I've had a copy of FastPictureViewer for a long time. When you install it you also get the FPV codecs. So I've always assumed that in effect I've had the codec pack. But I've just read that the codec pack gives you more than just the codecs, i.e. more functionality than what you get when you install FPV.
So my question is - have any FPV users here also bought the codec pack, and if so was it worhwhile? (I know it's not a lot of money, but it's nice to get a sense of whether there's much benefit.)
I first bought the codec pack and later FPV too (which I used for some time on my little 11" notebook as a fast viewer).
Truth is, I couldn't tell you if and what the additional advantages of the codec pack are, compared to what's included with FPV ...
You can try a 15 day trial of the codec pack
http://www.fastpictureviewer.com/codecs/
I know, and $9.99 isn't going to break the bank either. I just wanted to understand better what's supposed to happen.
According to the FAQ on the FPV web site, the codec pack adds support for some additional file formats (not RAW formats, but other file types). For RAW camera formats the codecs used / installed by FPV and the codec pack are identical (also stated in the FAQ). So I guess there is not much benefit if you are mostly interested in RAW formats. But this is only what I read in the FAQ -I myself have only the codec pack installed.
I cannot give the direct answer to the original question since I do not use FPV.
In the online FAQ of FPV-Pro at http://www.fastpictureviewer.com/faq there is a detailed description of additional features of FPVCP.
Look for the frequent question (today no. 4): "What is the FastPictureViewer Codec Pack, do I need both products?"
My brief summary: FPVCP does support some additional file formats and does provide improved thumbnail support for windows.
I cannot tell if IMatch does benefit from the extended thumbnail support of FPVCP, because all this is very time consuming to test.
I am using FPVCP together with free SVG-Thumnail-DSSEE and free Babelsoft-MediaPreview (MP) similar to Icaros (IC).
The big benefit with this combination is, that nearly all thumbnails are displayed in Windows and Imatch.
Especially the pure black or white thumbnails from the first frame of video files are gone with MP or IC.
But you have to be carefull with potential overlap of FPVCP and MP or IC? And I wouldn't recommend to use both MP and IC.
To make it simple up to now I did enable only the image file extension in FPVCP and the video file extension only in MP.
For the audio file extensions I have not detected any benefit for thumbnails (is there any?) and I disabled them completely in MP.
Regards, Martin
Ferdinand,
I use the codec, after horrors with Nikon and MS codecs, I moved to FPV. Since then I have had no issues.
I started using in 2010 with version 2. Then "bought" V3.7 for 9.99! just upgraded to 3.8 this evening, free of charge.
I get great detail about each image on when using MS explorer navigation tool. I don't know if its from FPV codec or not, but I have tried to get same detail on another person's computer who did not have FPV installed. See attached image.
Aubrey.
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Another long time FPV user here... no issues- they did a nice job!
As far as I can tell, if you already have FPV, then the codec pack gives only minor additional functionality. As it happens, I do use some of the additional formats that are supported by the codec pack (.ai, .eps), and since $9.99 is not a lot of money I bought it as well. So now I see thumbs for these formats, which is useful. Supposedly there is faster JPG support as well, but I haven't noticed that yet. If I see anything more I'll post again.