How do I fix this AVI file?

[mikewg]

I digitized an AVI using VirtualDub. It ran a full 25 minutes and 46 seconds, just slightly past 4 gigs (I have Windows 9 and it gave an error and stopped recording. Fine. The file is now 3.98 Gigs on my desktop, so I went to watch the file and it says "Error: Cannot play file "capture.avi"" and I thought maybe there was a way to fix this but can't find anything in the guides about fixing an AVI file that won't start. Any advice?

[mikewg]

?

[mikewg]

No one knows?

[mikewg]

Perhaps I need to more fully explain myself so people can give me some help. I'm capturing to an AVI using VirtualDub. I'm using Windows 98 and I understand that my AVI file has a 4 Gig limit. If I record a regular AVI file and it's under 4 Gigs, everything is fine. But if I let the VirtualDub run until it hits that 4 Gig point and shuts itself down, the file won't play. Is there a way to fix this file or do I need to manually stop VirtualDub everytime I want to capture something?

[pacmania_2001]

Try downloading a avi player called "The Playa" it can play unfinished avi files. Also try divfix on it.

[RaleighNC]

Don't want to leave you hanging, but I don't record in avi for that size reason. Can you open the file with vdub?? If you can't, I would say the file is hosed.

Maybe avi's have the codec, time, bitrate at the end of the file, and since it shuts down, it doesn't get to write it. Just a guess.

Maybe you should record using the huffyuv?? codec.

[mikewg]

I'm pretty new to this and don't really know what a codec is or what it's for or how to install it. I haven't tried opening the AVI in VirtualDub, but ideally I'd like to convert it to MPG. I'm not worried about playing the AVI as much as I am about converting it.

[RaleighNC]

Codec: COder/DECoder.

What's your capture card??

[mikewg]

It's an ATI All In Wonder Pro 128. But I find that VirtualDub captures much clearer than using the MMC software.

[RaleighNC]

I have an aiw128/32 and use mmc7.1 because of the scheduling. My picture quality depends on the cable channel.

Does vdub have programming, or do you capture manually??

[mikewg]

VirtualDub doesn't have programming as far as I know... it just has a feature that says "Capture AVI" and you can start the capture. The quality of the picture I get in VirtualDub then convert to TMPGEnc is MUCH better than the MPG I get from scheduling a record. Plus I'm afraid to use the schedule feature of MMC because sometimes the first few or last few minutes of the show will be cut off, and that makes me sad.

[RaleighNC]

I know what you mean about the recording lengths.

What I did was setup the time a few minutes ahead and examined the capture from begining to when the actual show started. Then I adjusted the system clock to the difference to the number of minutes/seconds of the start time and set my scheduler to hh:59:00 setting. I'm able to set the record time to 60min. I have it down to 30sec ahead for the credits, enough time for mmc to save the file, and get ready for the next hour of recording.

Anyway, I would like to get better captures, but I can't sit and wait for a show.

Have you tried frame serving to edit captures??

[Freshman]

Definitely try opening the corrput file in Virtualdub and then save it to a new avi-file from Virtualdub. The new avi should work fine in mediaplayer and TMPGEnc.

[mikewg]

Sorry, I don't know what frame serving is. Here's what I do though. I set my VCR and record a show in SP mode. Then I"ll digitally record it later. I really don't think the quality is that much different that it makes that much of a difference. I want the shows I capture to be in good quality, but I'm not overly picky because I image I won't watch them too often. That's the funniest thing, I have a box of VHS tapes I haven't watched in 10 years but always wanted to save. I'll convert them to VCD, but am willing to bet it'll be another 10 years before I end up watching them again. I just want them in case the day comes when I want to see them again and don't have access to them. Like the Mysterious Cities of Gold collection I had to buy. I'm hoping to finish collecting the Jackass and Andy Dick and Brak Show episodes because I bet the day will come when I'll want to watch them again.

And yeah, I'll try to open and resave it in VirtualDub to make it work correctly. Thanks, I'll post tonight and let you guys know what happens.