A simple trick to play .wmv files on PalmOS

Bob Russell · 04-22-2006, 03:18 PM

Palm Addicts has a nice tip from "Kenny" for watching .wmv movies on PalmOS devices without any additional conversion software other than what you use with your Palm desktop.

More accurately, it's a slick trick for converting the file to .avi. "On your desktop, drag your .wmv file onto Quick Install - it will run an in-built converter and swap the file to .avi, which TCPMP or MMPlayer can handle."

One caveat is that it's probably more appropriate for short files because of the time it takes to hotsync a large file. Or you could probably speed it up by using the trick to convert, and then moving the file to an sd card before you hotsync.

It's not clear if it would work for non-Windows users either.

Some have claimed to have success natively watching some .wmv files with TCPMP and the right codecs, but I haven't had much luck. It probably depends on the way the .wmv file is coded.

Chaos · 04-22-2006, 04:52 PM

The reason some work and some don't is actually quite simple.

There are basically three versions of the WMV codec, but only versions 2 and 3 are widely used. Version 2 (WMP8 and lower) has, I believe, open source decoders and hence can be decoded on almost any platform with the right software. Version 3 is newer (WMP9 and higher), and does not have any open source decoders, so it can only be played on Windows (with WMP9+), Mac OSX (non-DRM, WMP9+ only - no other players can handle it), or x86 Linux (with something like MPlayer/Xine/etc. and the win32codecs package).

Since there's no open source decoder, and the win32 codecs are x86 (Intel/AMD/etc.) only (won't work on anything other than a 32-bit x86 system), Macs without WMP9+, and any OSes not running on x86 hardware are out of luck for WMV3 (WMP9+) files. I also haven't heard anything about anyone getting the win32 codecs working on Intel Macs yet, but I may just not have been looking - it's theoretically possible to do with something like MPlayer.

Bob Russell · 04-26-2006, 07:02 PM

Look what I just ran into... https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...80&postcount=8

Seems wu-wei had the scoop on us all!

Artenteri · 05-02-2007, 08:45 AM

This does in fact work, I just tried it without any hitches on a Treo 700p.

04-22-2006, 03:18 PM	#1
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	A simple trick to play .wmv files on PalmOS Palm Addicts has a nice tip from "Kenny" for watching .wmv movies on PalmOS devices without any additional conversion software other than what you use with your Palm desktop. More accurately, it's a slick trick for converting the file to .avi. "On your desktop, drag your .wmv file onto Quick Install - it will run an in-built converter and swap the file to .avi, which TCPMP or MMPlayer can handle." One caveat is that it's probably more appropriate for short files because of the time it takes to hotsync a large file. Or you could probably speed it up by using the trick to convert, and then moving the file to an sd card before you hotsync. It's not clear if it would work for non-Windows users either. Some have claimed to have success natively watching some .wmv files with TCPMP and the right codecs, but I haven't had much luck. It probably depends on the way the .wmv file is coded. Last edited by Bob Russell; 04-25-2006 at 05:14 PM. Reason: Spelling

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04-22-2006, 04:52 PM	#2
Chaos Evangelist Posts: 418 Karma: 281 Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canada Device: Assorted older devices	The reason some work and some don't is actually quite simple. There are basically three versions of the WMV codec, but only versions 2 and 3 are widely used. Version 2 (WMP8 and lower) has, I believe, open source decoders and hence can be decoded on almost any platform with the right software. Version 3 is newer (WMP9 and higher), and does not have any open source decoders, so it can only be played on Windows (with WMP9+), Mac OSX (non-DRM, WMP9+ only - no other players can handle it), or x86 Linux (with something like MPlayer/Xine/etc. and the win32codecs package). Since there's no open source decoder, and the win32 codecs are x86 (Intel/AMD/etc.) only (won't work on anything other than a 32-bit x86 system), Macs without WMP9+, and any OSes not running on x86 hardware are out of luck for WMV3 (WMP9+) files. I also haven't heard anything about anyone getting the win32 codecs working on Intel Macs yet, but I may just not have been looking - it's theoretically possible to do with something like MPlayer.

04-26-2006, 07:02 PM	#3
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Look what I just ran into... https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...80&postcount=8 Seems wu-wei had the scoop on us all!

05-02-2007, 08:45 AM	#4
Artenteri Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2007	This does in fact work, I just tried it without any hitches on a Treo 700p.