AVI and QuickTime question

[MrToast]

Hey CD,

I'm having some problems playing AVI files in Quicktime. I've searched around and installed some things like DivX, 3ivX, and AC3, but nothing works. Every time I try to open the movie I get "QuickTime cannot open the file... an unknown error occurred (-50)". Restarting has done nothing to alleviate this problem.

Does anyone here have an idea as to what I could do?

Thanks!

Dave

System specs:
500MHz G3 white iBook (dual USB), 576MB RAM, OS X 10.4, Quicktime 7, DivX 5.2.1, 3ivX D4 4.5.1, AC3 (latest).

The file you are trying to watch probably uses one of those stupd rare codecs....I've read that no matter what quicktime avi plugins usually dont work.

I know this might come off as a shock, but if worse comes to worse, you could always try *Gasp* Windows Media Player for OSX

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...x/default.aspx

The other alternative ive read about is a program called VLC, that is aparently pretty good. The bad news is that aparently they stopped development of it The only problem so far with that is some of the newer codecs wont be recognized by the program and never will.

Hope this helps.

[MrToast]

Thanks for the suggestion, D.J. I didn't think of using WMP, but again it unfortunately didn't work. I failed to mention in my original question that I'd also tried VLC and mPlayer, but neither of those worked, either.

Thanks,

Dave

[jdiwnab]

AVI files are kinda fickle. I can think of a few options:
1) search Version Tracker for AVI players/plugins
2) look at the Apple Discussions Fourms for answers or even ask there
3) use a friends peecee and see if you can use a converter to Quicktime

[Jason Rudolph]

When you open the file, hit command-i and look at the file info to see what codec it was encoded as. There are a number or codecs out there that simply cannot be played on a mac. Sometimes, your only option is to find a PC and re-encode the video into another codec. Go to version tracker and look up the codec to see if there are plugins available for Mac.

[Yan Wang]

Download the vlc player: www.videolan.org/vlc

Includes nearly every single codec you could need; opensource too.

[Kyle Fenton]

Originally Posted by MrToast

Hey CD,

I'm having some problems playing AVI files in Quicktime. I've searched around and installed some things like DivX, 3ivX, and AC3, but nothing works. Every time I try to open the movie I get "QuickTime cannot open the file... an unknown error occurred (-50)". Restarting has done nothing to alleviate this problem.

Does anyone here have an idea as to what I could do?

Thanks!

Dave

System specs:
500MHz G3 white iBook (dual USB), 576MB RAM, OS X 10.4, Quicktime 7, DivX 5.2.1, 3ivX D4 4.5.1, AC3 (latest).

This error usually results from a corrupt and/or proprietary header in the AVI file.
I don't think there is anyway you can read a movie file with a corrupt header.
If it is proprietary then the only way is to use a player that is compatible with encoder.

Try this. It sometime can re-write the header files in an AVI
http://doctor.3ivx.com/

[MrToast]

Yep, I came across DivX Doctor, too, but it refused to load the AVI file. I eventually just gave up and redownloaded it and all is well. Thanks for all the suggestions!

Dave