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AVI file problem..?

Mel1314Mel1314 Posts: 2,669
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in Advice #1
Just recently, my laptop won't let me play any videos that have come from a camera. I download a lot of videos from sites, such as TV episodes, which are in the AVI format and they play fine.

But any file that has come from a camera will not play, I just get the sound. And it's only recently started to happen, about a couple of months ago. It can't be my camera, as the videos play on my friend's laptop, and also I moved some videos from a different camera, onto my laptop, (also AVI format) and they didn't play either.

I went on the Windows Media Player site, even though Realplayer and other players won't play the videos either, and tried to download the newest version I could find, but it wouldn't let me as it said my laptop had the newest version possible.

Anybody know what is causing this please? And how I can sort it out? Thanks in advance x

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    CruachanCruachan Posts: 7,211
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    #2
    I wonder if this might have been better asked in the "Computers" section of DS - a lot of very knowledgeable and helpful folk hang out there.
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    WinterFireWinterFire Posts: 9,509
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    #3
    AVI is not a format, AVI is a container.

    What that means is that an AVI file can have any sort of video and/or audio in it as "streams". E.g. the audio might be in .WAV format, it might be .OGG, it might me .MP3, it could be anything. Same for video. For a piece of software to be able to play back an AVI file, it must both understand the AVI container format, and also understand the format of the actual streams contained within the AVI file for audio and video.

    What has happened is that you've previously played AVI files with video and audio streams in formats which your software understands, but are now trying to play AVI files with streams of video/audio in formats which your software does not understand.

    I strongly recommend that you try using the VLC software from http://www.videolan.org If VLC won't play it, you're in trouble. (usually)
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    belfastkidbelfastkid Posts: 2,911
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    #4
    You need to put it on Windows MEdia Player...media player will then not play it but it will give you an error message and tell you that you have to download a "Codex". They will sometimes give you a link to the Codex on the microsoft site.

    Either that or download the newest version of Xvid or Dvix.
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    user123456789user123456789 Posts: 16,589
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    #5
    AVI is not a format but a wrapper for many formats within, you need to use a piece of software to analyse the file and tell you the actual format.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Video_Interleave
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    EmpiricalEmpirical Posts: 10,189
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    #6
    You have a missing or corrupt codec.

    The AVI format is simply a 'container' and the contents of it (how the video is encoded) can vary greatly. Which is why its possible your downloads work but your camera ones do not.

    Download and install the K-lite video codec pack.

    http://www.codecguide.com/download_kl.htm
    anniebrion wrote: »
    AVI is not a format
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Video_Interleave

    Pedant time: Yes it is, which your link even states,
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 334
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    #7
    VLC plays just about anything!
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    c4rvc4rv Posts: 29,627
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    #8
    Either download k-lite standard codec pack (link given by previous poster) and then windows media player should be able to play back the video or google VLC which is a different media player completely and has support for many different file types.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 122
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    #9
    Download Quciktime Player and that will solve your camera videos problem
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    snorksnork Posts: 1,464
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    #10
    WinterFire wrote: »
    AVI is not a format, AVI is a container.

    What that means is that an AVI file can have any sort of video and/or audio in it as "streams". E.g. the audio might be in .WAV format, it might be .OGG, it might me .MP3, it could be anything. Same for video. For a piece of software to be able to play back an AVI file, it must both understand the AVI container format, and also understand the format of the actual streams contained within the AVI file for audio and video.

    What has happened is that you've previously played AVI files with video and audio streams in formats which your software understands, but are now trying to play AVI files with streams of video/audio in formats which your software does not understand.

    I strongly recommend that you try using the VLC software from http://www.videolan.org If VLC won't play it, you're in trouble. (usually)


    I agree with the above vlc is great and free!
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    jrajra Posts: 48,325
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    #11
    It's a codec problem

    Try VLC.

    If you still have no joy, try installing the codecs for DivX and or Xvid.
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    Mel1314Mel1314 Posts: 2,669
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    #12
    Thanks all of you! I recognised the name of the VLC software as I had that on my old computer, so downloaded that and it plays my videos :) Thanks again.
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