If you are always looking to find the latest in media technology or are just a movie junkie then there is no doubt that you have been excited by the latest in High Definition (HD) video. This new video format has revolutionized the way we watch movies and video by providing sharper, clearer, and more true-to-life picture than ever before.

With new DVD players and televisions being designed to play HD video at its highest quality it can seem costly to keep up with the technology, but playing HD video on your computer is still an option with the DivX codec. This is especially true if you are used to playing media on your PC with Windows Media Player, which isn’t designed to play HD video, but now can with this handy and free to download codec.

If you own a PC that uses the Windows operating system then you should consider using the great, and free Windows Media Player to play all your media files, and if you need convincing the latest versions of this multi-purpose media software can offer you all the features you need to enjoy virtually any type of media you have on your PC!

If you use your personal computer to store and enjoy various media such as music, movies and photos (and likely you do), then you will definitely want to have a program that can help you organize and use all your media files in one place. If you own a PC then you will definitely want to consider using Windows Media Player. It gives you all the features you are looking for, and as it is a Microsoft program it will run seamlessly with all your other applications. While a search for this program both online and on the Microsoft will likely lead to results for the latest version of this software, Windows Media Classic is another option that may work for you, especially if you are concerned with adding large programs to your PC that may slow it down.

So how do you know which codecs your PC needs?

A brand new, fresh from the factory PC will come with the most commonly used codecs needed to play Windows WMV files, audio CDs, WAV files, and even some AVI files. But even with a new PC, the odds are you will have to download a few new codecs to access all of your media files.

If you are trying to access a file without the correct codec, Windows Media Player will usually give you an error message with a four-number code that corresponds to a specific codec. You can visit http://www.fourcc.org/fcccodec.htm to find the code and download the proper codec.