When VLC rebuilds an AVI index what is it doing?

[loninappleton]

I've seen VLC repair the index of an AVI file. What is it doing and how can a file be checked for it when it is made or before it is played?

A related point-- those rebuilds don't look very good and get broken up but
can the repair file be saved so the process doesn't have to be done again?

[hello_hello]

AVIs such as those created by AutoGK shouldn't need repairing, and I don't use VLC myself, but VirtualDub should repair AVIs if it detects a problem and tell you about it as it opens the file. Try opening the AVI VLC tried to repair and resaving it with VirtualDub using DirectStreamCopy. Maybe it'll repair VLC's repair.....

[jagabo]

The index is a list of pointer to all key frames of the video. It's used to quickly seek when you use the seek bar (or fast forward or rewind). For Divx/Xvid AVI you can use DivFix or DivFix++ to rebuild the keyframe index.

[loninappleton]

Ok I'll try to save in Virtual Dub and report back. It's an avi to view all the way through again anyway. Also will try DivFix first.

Hello_hello, what media player do you prefer? Since I often use subtitle srt's, the only alternative to VLC I use regularly is SMPlayer because it has an optionb for
'black border.' Using the black border command shifts the sub into the black area off the screen and makes things much more readable. There's also color adjustment on the flay in VLC plus it's large selection of audio options.

[loninappleton]

Success with both methods.

No rebuild errors reported from VLC though I have not monitored the whole job from either repair.

One tricky thing with DivFix++; it does save a repaired copy but calls it DivFix.[file name].avi. The tricky part is it doesn't save it to the DivFix folder. Advice: always select save original if you get into this quandry.

And as always with Virtual Dub (at least for me) select direct stream copy to prevent your HD from beinf used up with a huge file when doing this operation.

For a single problem or occasional use, DivFix++ works fine with a simple user interface to perform this one task. I must say I wisht I knew about it years ago.


thanks to all for answering.

[hello_hello]

I've used MPC-HC for years. Back when it was just MPC. I'm a bit of a hoarder of program installation files so I had a look. The earliest version of MPC I have is dated 2003.

To be honest I rarely use subtitles. If I know I'm going to need them I hardcode them. Usually over the lower part of the picture so I can zoom without losing them, but it's not hard to encode them over a lower black border.

Anyway..... MPC-HC has lots of subtitle options I've barely looked at and never used, but I went from loading subtitles as per picture 1 to loading them as per picture 2 and 3 pretty quickly. It took me a couple of minutes to realise the Play/Subtitles/Styles menu lets you change a subtitle style "on the fly" so changing it for a particular video doesn't change the default settings. I couldn't understand at first why changing the subtitle styles with that menu didn't seem to "stick" once the player was restarted.



I'm not married to the idea of MPC-HC. Every so often a new player comes along and/or someone recommends one so I try it out hoping it'll be even better, but for one reason or another it doesn't take me long to go back to MPC-HC. There's another version called MPC-BE which has a preview function as you move the cursor along the navigation bar which I really like, but it gave me a fullscreen problem last time I tried it. Nothing major.... I can't remember exactly.... I think just some minor annoyance. Potplayer is very similar to MPC-HC in that huge chunks of it seem to be a direct ripoff, and while it seems like a decent player it's got options for days I don't really need and have to hunt around to find, making navigating and changing settings with MPC-HC easier for me.

I tried SMPlayer a while back when someone recommended it and quite disliked it as most of my "must haves" weren't to be had. There's a few features I really want..... DXVA (hardware decoding) support, Directshow support, the ability to open Avisynth scripts, the ability to open multiple instances of the player, and a decent pan and scan function. MPC-HC lets you use the keys on the numeric keypad to zoom in and out, move the picture up and down, or even rotate it if that's your thing, while a tap on the "5" key resets it. Oh...... and the ability to pause and restart playback by left clicking anywhere on the video while changing in and out of fullscreen mode via a middle click shouldn't be too much to hope for. I have a wireless mouse next to my bed as a pseudo remote control. Play, pause, fullscreen and volume are all I really need.... without having to click on a button with a cursor I can barely see from the other side of the room.

