obtaining Win7 codecs - FLAC + FLV - where or what is clean offering?

[zSaint]

I'm in process of changing over physical sound-pc-nas system, so meanwhile using J.R.River Music Jukebox 14; wonderful product for music, but since it's free, it doesn't support video.  And Windows Media Player doesn't come with codecs for FLAC or FLV files.  

 

Did search on 'net & found lots of sites & products offering packages of all sorts of codecs which makes me very afraid of what other "value-added" software might be included!  

 

=== Soapbox on

Of course, CNET has it's own offering, but I've seen warnings of downloads from them for many years. It's sad to see how low that once proud company has sunk

=== Soapbox off

 

Are there legit websites to obtain the FLV & FLAC codecs for Win7?

 

Thanks in advance! 

[gonzo]

I can't speak for FLV, but I swear by FLAC.  Try here:

 

https://xiph.org/flac/download.html

 

It is a direct link from SourceForge.

[zSaint]

Thank you, kind sir!  A music friend pointed me to the following site which gave me the FLAC codec which I installed after scanning with AV & Malwarebytes, then setting a System restore point (old habits die hard) -- 

 

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Media_Foundation_FLAC_Codec.htm

 

ALSO thanks for giving me a link into that site that still offers links into *nix - something very few people know of these days.

[AdvancedSetup]

VLC Player plays just about everything and is free.

 

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

[gonzo]

I have been using SHN and FLAC files for many years.  I would much prefer to hear something that is lossless rather than the best interpretation that someone could squeak out of MP3.  Never did it with Unix/Linux (always Windows), but the difference is clear.

[AdvancedSetup]

Well there are limits to acoustics and frequencies for both the PC and our human hearing

 

Another nice utility and supports threaded Multi CPU Core encode

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/

[David H. Lipman]

VLC Player plays just about everything and is free.

 

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

 

I second this.  VLC is an OpenSource project and it is not just a Player.  It will convert as well as capture.

[Firefox]

VLC all the way...

[CWB]

VLC ... FTW .

 

a great tool .

 

additionally , for picture type files ... i use "irfanview" (main program and the "plug-ins") .

it is loaded with features and renders/deals with color space , etc , much better than MS picture viewer or MSMP .

the best source is through "majorgeeks":

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/irfanview.html

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/irfanview_plugins.html