.avi agony

November 19, 2007 4:45 AM

I have a couple of different .avi files I want to play… and for the life of me I cannot get them to work.

Have spent about four hours downloading what feels like every codec and media player under the sun.

I have tried: VLC media player; DivX; ffdshow; AVI Movie player; Media Player Classic, Windows Media Player 10, the KLite Codec Pack (Full) and the XP Codec pack. GSpot doesn't recognise the codec. Nothing works.

I'd write the files off as a bad show, but they're from a couple of different sources, so I'm pretty sure it's something at my end, not the files themselves.

Also among the bunch of things I need to look at are some .mkv files. Those are from still another source. And VLC won't play them either.

Which sort of convinces me further the problem is at my end somewhere.

Can anyone suggest anything else at all before I start ripping my hair out in sheer frustration?

posted by t0astie to computers & internet (13 comments total)

And because it's late and my eyes are on stalks from trying to get this to work, I forgot to say - I'm on WinXP.
posted by t0astie at 4:47 AM on November 19, 2007

Try The KMPlayer.
posted by Gyan at 4:50 AM on November 19, 2007

Video Inspector will analyse the files and tell you which codecs you are missing and which programs will play them (if any.) It has never failed to fix my movie watching problems.
posted by fire&wings at 4:57 AM on November 19, 2007 [3 favorites]

I have success in this situation with the GOM Player.
posted by OlderThanTOS at 4:59 AM on November 19, 2007

What does the message window say in VLC when you open the file?
posted by zabuni at 5:20 AM on November 19, 2007

I've checked VLC's message window but it's just blank.

The KM Player gave me an error 80040218 (forums are mostly in Korean, I think, so not much joy there).

GOM says I don't have the codec (for both the .avi and .mkv files). When I click the search online for codec button it says it can't find the codec or the files are damaged.

Maybe I just *have* been unlucky three times over. Video Inspector says ''No'' in its Movie Valid field.
posted by t0astie at 5:27 AM on November 19, 2007

So KMP didn't play either of the AVIs and the MKV? And the same error code for all files? Finally, does it play known good files?

Searching that error seems to bring up many mentions of RealVideo. Try changing the extension and loading it in Realplayer.

Also, try MediaInfo for the heck of it.
posted by Gyan at 5:36 AM on November 19, 2007

Yes, all the players play known good files.

I think I'm going to give it up as a bad job.
posted by t0astie at 5:51 AM on November 19, 2007

VideoInspector over Gspot? I think not!
posted by TomMelee at 6:00 AM on November 19, 2007

That actually happened to me once... Couldn't get the missing codec detected or found. In my frustration I went for a reformat, and it works again.

Once in a while things get so bad that there's little other way out.
posted by kureshii at 6:05 AM on November 19, 2007

TomMelee - GSpot didn't recognise the codec either. I tried it first.
posted by t0astie at 6:15 AM on November 19, 2007

Try TrID on some of the files.
posted by Gyan at 6:30 AM on November 19, 2007

I'd write the files off as a bad show, but they're from a couple of different sources, so I'm pretty sure it's something at my end, not the files themselves.

Have you tried googling the filenames to see if other people are complaining that they won't play?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:40 AM on November 19, 2007