Windows XP: Install Windows Media Runtime 11. Download it from here:

http://www.mediamonkey.com/sw/WMFDist11-WindowsXP-X86-ENU.exe

Windows Server 2003: Install special Microsoft codec pack from this location:

http://gromada.com/dl/extra/wvc1dmo.exe

Windows 98 / 98SE / ME: Install Windows Media Runtime 9 from this location:

http://nic.dnsalias.com/wmfdist.exe

Windows Vista: It already has Windows Media Runtime included. Eventually you may need to start Windows Update and search for a newer version.

Install Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista before installing VideoMach 5. Download it from Microsoft's web site.

K-Lite Codec Pack issues:

1. AVI: 48000 Hz audio is reported as 8000 Hz or missing completely
2. AVI: Audio and video not synchronized after changing in/out points
3. MPEG-2: Video not playing (frozen) after conversion

Even though K-Lite is the best freely downloadable codec pack, certain problems may arise after installing it on older computers.

AVI: Files with 48000 Hz audio are reported to have 8000 Hz sample rate. After conversion the audio may be missing altogether.
Solution:

1. Uninstall K-Lite and other codec packs you previously installed.
2. Start setup of the latest version of K-Lite.
3. During installation, when asked to Select Components scroll down the big list until you see DirectShow audio decoding filters and UNCHECK the MP3 item (followed by ffdshow).
4. Continue installation of the codec pack as usual.
5. Convert the file again.

AVI: Audio and video out of sync after changing in/out points and converting to another format.
Solution:

1. K-Lite must already be installed. Click Start => Programs => K-Lite Codec Pack => Configuration => Codec Tweak Tool.
2. Navigate down the list until you find an item named DirectShow Filter Management [K-Lite Codec Pack]. Warning: There are two titles with a similar name in the list. This one must have text [K-Lite Codec Pack] in the brackets.
3. Scroll down until you find a subitem named Disable the following filters.
4. Under that find a subitem named AVI Splitter (Gabest) and put a check mark next to it. Click Next and Finish.
5. Convert the file again.

MPEG-2: After converting to another format the picture is frozen.
Solution:

1. K-Lite must already be installed. Click Start => Programs => K-Lite Codec Pack => Configuration => Codec Tweak Tool.
2. Navigate down the list until you find an item named DirectShow Filter Management [Microsoft Windows]. Warning: There are two titles with a similar name in the list. This one must have text [Microsoft Windows] in the brackets, as opposed to the one above.
3. Scroll down until you find a subitem named Disable the following filters.
4. Under that find a subitem named MPEG Splitter and put a check mark next to it. Click Next and Finish.
5. Convert the file again.

You can increase capabilities of VideoMach by installing external codecs. Not all formats are fully supported, but you should try anyway. Download K-Lite Codec Pack from this site:

www.CodecGuide.com

That is a known problem with multi-select feature in Windows. Apparently some parts of Windows still have the old 64k limitation.

Workaround 1: If you are opening a sequence of numerated files (e.g. "pic0001.jpg", "pic0002.jpg", "pic0003.jpg", "picNNNN.jpg") open just the first image. That's right, don't use multi-selection feature, open just the first image. In most cases VideoMach will automatically recognize the entire sequence. This is the fastest way to open a large sequence of images. No other software on the market can open image sequences as fast as VideoMach in this mode.

Workaround 2: Open Windows Explorer, select the files you wish to open, click the first selected file and drag it to VideoMach video or audio list (doesn't matter which one). It's very important that you drag the selection by clicking and dragging the FIRST file, otherwise the files won't be sorted the way they are displayed in Explorer. That's again one of Windows "features" that we can't fix.

From version 4.1 there are three options available after output file is created:

1. Play the created file
2. Display the "Produced Files Information" dialog
3. Do nothing

Go to Tools => Options => Dialogs and choose what should VideoMach do after processing is over.

AVI picture skewed?

Half-Life videos in VideoMach?

The installer we use has many advantages over standard installers. Except it's much faster and smaller it also has damage detection built-in. The error message above appears when the package is damaged. Since the original package on our site isn't damaged these are possible causes for the error:

1. Could be your download has been somehow interrupted. Compare downloaded file size with the file size displayed on the download page. If they are different then download wasn't complete. You may need to install a good download manager like this one: Free Download Manager.
2. Maybe there's an active virus on your computer. Viruses typically infect all new files, including those you download from the internet. Start your anti-virus software, update the anti-virus database and check your disks. If you need a good and free antivirus try this one: Avira AntiVir.

In any case delete the VideoMach installation package, clean up your computer (in the case of a virus) and download the installation package from our site again.

HAV files downloaded from a DVR set-top box can't be open?

Manufacturers of some set-top boxes named their proprietary format HAV, equally as our Gromada HAV format. These proprietary formats have nothing in common with Gromada HAV. Our format was the first, it's open to the public, has fully published specifications and support library. The only similarity is that both formats are named HAV. Our products support only Gromada HAV format. For others you'll have to check web sites of their respective manufacturers.

Encoding artefacts in Cinepak codec?

This happens when you're saving to MPEG and the frame rate isn't supported by the format. Unfortunately, MPEG by design doesn't support all frame rates. By its specification MPEG allows only the following frame rates: 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 and 60 fps. Values between them aren't supported. However, if the input frame rate is 15 fps and you select output frame rate of 30 fps and set "Keep original duration" VideoMach will overcome limitation by emulating the input frame rate using frame duplication.

The size of output file depends on the video codec, data rate, key frames and other factors. If you're saving to AVI click File => Save As => Video => Codec Settings and choose one of the powerful codecs like XviD, DivX, 3ivX or similar. You can also change the bit rate of a codec by clicking the Configure button. Lower the bit rate to produce smaller files. You can additionally squeeze the file by using MP3 codec for audio. Just switch to the audio tab and click Codec Settings button.

If you're saving to MPEG click File => Save As => Video => Codec Settings and lower the Average Data Rate and Maximum Data Rate values. There is a limit below which MPEG format can't go, so if you enter too low data rate VideoMach resets it to a default value.

Visit the web site of the video hardware manufacturer and see if they have a software version of the codec. If that's not the case try searching at the following web sites:

MJPEG codec:
Pegasus Imaging - http://www.pegasusimaging.com

DV codec:
MainConcept - http://www.mainconcept.com

Source for video codec and pixel format information:
FOURCC.org - http://www.fourcc.org

You're probably using DivX codec. It requires lots of time for initialization, even for a simple function like retrieving codec name and properties, which is done for all available codecs when the dialog is opening. Some versions of DivX are also known to forget to deallocate all used memory, which means that if you're frequently encoding to DivX you may notice constant decrease of system resources. There's nothing we can do about it, download the latest version of DivX and hope they have fixed the bug.

Verify that your images comply to the "Image Sequence Rules" (find more about it in the help file).

In short, there should be no missing numbers. If you have a sequence named like this: pic001.jpg, pic002.jpg, pic007.jpg, VideoMach will only open images 001 and 002, but not 007 because of the gap in numeration. Of course, you can separately open the sequence starting with image 007.