I'm currently using an older computer and at the moment can't use newer versions of Windows media player because I don't have sufficient requirements. I do have WMP version 6.4 that was installed with Windows 98. I can view mpeg files but not WMV. Is it possible to download the updated windows media player codecs only (manually instead of allowing WMP 6.4 to do it) and then use WMP 6.4 or some other compatible viewer to see those files or would the playet have to be updated as well? If I can just download the codecs, Would I have to download anything else besides them, windows media tools? Thanks

You can install a higher version of Media Player if you like, you're not limited to 6.4 with 98. With the required codecs installed, a variety of viewers could be used - Irfanview is an excellent choice Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

Thanks. I did install the codecs and they do work. But, do WMV files use more cpu, ram, or resources to run? I'm using an older computer until my other one gets fixed. It's an old, first generation pentium. Mpegs play alright, at regular speed as on my other computer but WMVS are running very slowly and seek time is slow.

The answer to your question; I don't have it but... I create high resolution .wmv on my WinXP 3GHz machine that play really nice on it with WMP 10 but if I play it on my Win98SE 800MHz machine with WMP 7.1 they are kind of lousy. Choppy and the transition from one frame to the next is visable rather than smooth and movie like. I think it has trouble rendering from one frame to the next. The Win98 machine also has onboard 8MB shared video that doesn't help. I believe (but could be wrong without checking but) .wmv require a 1.2GHz processor or faster to run smoothly. What does help on the slower machine is to resize WMP to a very small screen size by dragging the lower right hand corner up and to the left. HTH Bryan

Sure - I don't know the precise specs, but Windows Media files seem to require more overhead, always assumed they were highly compressed (typically they are relatively small for video) Some would play (barely) on my 233MHz Win95 box, but even on my PIII (866MHz) they aren't all that smooth. Might have more success with IrfanView, as it's not much of a hog for a player. Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.