.avi problems

[yamafopa]

My boss recently returned from a sales conference with a disk full of reference materials. One item was a 96 MB .avi file that showed a tutorial on one of our new machines. He says that everyone else at the conference could open the file except him and can I figure out why. I have tried this file on every machine in our small office and I can't get it to open. I have used the Windows Media Player ( W 98 version, W2K version and 7.1). Also tried two versions of Real Player and QuickTime. I have gotten a number of different error messages but usually the machine simply locks up.
Today I got a second copy of the file, also on CD, and it displays the same behavior. Have followed all the advice that I can find at MS. Have also updated to any number of different versions of directX.
I am sure that the file is corrupted but boss insists that this is not so as all his cronies can open it. Please save me from assaulting my employer.
Chris

 

[lodown]

hi

i hope this works for you, have you tried insatlling divx (

http://www.divx.com)

i had problems with a few avi files and this fixed it.

hope that helps

matthew

 

[Jesper]

Yeah Lodown is right.
Divx solved that problem for me as well.
But when your boss says all his cronies can open the file, try ask him what player they use to open the file. If they use a special player, you might consider using that one as well.
Just an idea

 

[PulsaMatt]

And if DivX doesnt fix the problem there are a ton of other codecs out there that could be the culprit. Matt Laski
Sysadmin, Pulsafeeder Inc.
Dell Inspiron 7500
466 MHz Celeron, 384 MB RAM, 26 GB on 2 HDDs

 

[cdogg]

AVI files that were made using DIVX technology will require you to upgrade Windows Media Player codec library. Sometimes installing DIVX Codecs by themselves doesn't attach to Windows Media Player. The best way to update WMP for DIVX AVI support is by going here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/default.asp

For "Select Download", choose "Codecs Download Package". Doing this will refresh the screen and give you the option below to "Download Now". It's less than 1MB and you may have to reboot after installing it...


~cdogg

 

[yamafopa]

Holy Cow
You guys really get on the case. I will try all of the above suggestions
Thanks
Chris

 

[lodown]

ask your boss for a pay rise

 

[yamafopa]

I don't know if any of you are still listening but, I did the following ...
1. Loaded the DivX player. When I attempt to play the file the app hangs with no message or error.
2. Supplier of file has not gotten back to me with recommended player, so I am stopped there for the time being.
3. Tried the Codecs Download package from MS. This showed not change in WMP behavior. Tey to open file and app hangs with no message.
4. Went to a free desktop with a decent display adaptor and loaded most recent verion of RealPlayer. The file opens and starts to play. Then I get an error "Unknown data format" and "Bad data source in AVI file". The Real site says that I either have a corrupted file or that the file is encoded in a non-standard format. I imagine that the latter is the cause however, I do no know how I could either convert the encoding or find a player that will deal with the encoding. Perhaps Matt is right that I need a different Codec but, I have no idea which one...
Anyway there is my dilema if any of you can help...
Thanks
Chris

 

[2bemcse]

maybe you can try irfanview ?(and all the plug ins) it has a multimedia player that's good (it fixed my inability to play any avi on Win XP)
and maybe install the Nimo codec not a clue where you can find it .