PLEASE HELP! I have spent about 10 hours downloading about 20 different files of the same movie, but every time I try top launch it my mac pops a window up that says "******* because it is not a file that Quicktime/WMP understands." I know for a fact that both programs on my computer are the newest versions and I am getting sick of waiting in anticipation to watch a movie that WILL NOT PLAY. PLEASE HELP.

Thanks!
VERY FRUSTRATED

You obviously have not read the forum rules! You are not allowed to mention files (file names) you download at this site. Also you have not provided enough details.

Firstly, you did not give us the type of file you downloaded. Is it an mpg or wmv or something else. There is a freeware program called VLC by VideoLAN that will play wmv, CD, DVD, VCD, DivX/MPEG-4 on OS X. It doesn't have the best controllers but at least it's free & it's cross-platform! You can find it at most mac shareware sites or do a web search for it. If QT can't open it then try VLC (previously known as VideoLAN.)

I didn't realise that some people had answered a similar post a bit earlier. See the post called 'playin movies- pls help'

Another program that might help you is mplayer found at:
http://mplayerosx.sourceforge.net/

VLC is found at: http://www.videolan.org

Hopefully either of these programs will enable you to play what you have if you can not play them using QuickTime player. Good Luck!

Dld both of them as you may need them: mplayer does not have a function to display subtitles (you have to do some crazy stuff prior to opening the files, something that you can change in VLC while playing back the file). On the other hand, VLC is a little more buggy and mplayer has a better image display.

__________________
iMac G4 OSX 10.3.9
RAM 256MB
LW 4.10.5 Basic
ADSL anything from 3 to 8Mbps/around 1024kbps

"Raise your can of Beer on high
And seal your fate forever
Our best years have passed us by
The Golden Age Of Leather"
-Blue Öyster Cult-

I already downloaded the program (VLC), and have read all of the other posts that looked liked they could help me. However, I have no idea how to instal the program (VLC won't open after I've downloaded, and YES, I have read the readme file) and I have downloaded about every format of my download that I could. I'm starting to give up hope.

Make sure you dlded the version compatible with your configuration.
Also, to install, simply drag and drop the application after the dld into your applications folder and double click it.

If you're still having problems, please give us the specifics of what you do after you download the vlc-0.7.2.dmg file. (Personally I'm still using vlc-0.7.1a.) I just downloaded the prior & after opening the dmg, dropped the vlc app onto my HDD & it opened without problems.