Ok this is more of a software question, but I'm currently trying to do video tests on a fairly old machine. A HP Pavilion a1330e which I have installed windows vista ultimate 64 on. When I tried to save a video from mp4upload.com it tried to save it as all files, to which i said "no biggy, ill change the file extension". Windows Media Player responded with "This file format ain't supported broski". So in my frustration I came here to ask, is there a way to fix this? I want to be able to download the videos in the correct file format instead of what vista's preset (no the answer is not upgrade to windows 7, I tried running 7 on this machine and it crawled along, windows vista actually looks and feels pretty good on this machine)

 

[SinxarKnights]

Vista isn't bad despite what what people who never used it says.

There is no preset. what is it downloading as? What browser are you using? Go into your folder options and make it show file extensions then you can save as the format you wish. have you tried saving as .flv (flash video)? Also use a good media player like VLC or media player classic. WMP has terrible support for the most used codecs.

 

[xRedWonderx]

Vista isn't bad despite what what people who never used it says.

There is no preset. what is it downloading as? What browser are you using? Go into your folder options and make it show file extensions then you can save as the format you wish. have you tried saving as .flv (flash video)? Also use a good media player like VLC or media player classic. WMP has terrible support for the most used codecs.

I agree vista is actually a decent operating system, and im using chrome which is just saving it as a file (all files) and i cannot change the preset in the save menu. When I changed the file extension vlc played it, but not windows media player.

 

[SinxarKnights]

yeah its a WMP issue. It doesn't support MP4 or really anything. There is a reason but I won't go into details. Basically you need to use a 3rd party player (media player classic I like, VLC got too fat for its own good). Alternatively you can install a codec pack like CCCP but I don't recommend it because some codecs cause issues with some programs and games.

 

[xRedWonderx]

Well that is unfortunate :/, but thank you for your help and I will look into your suggestion, Any opinions on real times player? I've used that before, but it seems it gets more and more broken and resource consuming as different versions are released... Oh also, do you know how I can set it to download the file as an mp4 as default so i don't have to type the extra .mp4 everytime? (cause im lazy like that lol)

 

[SinxarKnights]

It should automatically be an MP4. I don't know what your config is but normally you can't see the .mp4 because it is hidden. So when you rename it to .mp4 it is actually just adding the .mp4 before the actual extension (which could be anything from MKV to AVI) and there is no way to know without setting the folder options to show file extensions. Note that just changing the extension doesn't really change anything. MP4 is just a container, the format in the container is what matters. It is difficult to explain without going into technical details.

If you don't do anything but watch downloaded ripped videos from YouTube the CCCP is fine and WMP should work. I also used Real Player in the past but that was a very, very long time ago. On Windows 98 it would destroy your install if you tried to remove it. I haven't use it since.

 

[xRedWonderx]

Yes, but when you are saving a file regardless it tells you what file you are saving it as, in my case it isnt saving it as a specific file rather a file in general, like it has no extension. So adding .mp4 actually changes the file container, and i cannot change this for some reason. I click the drop-down menu to change it, and there is only one option, and thats the (all files) format. I don't download youtube videos, but I do anime, and this site lets you just right-click save as the video to download it, and it seems windows isn't recognizing what kind of file it is, so it just saves it as a file.

Also that is unfortunate about your experience with real player :/ i haven't had significant problems with it, except they are slowly turning it into a paid program by making all the codecs "premium" on the file converter. Idk if this is to protect against copyright, since it simply wont download the youtube video if it contains copyrighted material, not to mention how much it lags now.

 

[SinxarKnights]

It is because the codec used is not free. That is why it is 'premium'. It is the same reason you have to install 3rd party codecs on a Linux system. It is up to you though, CCCP or a 3rd party player.

 

[xRedWonderx]

I'll stick with vlc since I have it installed allready and works flawlessly so far, I do apreciate your help though man I'm glad I was able to get the information I got, and I apologize for any incompetence I may or may not have shown...