Q. When I first looked at the Compatibility List, it was empty and I thought it might not be working. I continued on and used the Encoder a bit. The next day I checked and found almost 20 line items in it. What happened? Di d it somehow fix itself?
A. The software was working fine. The list is empty until you import the first multimedia file. It checks the file and adds the codecs and filters it might use to the list. The list grows over time as you import different file types.
As an aid to understanding which filters and codecs your system has that the Encoder might use for a particular file type, you can see which new items show up in the list when you open the file.
Q. If the list adds more items when you import a file, does it automatically remove line items when you remove the file from the list of jobs?
A. No, the list grows but doesn’t shrink. Lots of things in life are one way streets.
Q. Is the Compatibility List different for each user of the computer?
A. Yes, if your list is long, and you want to see it start again from scratch, there are a couple ways to do it. One is to create another computer user and the new user’s list will have no line items in it. Another easier way is to delete the file that contains the list. This next question will cover how to delete it.
Q. In Movie Maker you can easily uncheck all line items in the list by clicking on the first, holding down the shift key as you scroll down to the last one to expand the selection to all items, and then toggle them on or off using the space bar. In Expression Encoder 2 you can use the ‘Enable All’ button to easily check them, but how do you just as easily uncheck them as a batch?
A. Instead of creating another computer user with a clean slate, you can easily delete the file that contains the list and let the Encoder start rebuilding it from scratch. The file is found by drilling down eight folder levels to:
c:\Documents and Settings\(UserName)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Expression\Encoder2\Filter.config
Move, rename, or delete the file and the list will start over as you import files.
As the Filter.config file is a simple text one, another way to clear the list is to open the file with Notepad and do a ‘find and replace’, changing all the IsOn="True” settings to IsOn="False”. This lets you retain the same list but clear the checks.