Special AVI player needed?

[MPTech]

I finally located and downloaded a video I had been searching for quite some time.

When I clicked it, Windows Media player launched, but I didn't get the video, just the audio and the "Music Visualizations", no video.

I did a quick google on "avi players" and found this:  GDiVXZen1.2.exe
but it wants to install some coupon / internet crap, and I don't want to deal with that.

So I downloaded "AVIMoviePlayer50.exe", but when I start it and select my video, I get sound and some messed up / pixelated video that doesn't move.

The file I'm trying to play ends in ".....DSR XviD - NoTV.avi".
Is that a code for something else I need to be running?  Does this have anything to do with codecs? (I don't know what those are, but I know they can mess you if you don't have them).

Any suggestions please?

Thanks guys

[J_K_M_A_N]

You could try classic media player. That seems to play pretty much anything I throw at it. You may need to get some different codecs though. I once installed some on mine so maybe I have just been lucky.

J_K_M_A_N

[MPTech]

I've never had a problem playing anything before.  How do I determine what codec(s) I need?

[Cakemeister]

I finally located and downloaded a video I had been searching for quite some time.

When I clicked it, Windows Media player launched, but I didn't get the video, just the audio and the "Music Visualizations", no video.

I did a quick google on "avi players" and found this:  GDiVXZen1.2.exe
but it wants to install some coupon / internet crap, and I don't want to deal with that.

So I downloaded "AVIMoviePlayer50.exe", but when I start it and select my video, I get sound and some messed up / pixelated video that doesn't move.

The file I'm trying to play ends in ".....DSR XviD - NoTV.avi".
Is that a code for something else I need to be running?  Does this have anything to do with codecs? (I don't know what those are, but I know they can mess you if you don't have them).

Any suggestions please?

Thanks guys

The "Xvid" in the filename probably means the video was encoded with the Xvid codec.

I'm not sure whether "codec" is short for "compression-decompression" or "coding-decoding", but nevertheless you still need it.

I personally like the mplayer video player but I am a DOS-head and I like command line stuff.

I searched for "koepi xvid codec download" and got this link.

[jbox]

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Mega_Codec_Pack.htm

[shardian]

Get VLC media player. It will play ANYTHING.

[shmokes]

The player you use is unimportant.  This has everything to do with codecs.  If you have the right codec, the video will play in (almost) any media player.  If you don't have the right codec you can try to open it in any media player and it still won't play.  There are a couple options.  One is to click the link jbox provided, which will give you codecs for probably 95% of any video file you could possibly find today.

Otherwise, do a Google search for a program called G-Spot.  It's a free program that will analyze your file and is can usually tell you exactly what codec was used to encode the video (and consequently what codec you need to be able to play it).  Then you can find the codec and install it.

Click jbox's link if you just want it to work.  Do G-Spot if you're interested in developing a better understanding of the world of media files and codecs, etc. (or in the unlikely event that the codec you need is not included in that Mega_Codec_Pack he linked to).

[pointdablame]

Get VLC media player. It will play ANYTHING.

This is the correct answer.

VLC is awesome.

[jbox]

• Tools:
- GSpot Codec Information Appliance [version 2.70a]
- VobSubStrip [version 0.11]
- GraphEdit [build 041201]
- AVI Fixed [version 2.0b1]
- FourCC Changer
- Bitrate Calculator

There's also a neat tool for finding & fixing broken codec links in the Windows registry. 


For those who don't know - VideoLAN Client is an example of a "pre-compiled" video player. The idea is that instead of just having code for the window and letting the operating system provide the decoder, VLC actually has a bunch of those codecs also compiled into the executable. The advantage of this is that you can run the executable on anyone's machine (hence the 'LAN' part) and you should always get the same results. The disadvantage is that the codecs it does support are "locked-in" for each version, so instead of updating one or two codecs you just re-download the next version of VLC. It is extremely rare, but I have downloaded videos that VLC wont play before the next update or two.

Now for your average "watch the cat sing like a human" video clip that probably wont make a difference, but based on the partial title that MPTech provided I would speculate that the person who is encoding the video is probably trying to squeeze the absolute most from Xvid and may do so by trying all the latest MP4 options that most programs don't yet support. 

There's also a bunch of other nifty stuff you can grab from that Free-Codecs.com site if you're interested in cross-converting or all kinds of other video tricks.

[shmokes]

• Tools:
- GSpot Codec Information Appliance [version 2.70a]

Heh 

[missioncontrol]

Get VLC media player. It will play ANYTHING.

This is the correct answer.

VLC is awesome.

agreed