Sherlock - the Codec
Detective
Sherlock is for XP systems only.
Downloading and installing...
As Marc says, there's no installation. Download the sherlock.exe
file, put it in the folder of your choice, and run it.
As Sherlock opens, it goes through the computer and
checks codecs. On my laptop, after the checking is done, it
warns about one audio codec and three video
codecs being broken...
pressing OK
The warning says to click on the respective codecs in the list
to see more info...
Doing it gives the same message for each of the broken
codecs.
The bottom line seems to be that each of the broken items has a
registry entry, but not a file.... the registry has the friendly name of
the codec, but Sherlock can't provide detailed info about the
version because the data resides in the file, which is missing.
Broken for my items means the codec file isn't
there. Sherlock's comment about the codec not being uninstalled
properly means the uninstall didn't clean up the registry.
If you have a tech support person, lists of installed
and broken codecs are what the utility produces. Installed ones get lots of
info, and broken ones are simply listed by the friendly names.
Sherlock's Info...
After the warnings about broken codecs, Sherlock shows you
a list of the installed audio and video codecs. The picture shows the audio
list.
Info includes the path to the driver, except for the broken
ones, which show no info in the Driver field. Here's what I get from it for
my first broken codec, the Morgan Stream Switcher.
A broken car can sit on a street or in a garage, not
hurting anything. Maybe a broken codec is similar. A small file hanging around
but not hurting anything is OK by me. If I need the missing or broken codec,
that's another story. For now I'm doing fine without them.
What does GSpot say about the broken
items?
GSpot has a column for the Driver File name. And it highlights in
red those with missing driver files.
Here's what it shows for the Morgan Stream Switcher. As with
Sherlock, it must be getting the info from the registry.
...
Double-clicking a selected codec in Sherlock doesn't get any more
info... but in GSpot, here's what you see.
While Sherlock told me 4 codecs are broken, GSpot says 8
are missing files. The bold ones are those that are reported by
both Sherlock and GSpot.
-
Bicubic Video
Resizer
-
DivXAntiFreeze
-
Dump
-
Morgan Stream
Switcher
-
Nero DVD
Decoder
-
Subtitle Dest
-
Subtitle
Mixer
-
Subtitle Parser
GSpot reported all that Sherlock did, along with 4
more.
Check the Device Manager...
A check of the lists of Audio and Video codecs
under Sound, video, and game controllers shows none of the eight
with missing files.
Search the registry...
Run > regedit > search for 'Morgan'...
the first hit is in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT > CLSID >
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{083863F1-70DE-11D0-BD40-00A0C911CE86} > Instance
>
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{083863F1-70DE-11D0-BD40-00A0C911CE86}\Instance\{D3CD7858-971A-4838-ACEC-40CA5D529DC8}
>
There's one other registry instance which shows
the same info as above.
Searching for 'DivxAntiFreeze', one of those found by GSpot
but not Sherlock, shows similar info...
I wonder why GSpot shows more codecs than Sherlock!!
Search the hard drive...
For 'morgan' and the CLSID number... not found
Searching the internet... got lots of
info
The site refers to downloading and running
MMSwitch.exe... mmswitch.ax is one of the 'problem codecs' on my
website page.
Here's a couple interesting paragraphs from the site.
Where, when, why did I get the registry entry... did it come in
with one of the installed video utilities or apps?
Things are difficult enough doing detective work on codecs,
without having to sort good original ones from less than perfect hacked
files.
Search my personal database
I collect lots of info in my personal database... a search of it
for 'morgan' got some info to add to the above...
DivX AntiFreeze Filter.. Divxaf.ax
Kristal
Studio.. Ac3audio.ax
InterVideo Audio
Decoder.. Iviaudio.ax
Morgan Multimedia Stream
Switcher.. Mmswitch.ax
FFDShow MPEG-4 Video
Decoder.. Ffdshow.ax
DirectShow Subtitle
Filter.. Subtitds.ax
The 6 codecs mentioned are all in the list of
problem codecs in my Crashes and Hangs website page.
It's interesting how this short list correlates
with my broken codecs.
Check my Movie Maker 2.1 Compatibility
List...
... Iviaudio.ax is listed, and it's the only
item unchecked. The others are not listed.
Back to the hard drive to search for
Mmswitch.ax....
not found... maybe it was me who manually deleted it
without cleaning out the registry.
Conclusion and
Closing... and What's Next?
It's great to not be having any
codec problems with Movie Maker, and to have the luxury of just sniffing around
my system to write a newsletter.
Sherlock did one thing
well... providing an immediate but short list of broken
codecs. GSpot confirmed the list, doubled it, and provided a bit more
info.
GSpot's latest version works on
Vista, while Sherlock is currently for XP only. Continue to use GSpot,
especially useful with the dropped codec info from Vista's Device
Manager.
I added
another codec to the problem list a couple days
ago... Nero's NeResize.ax... maybe the user had a hacked version and
not the real one!!! How does a tech supporter know? Codec issues are not
going away soon.
Have a great week and enjoy your video work...
PapaJohn
Vista dropped the lists
of codecs that XP's Device Manager > Sound, video and
game controllers provides, leaving just the device specific line items.
Utilities from third parties such as GSpot are needed even more than they
are in XP. 
The Morgan-Multimedia
site covered codec packs... mentioning MMSwitch.dll and
MMSwitch.ax.