can't play xvid movie

[arnie22112000]

Hi, I have an XVID file which is in a 'dat' file format that I can't play. What do I need to play it? Here is a quote that came with the original "bin" and "que" files.

"You will need to have installed the appropriate Riff CD/XA
filters in order to read this CD. You will also need the Ogg Media
Stream directshow filters to play the actual media file on the CD, and the appropriate codecs to actually decode the video/audio streams in the Ogg media file."

Thanks

[teegee420]

What you have is a mode 2 XCD. You need to install the XCD DirectShow filter, OGG Vorbis, and the latest Xvid Codec or FFDSHOW. Also, a lot of the XCD's I have come accross, the author was good enough to include all the needed files on the disc in a folder called "additional files" or something simillar.

[tigerman8u]

Avipreview plays dat files.

[Moloko_Plus]

In the future, open your file with AVICODEC (or, GSPOT alternatevely) and see what the file exactly is. Itll tell you whats supported and where to download what you need if its not supported.

[arnie22112000]

Hi, I downloaded all the stuff told to me to download and nothing seems to work. When I try playing the file in any program, the program just sits there working forever. In some of the programs, I try to close the program and it stops responding (end now).

Is there some kind of program which could convert 'dat' to 'avi' or 'mpg'?

[teegee420]

Try Media Player Classic.

[Roundabout]

You can try this freeware tool: dat2mpg - download from here.
It runs from a dos prompt. No guarantee that it'll work, it's meant to extract mpeg from dat. You could try it, since it is free.

Also VCDgear can convert it, AFIAK. In some cases, if it were an mpg file you could just rename it, but since you mentioned it's an xvid file, that probably won't work. In fact, possibly neither things will work since you don't have an mpeg to start with.

Edit: One other thing you can try, someone mentioned on another site that you can rename the file with a .avi extension and it may work. I knew this could work with .mpg files, but I didn't know it'd work on avi's. What the hell, give it a try! You can always name it back to .dat if it doesn't work, anyway.

[teegee420]

You can try this freeware tool: dat2mpg - download from here.
It runs from a dos prompt. No guarantee that it'll work, it's meant to extract mpeg from dat. You could try it, since it is free.

Also VCDgear can convert it, AFIAK. In some cases, if it were an mpg file you could just rename it, but since you mentioned it's an xvid file, that probably won't work. In fact, possibly neither things will work since you don't have an mpeg to start with.

Edit: One other thing you can try, someone mentioned on another site that you can rename the file with a .avi extension and it may work. I knew this could work with .mpg files, but I didn't know it'd work on avi's. What the hell, give it a try! You can always name it back to .dat if it doesn't work, anyway.

Your suggestions are all fine ideas if one is dealing with a dat file that is actually mpeg-1 video. The problem here is that the file is actually OGM that has been converted to dat so that you can fit 800mb on a 700mb cd.

[Roundabout]

That's why I said it probably wouldn't work, using VCDgear, etc. But he could try just renaming the file .avi and see what happens, what could it hurt? Either it'll work or it won't - if it doesn't, he can just rename it back to .dat and go from there with another solution.

[arnie22112000]

I tried renaming the file to avi, mpg and ogg but it didn't work. The bin file came with a .toc file and a .cue file (I don't know if this matters or not). It also came with a sample of the movie in .ogg format. I opened the 'trailer.dat' file in AVIcodec and this info came up:

File: 13.29 MB (13.29 MB), duration: 0:02:17, type: OGG, 1 audio stream(s), quality: 37 %

Video: 11.57 MB, 707 Kbps, 25.0 fps, 512*384 (4:3), DIVX = OpenDivx v4, Supported

Audio: 1.74 MB, 105 Kbps, 48000 Hz, 2 channels, 0x674F = Ogg Vorbis (mode 1), Supported

When I try to play the file (with any extension) it plays and stops right away (except in divx, it doesn't work at all).

[teegee420]

Did you ever try try Media Player Classic?

[arnie22112000]

I tried Media Player Classic and it just gets a runtime error.

[teegee420]

I don't know what to tell you, dude. You said you already installed the XCD filter and OGG Vorbis but yet the thing doesn't play. I'm assuming you already have a compatible Divx decoder too. There's something going on with your system that's preventing your movie from playing(that much you know already). Apparently something that a third party like myself isn't able to resolve without having access to said system. Good luck trying to get it straightened out but unfortunately I don't have any more advice for you.

[arnie22112000]

When I went to install the ogg vorbis, there were no executable files or installable files, just dll files. All I could do is unzip the folder. The xvid thing I downloaded created a folder with some .exe files in it (ogmcalc.exe, minicalc.exe, avic.exe and statsreader.exe). I don't know what to do with these. The xcd direct show link just sent me to a site where there are lots of things to download. I don't know what to download or what to do with them. I went back to the xvid codec site and downloaded a beta file under "Latest standalone decoder DirectShow filter (installer)". The dat file still won't play.

[teegee420]

Dude, no wonder you can't get it to play! You should have mentioned that you weren't sure about how to install everything. Here's what you do:

1. For some reason the ogg vorbis site is down right now so I can't get the install files to talk you through the process. It shouldn't matter because I'm pretty certain that in the folder that you have the dll files, there's a file that ends with the extension ".inf". What you do is right click that file and select "Install". That should take care of the installation for Ogg.

2. Use the XCD Filter link I used in my first post again. Scroll down the page the fifth box down, where it says "XCD DirectShow filter (NSIS installer)". Download "riff-cdxa-filter-test6b-nsis.zip". When you unzip the contents, run "riff-cdxa-filter-test6b.exe".

You already installed Xvid correctly so that's done. The thing here is that according to the Avi Codec info you posted the video type is Divx 4. I'm guessing that you already have Divx installed so you shouldn't have to worry about that one either. If you go to play the file and you don't see any video, you probably need Divx. Installing FFDSHOW will take care of that, but only install it if you need it. If Windows Media Player doesn't play the dat file, try Media Player Classic.

That should pretty much take care of everything. Post again if you have any problems.

[arnie22112000]

1. I got the ogg zip file again but there are no .inf files or other installable files in it.

2. I got the "riff-cdxa-filter-test6b.exe" file and it installed successfuly.

The trailer.dat file still just plays and stops immediately. I installed ffdshow but I don't know what to do with it. The movie.dat file loads then is about to play (maybe) and then Media Player 9 and classic versions both get a shut down (end now) message and close.

[dafreak]

download and install this

http://www.vorbis.com/files/1.0/tobias/OggDS0995.exe

[dafreak]

also download and install isobuster to extract dat files.

[teegee420]

Using ISOBuster shouldn't be necessary yet. Try to get the dat to play first.

[arnie22112000]

I installed the file at vorbis.com but the video still doesn't work. I installed isobuster but it couldn't do anything with the dat files (it extracted and gave an error at the end of extraction).

[teegee420]

You're trying to play it off the CD, right? Maybe you have a bad disc due to poor media. In which case you're hosed. Aside from that I have no idea why you can't get it to play.

[arnie22112000]

No, file is on my computer (bin and extracted dat files). I think your right however, it doesn't seem to work. Maybe the file is crap or my computer setup is just not compatible. I could also just have not installed stuff right. I tried all I can do. Thank you very much for helping though!

Arnie

[teegee420]

Sorry things didn't work out. Next time you come accross a bin and cue image like this one, burn it to disc or mount it to a virtual drive. It's a little easier to work with it that way.