Audio options don't worry me too much as I use ffdshow for the audio decoding (another reason for the requirement of DirectShow support) and it provides my audio decoding goodies.

[loninappleton]

The feature set is surely important. I return to VLC even with it's quirks and quirky help team
because the feature set is right. So much of it has to do with just the way it looks. MPCHC has a nice clean look. SMPlayer has gaudy icons on it made for whom? Twelve-year-olds?

I was just curious.

As you know I am playing with sound and in particular doing what I can to make speech stand out and
audible for late night viewing. I turn all the boom boom and whatnot off as much as possible. This goes against the dogma of so-called home theatre. Small screen monitor (19in but I'd like 21 in) crt is adequate. I think there's something about depth of field with the eye and the slight curve of the screen that is more suitable for viewing than any flat screen possible.

Using the mouse as a remote is what I do. I have a Yamaha RU100 which has on -screen controls via USB to that amplifier receiver. I don't understand why the product and upgrades never became accepted.

But I never view in bed. For this reason I'd like to get a tablet chair-- a stuffed 'club chair' with a writing pad on one arm ( like they have at my public library) for use with the wireless mouse.

So much for my wish list.

The AVI was marginally fixed but as mkv it retained many of it's glitches. There is something with mkv yet which is not ready for prime time.

[hello_hello]

I feel kinda like I should know what the Yamaha RU100 is, but I'll confess, I don't.

VLC has some sort of audio compressor (I think), but that's one of the reasons I use ffdshow for audio decoding.... it can load winamp plugins and I use a winamp compressor plugin for late night viewing. And given most of the speech is in the centre channel, maybe not downmixing multi-channel audio to stereo when encoding might be an idea? You could mix it down to stereo on playback while giving the centre channel a boost.



ffdshow can save it's configuration as presets and switching between them is easy.

I'm not sure what MKV problem you're having, but I keep my old standard definition Xvid encodes as AVI, while everything else goes into an MKV. Even if someone gives me an MP4 file, I usually remux it as an MKV and copy it to my PC at the same time.

[loninappleton]

here is the Yamaha from the company site:

http://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio-visual/desktop-audio/rp-u100_silver__u/?mode=model

Other closeups are available in a google search.

When setting up for computer audio 10-12 years ago I quickly tired of having the speaker arrangement shown in the photo. There has to be some audio distance and I'm not a gamer or such like that. As a speaker builder ( which hobby I've followed for 15 years) most speaks are too boomy. I wind up turning off the precious bass 'audiophiles' seem to be after constantly.


For a center channel a different receiver would be needed. I keep an eye out for ebay offers of the RPU200
as well. Both units sold for over $400. But they had them on closeout way back at Buy.com. Mine without
the speaker set was under $100 shipped. One of the best purchases I ever made and sort of in the dark at that.

Yes the VLC has a full Digital Compression setup screen under the tools option.
I've never been able to set and forget in that I use a maximum setting but still have to twiddle with
the volume late night

[hello_hello]

I'm a little "odd" when it comes to audio too. I hate surround sound. I mix live bands for a living (mainly around clubs and hotels) so my "speaker experiences" tend to be mainly on the "lots of volume", "move lots of air" end. Probably largely due to my job, I've never been overly fussed about audio quality at home. When I'm at home I prefer it to be my "quiet time", so I just use a pair of THX approved PC speakers with a sub as my "home theatre" system.

I didn't mean for you to have a physical centre channel, just to use a method which lets you adjust the volume of the centre channel as it's being down-mixed to stereo.

Getting compression "right" is an art I'm not sure I've really mastered, but the compressor plugin I use does help now I've fiddled with it long enough to be happy. I can rarely hear it working, which probably means I'm not compressing overly hard, but it's just at the point where any more compression would be likely to produce a "pumping" effect at times (like my TV does when it's using it's own speakers and running in "night mode"). I do still adjust the volume myself now and then, but I'm not constantly fiddling with it any more.