Multi-boot program

[Ken]

I have Vista Home Premium 64-bit and Windows 7 installed and use the
standard Microsoft boot manager from Windows 7 to dual boot. Each operating
system is in the first primary partition of a hard drive. No problems.
However, I think I need reinstall WinXP so that I can view some old AVI
files that use the Intel IV50 codec. For some reason Vista does not like
the AVI files and best I can tell the codec add-in only works under WinXP
Media Player. Can someone please suggest the best way/program that will
allow me to boot either Vista, Windows 7 or Windows XP OR is there a magic
bullet to view and convert the old AVI files. I have tried Format Factory
and come up empty. No matter what I try the audio works but the video is
not available. Help would be appreciated.

 

[Ken]

The solution to the problem is to register the IV50 codec in Vista per a
thread on VideoHelp.com. I downloaded and installed the Codec file from
"http://www.free-codecs.com/Indeo_Codec_download.htm" and then ran "regsvr32
ir50_32.dll" from the command prompt. You have to run the program from the
command prompt as administrator. Like magic Vista Media Player handled the
audio and video from the old AVI file. After doing the above, Prism also
worked. Format Factory never did work. Several other format converters
free and trail versions worked in varying degrees but were not as straight
forward as Prism. It seems that no one has taken the time to update the old
IV50 codec installer to work with Vista. Thanks all for the input. I won't
need to fire up XP and TRIPPLE boot.