Daemon Tools Lite, WinRar, Video/Audio Codecs, ---how does mac compare?

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Daemon Tools Lite, WinRar, Video/Audio Codecs, ---how does mac compare?

Hello,

I'm a PC user, and really jonesing to get a macbook pro.

I use Vuze to get movies and need to use things like ffdshow codecs to even be able to play the video files when they are .avi's

If they are .rar files, I use WinRar to open them, if I get video games from vuze and they are .iso files, I use daemon tools to mount the image file as a cd.

So, how does Mac compete with all this computer manipulation? Is it possible to do these kinds of things with the newer macs? I know about divx player and vlc, but they don't have 100% of all codecs, so where do you go from there?

and

What's the mac version for:

ffdshow
winrar
daemon tools

Is Apple too puritannical for this?

Any help appreciated.

**Purplestar**

PC User going MAC, Windows Vista, Dell Inspiron gone, hello macbook pro

Posted on Sep 12, 2009 10:14 PM

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Answer 1

simmin

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Sep 12, 2009 10:32 PM in response to Purplestar

For rar files, use unrarx http://www.unrarx.com/
You can mount iso's natively in os x by double clicking on them.

For codecs, you can try perian http://www.perian.org but that might not work if you have codecs that even VLC doesn't support. Perian adds extra codec support to the quicktime player.

Hopefully this answers your question 🙂

Message was edited by: simmin

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Answer 2

Purplestar Author

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Sep 13, 2009 7:39 AM in response to simmin

Hey Thanks,
I also found ffmpegx which plays the .avi files (I tried with my room mates mac) and it actually worked!! So, this gives me hope to play .avi files on macs!!! There is a way, it's just a lot of re-adjustment and new research.

But I'm dissapointed to see that there are fewer video games for mac, for instance grand theft auto only plays on pc.

Hey... if I installed windows on a mac, does that mean pc games that need windows can now technically play on a mac?

I'm still waiting for more answers though to my other questions as well, but just curious. I'd like to know all there is out there.

Thanks 🙂

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Answer 3

eww

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Sep 13, 2009 10:14 AM in response to Purplestar

Hey... if I installed windows on a mac, does that mean pc games that need windows can now technically play on a mac?

Yes, along with any other Windoze-based apps. For games, you'll want to boot directly into Windoze, so you'll want to use Boot Camp to create a Windoze partition on your hard drive. For most other apps, you can run Windoze in a virtual machine using VMWare Fusion, Parallels, or other emulators. And Crossover Mac allows some Windoze-only apps to run on a Mac without installing Windoze at all.

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Answer 4

Purplestar Author

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Sep 14, 2009 7:51 PM in response to eww

That's really interesting, can you explain? I'm really confused.
So, you're saying I can create a partition on a macbook pro so the mac can fool pc video games into thinking the mac is a pc???

So, I can play pc video games on a mac?
Won't this screw up the mac somehow and create weird glitches?

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Answer 5

eww

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Sep 14, 2009 8:17 PM in response to Purplestar

If you install Windows on it and boot it into Windows via BootCamp, the Mac IS a PC. No fooling is involved. A Mac can run Windows programs via Boot Camp as well as or better than most PCs can.

Macs are designed to run either the Mac OS or Windows, separately or even at the same time (with windows running on a virtual machine within OS X). But games run much better when Windows is the boot OS, via Boot Camp.

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Answer 6

Purplestar Author

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Sep 16, 2009 9:26 AM in response to eww

THAT'S SO AWESOME! You can have a mac and a pc at the same time!!!
Regarding windows, do you need windows that's made for a mac? I have windows xp left over from my old pc, can I use that?

Also, can you please explain your other comment more in detail:

And Crossover Mac allows some Windoze-only apps to run on a Mac without installing Windoze at all.

What's crossover mac? And do you have any clue how well it works?
I want to be able to play: Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, the new Sam and Max and other video games...

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Answer 7

eww

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Sep 16, 2009 11:05 AM in response to Purplestar

No, there is no version of Windows that's made for the Mac, so you don't need to look for one.

Crossover Mac most likely won't work very well for 3D action games. You can read about it here:

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/

There's a link on that page to a list of PC games that are Crossover-compatible. I doubt that that means they'll work well; it probably just means they'll run.

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