Cannot open videos downloaded from my sony handycam

Hello, new to these macs but despite that i managed to download some vids from my handycam. Thing is, i cant open them. They are .MPG files, and when i try to open them in Quicktime (which is set as default), it just says 'The movie could not be opened.' 'The file is not a movie file.'
I tried opening it in windows media player, and it just comes up with 'cannot play back the file. The file format is invalid'.

Any help appreciated!

Have you downloaded both Perian and Flip4Mac? Very helpful System utilities. The other thing you need is VLC application, which will play just about anything.

Maybe you need to look too at a video file converter like Xilisoft or 4Media or iSkysoft.

Just downloaded perian, have no idea what i'm supposed to do with it! Have flip4mac, but again dont know what it is. Surely windows media player should be able to play mpg files? Did on my old pc.
Sorry about being so clueless!

No apologies required.

WMV doesn't play .mpg on Mac.

Perian - the installer is part of what you've downloaded. Double click the .dmg file to open a disk image inside of which will be will be the installer. The disk image will open by itself, to give you step-by-step instructions on how to install Perian. Because it is a System enhancer, you'll need to authorise with your password its access to the System.

Flip4Mac should be in your System. You can check that by opening System Preferences. Look at the base of the window for Other, wherein you should see the green F4M icon with WMV inside it.

Had same issues...even when I brought over files from PC.

Solution was the VLC proggie...that solved everything.

D/L that & u should be golden.

VLC! (or iMovie 7.1.4+)

If your mac came with iMovie you can open your videos and edit them in there ... g/l

must be iMovie 7.1.4 or greater