.avi Playback problems

[richard]

I have got on the network a bunch of avi files that were made with Digital Blue Movie Crator 3.

I don't know what they have done but I cannot get the majority of them to play on Media Player 11 ( I have tried every codec pack that I can find) or on VLC or Media Player Classic. The strange thing is if I import them in to Movie Maker they play just fine. However I don't want to spend my time converting some 200 clips in Movie Maker.

[OutToLunch]

Could be that the movie creator is using the AVI in an odd way - eg. container for MPG files etc and breaking things in normal players... Have you tried examining one of the files with something like G Spot (hope that doesn't set off a million filters!) which will tell you exactly what codec an AVI is using?

http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

[ICT_GUY]

Media player classic?

[mac_shinobi]

i agree with OutToLunch on the g spot utility, what happens when you try and use vlc ?

[aliv25]

I had problems playing .avi files on windows media player. i downloaded divx and it started working on windows media player. try downloading divx?

[mac_shinobi]

gspot will tell you what codec(s) the video file uses in terms of video and audio etc , once you are aware of what it uses then you can download the appropriate codec(s) required for the video clips as apposed to just downloading divx or xvid or w/e else and taking the "shot gun" approach

[aliv25]

download divx and you can watch high definition downloads, or you could take the cautious route and use gspot.

[richard]

Could be that the movie creator is using the AVI in an odd way - eg. container for MPG files etc and breaking things in normal players... Have you tried examining one of the files with something like G Spot (hope that doesn't set off a million filters!) which will tell you exactly what codec an AVI is using?

http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

Thanks for that. I've had a look and the files that won't play are using the Indeo Video Codec Version 5.

[OutToLunch]

http://www.moviecodec.com/downloads/31d.html ought to do the job then... Given it a try?

[richard]

http://www.moviecodec.com/downloads/31d.html ought to do the job then... Given it a try?

Just tried it and no luck whatsoever This is beginning to annoy me now as I have spent all morning on it and its still won't work.

[OutToLunch]

Very odd... Can you knock out a 2 second vid of your wall/floor/whatever and stick the AVI up somewhere?

[DMcCoy]

I believe its a specific codec to digital blue. AVI is just the container for it so I doubt you will find anything else that plays it without the software that was with the camera.

Yep WMP 10+ will not play DB avis from a network share. Copy one to the C: drive of a computer and see them play fine.

Strange that you say media player clasic wont play them because that is the solution i use for people to play the DB files via network shares.

[richard]

Yep WMP 10+ will not play DB avis from a network share. Copy one to the C: drive of a computer and see them play fine.

Strange that you say media player clasic wont play them because that is the solution i use for people to play the DB files via network shares.

Thanks for that I have just downloaded Media Player Classic again and it worked fine this time. Must have got a duff download last time round.

This is going to be a nightmare for as no files are kept on the local machines. (The users cannot save there anyway). All our video footage is kept on a 1TB Terastation.

The strange thing is if we download direct from the SD cards have been fitted to the cameras then we can view the files with no problems. After checking this with GSpot I have found that these avi files use the MJPG Motion JPEG codec whilst those downloaded into the DB software and then exported out as avi files use the Indeo V5 codec :twisted:

(Edited to add some extra bits.)

[DMcCoy]

Hmm, learn something new everyday

The same applies to flv files too as there is no way to open them via unc. I think mapped drive works though.