Hi,
I have downloaded some music but never downloaded videos before.

Downloaded an .mpg file via Limewire and Quicktime wouldn't play it on my MAC so have consulted various MAC forums to see what I needed to do.

Was advised to dowload Perian (additional components for Quicktime) and also VLC player. Installed both and neither has enabled me to play the video.

I keep getting error message saying that it isn't a video file, but it is.

Yes Perian is very good, I also recommend it. It's always wise to have back up video players on the mac. Another player you can get is MPlayer which has similar abilities to VLC with some slight differences. MPlayer - The Movie Player. I actually use a custom build MPlayer version. I cannot recall where I got it, I browsed those pages a long time to find it but was a more recent version. OH ... I found it: MPlayer - The Movie Player - Unofficial Packages. MPlayer can play specific DVD VOB files for example, & also better at playing .MOV files than VLC. MPlayer also has support for RealMedia & ASF files.

If VLC cannot play the file however, I wouldn't hold high hopes for it. Be nice to know what size that video file is.

When choosing to download a video file, it's wise to first do a Bitzi look up to see if the file is listed & reports about it; How to use Bitzi Web Lookup (click on blue link). __ Also, Movie download issues (click on blue link)