Codecs organization and compatibility between processors

[the dsc]

I've recently moved from a debian installation that was actually for i86 processors, while my processor is in fact amd64. That installation was not having any problem related with this, I think.

All the video formats were playing well with almost all players; but some players wouldn't play some formats and some would play some formats better.

Now I'm almost getting there, but I'm facing some problems yet.

I was wondering if I could copy the codec-related files of my old instalation (I still have it, in another hard disk) to this current one. Is this feasible? Could really restore the functionality I had with the older instalation, or due to the differences between i86 and amd64 could make more trouble than solve anything?

And, perhaps, more importantly, how does this whole codecs things work anyway? Each player has its own codecs, they share some, or what? Most of them don't have at least via GUI something pointing to where are the codecs they're using, not that I remember.

[i92guboj]

I've recently moved from a debian installation that was actually for i86 processors, while my processor is in fact amd64. That installation was not having any problem related with this, I think.

You don't tell us the key point: if your current installation a 32 bits one or a 64 bits one? Don't forget that amd64 cpus can run 32 bits distros as well. So, did you install a 32 bits debian on and amd64 cpu or did you install an amd64 bits debian under and amd64 cpu?

All the video formats were playing well with almost all players; but some players wouldn't play some formats and some would play some formats better.

Now I'm almost getting there, but I'm facing some problems yet.

I was wondering if I could copy the codec-related files of my old instalation (I still have it, in another hard disk) to this current one. Is this feasible? Could really restore the functionality I had with the older instalation, or due to the differences between i86 and amd64 could make more trouble than solve anything?

Not a simple answer either. There are tons of codecs, but I assume that you mean windows 32 bits dll files, which in some distros come packages as win32codecs or something similar, and that mplayer and maybe some others can use to decode some video files.

In first place, I would check the docs and forums for your distro, because you'll probably find someone else who asked this question before. In second place, try to use an up to date version of the players. The latest mplayer versions don't need win32codecs (though they can use it still) because they can open most formats natively, including non-drm'ed wmv9, realmedia and flash video formats.

You can use 32 bits dll codecs from windows under a 32 bits mplayer under a 64 bits installation. If you use a 64 bits mplayer, you can't use 32 bits plugins on it. However, it's also possible to have a 64 bits mplayer (for example, to use it's mencoder which will greatly benefit from the 64 bits stuff) and a 32 bits mplayer both installed alongside. Though that might be a bit tricky depending on your distro. In gentoo this is no problem at all. As it's all handled natively by the package manager.

And, perhaps, more importantly, how does this whole codecs things work anyway? Each player has its own codecs, they share some, or what? Most of them don't have at least via GUI something pointing to where are the codecs they're using, not that I remember.

This is highly distro-dependant. Most packages can be compiled with support for many different codecs. That's chosen at compile time. Usually, all are included on most binary distros (unless two of them can't be enabled at the same time due to some incompatibility). But the problem is that the dependency manager on those distros, usually, is not smart enough and doesn't have a way to tell you that you need to install package B if you want package A to have support for a given codec. In gentoo this is also most evident and easily setup, via de USE flags.