Media player will not play.

[Hasit]

I am running XP Home version and have tried to run a .dat file using the standard XP media player (the icon is the circular coloured icon). When I do that I get an error (unrecognised format).

I then used the older media player (mplayer2.exe - icon is the clapper board) and I get a similar error.

However, on another machine running exactly the same OS, the file works fine.

I have checked the the setup as much as I know how but wondered whether I was missing anything.

Any thoughts?

 

[Scotsdude]

what actually is the file? You see, DAT files are generally data files - not media files. You say you got it to run on another machine - what did it actually do? and how big is the file?

Scotsdude
When you have eliminated all other options, whatever's left, no matter how improbable, is the answer.

Nobody said it had to make sense......

 

[Hasit]

Scotsdude, the .DAT is just the extension I guess, because the file is actually a movie file. The film in question is "A Wonderful Life" and sits on a CD. The file size is around 600MB. And there are 2 CDs, which show the entire film.

The wierd thing is that it works on an MPLAYER under '98 and NT. I don't have to do anything except open the file up through the FILE-OPEN method.

I have checked the differences between the 2 versions running under XP and theres none. The XP version is newer than than NT version, although I am not sure that has any bearing on the problem anyway.

I don't mind not being able to watch the film, but its really bugging me that it won't play on my machine!

 

[christheprogrammer]

1st thing - open File Explorer and goto tools->Folder Options->File Types

Now find DAT on the list and press the 'change' button
change it to open with media player or whatever, now when you double-click it, media player will attempt to open it. If the error still occurs then you are probably missing a codec for the file type... just eliminating possibilities Chris says: "It's time for a beer."

 

[BChumie]

I have heard of dat files as media files . I really think you are missing a codec. A great pack to get that has like a ton of codecs for movie and sound editing is the nimo codec pack.

http://www.divx-digest.com/software/nimo_pack.html

also if you haven't installed a divx codec you might need that.

http://www.divx.com/

You should install those and it should work... not complete sure which codec is required to play a dat file

although those codec might not work.. you code always try a prgram that was designed to read those formats, such as

http://www.autobanners.net/codec/viewers.html

-Brad

 

[EddieVenus]

Actually .dat files should not play, as they are data files, but Media Player 6.4 could play them. Ever since 6.4 MS has made media player less of a media player and more of a policing program, by removing the ability to play files that MS thinks are illegal, yadda yadda yadda, point is you should be able to play it, assuming you can actually play it on other machines, by downloading Medial Player 6.4 from MS and installing it on your XP machine. You will notice that alot more files play and play better on 6.4 for some reason than they do on the newer releases. There is more on this at Digital Digest, or Divx Digest. You can find out why exactly this is if you search the web too.

 

[Hasit]

ChrisTheProgrammer: I have checked to ensure that .DAT is associated media player, but so far no joy (thanks for the confirming my initial thoughts though).

BChumie: Excellent - thanks for the links. I will try them out tonight and report back.

EddieVenus: Thanks for the advice. I will download 6.4 if BChumie's advice does not work.

Thanks all - will let you know how it goes.

 

[Scotsdude]

Also, try getting hold of something like QuickVCD, cos it sounds like you've got a VCD.

I've got XP aPro, and I don't use Media PLayer for VCDs, I've got PowerDVD, which can play VCDs too.

Scotsdude

 

[Dollar]

Do an internet search for media player add-ins. You need the CODEC to view the .dat files. This should also work as suggested with DivX, but should you not wish to install other programs...the media player CODEC will allow you to view the file. This is the difference between your machine and the one on which the file works.

Hope this helps.

 

[Dollar]

EddieVenus:

Not to dampen your spirits mate, but I think you are wrong as far as playing movies in media player goes. I have used XP for well over a year, and watch most of my movies in Media Player. (The occassionaly DivX movie in The Playa)

All others: .Dat files are yes data files...and the occassional .dat file is in fact a Movie (where the size of the file would exceed probably 50mb - movie files generally between 250Mb - 700Mb, depending on the ripper, quality, and other options specified for the rip)

So I guess that's about it then...it's all down to the CODEC. It may be downloadable with the standard Windows Update.

Again...Hope this helps

 

[Hasit]

Either its me doing something particularly stupid (in which case, I'll need some help...) or theres something fundamentally wrong with my system.

I downloaded the NIMO pack, but could not install it (the .exe was missing!) So, I used another set of CODECs, which looked similar to the NIMO set of CODECs and I still could not get it to work.

I then (re)installed mplayer 6.4 as suggested, and go the same error.

So, in frustration, I installed a couple of other VCD applications, and neither of them worked either. I still think it may be something to do with CODECs, BUT, I'll be damned I can work out what the heck is going on.

In order to try and remove any possibilities of other factors, I thought maybe its my CD drive, so I tried to copy it to hard disk (plenty of disk space and 128MB of memory),it copied the file to memory, then at the point it copies from memory to disk, it craps out with a message "INVALID MS-DOS CALL".

So, questions are:

1. Any other thoughts please?
2. Can you let me know how to install a CODEC, if the .exe file is missing?

Thanks again!

 

[Dollar]

Just a quick thought...are you DOUBLE CLICKING the .dat to open the file. I had a problem that even with the file association there, the "double click to open" did not work. Find the *.dat file...hold down the shift key and right click. Select Open With... from the list, then select Media Player. (I've always had to open *.dat files this way)

The other thing is of course your Windows Update. Have you done all the updates for your XP edition. It should be located on the All Programs group on the start button, just above the Accessories...(or somewhere up there).

Hope this helps

 

[Hasit]

Dollar, thanks. I tried double clicking, using the open with... and also opening the .dat file through media player (file/open), and all resulted in the same error.

I will try the updates and see if that helps.

Thanks again.

 

[Hasit]

OK, all updates are in, but still nothing. I will continue to try codecs to see if that solves the problem.

Any other thoughts from anyone would be appreciated.

 

[Velox]

VCD doesn't really use a codec, the DAT file is a form of mpeg1 used in VCD's. If the file is on your hard drive, then just add ".mpg" to the name (WantaWatchThisMovie.dat.mpg) and it should play.


You'll also want to install the Divx Codec as media player will not download them automatically and there are lot of files encoded with divx.
You can get it here.

http://www.divx.com/divx/

 

[Hasit]

Velox, Thanks a lot for your suggestion. I will try it out today and report back. As for renaming....well, I don't want to raise a second issue in the same thread, so please check this one out: thread779-301134

 

[Dollar]

Hasit
Sorry, but I have looked just about everywhere, and cannot think of anything else that may be even remotely useful. Having said that I would more than likely have re-built my machine by this time.
Also checked out your other thread, and sounds as though you may be having some OS trouble on a far lower level than indicated by this one.
Just one more question though: Has ANY movie file (*.dat file mainly) worked in your media player or even the usual *.mpg file? If so, you may want to try a system restore back to when you could play that *.dat file and then retry the one that is failing. Otherwise, rebuild your installation.
Sorry, but this is all I have left!!!!
HTH

 

[Hasit]

Dollar - I am kinda coming to the same conclusion that there is a greater problem!

The system was built for me so I had no involvement in the installation, but I'm now thinking that I should do it myself (if you want something done properly etc etc).

As for whether a .DAT played before or not, I don't know, because this is the first time I am trying. ALL other movie files including AVI, MPG etc play fine, both in media player 6.4 and the one supplied by XP (forgot the version number - v7?)

Thanks again for your help, as soon as I try a couple of things out tonight, I will be issuing stars for the suggestions made by a couple of you guys.