Cleaning Up AVIs

[GrayStrickland]

I have about 40 AVIs of a tv series. They were encoded by various people using various codecs. I burned a disc of them and tried to play them on my Phillips DVP642, which up until now has played everything I've ever thrown at it. Clearly, the files are not all encoded in a way which the Phillips will play. So... I thought I'd use Divx converter 6.x to just put them all in a format that the 642 will play. No such luck.

I ran all the files through both Gspot and AVIcodec, but I guess I'm not smart enough to understand all that they tell me. It seems that they're in a variety of Xvid 4 and Divx 5. Gspot will not "render" every file, but I don't understand all the error messages.

Q. -- Is there some sort of "omnibus" video conversion tool?

I haven't tried to play every file on my pc, but every file that I've tried, will play on the pc, so I reckon that I at least have the required codecs on my pc, if not my 642. What do I need to do to get them all recoded consistently in a form that my 642 will play?

[redwudz]

A.-- VirtualDub or it's variants. It has many filters, options and uses. Well worth learning if you are working in the AVI format.

First, you need to find out what specifications that the 642 needs to play video.

Then, VD should be able to help you convert. You add the codecs you need and set them up to the 642 specs. Encode them to a 'standard' 642 format.

I'm sure other members can elaborate.

[GrayStrickland]

Thanks.

FYI for anyone reading this thread, the poop on the Phillips DVP-642 is at this videohelp link which says that it supports DivX, XviD, JPG, DVD-JPG, MPEGISO and DVD-MPEGISO.

I had always assumed that the *version* of Divx or Xvid didn't matter, but this player was released 2 or 3 Divx versions ago. Gspot and Avicodec tell me that this collection is a mixture of Divx 5 and Xvid 4. I'll hunt for an Idiot's Guide to VirtualDub.

Thanks again.[/url]

[DarrellS]

I've run into AVI files that won't play on my Philips 642 and the problem was the AVI container. Old AVI was version 1.0 and doesn't seem to be compatable. By Opening the file in Virtualdub and choosing direct stream copy, you can convert the Version 1.0 AVI to version 2.0 without having to recode. You will need to make a new folder to save the files to or rename the files. Making a new folder would be easier.

[DarrellS]

BTW, Boomer Sooner!!!

[GrayStrickland]

I have VirtualDub 1.6.14, but just installed it. What do you mean by, "...direct stream copy...?" I don't see a command by that name anywhere.

There is clearly some user error involved. The tv shows that aren't working for me are a full season of power rangers ninja storm for one of my kids (honest). It's been downloaded about 10,000 times on torrent, so it stands to reason that the files aren't screwed up or else I'd see comments on the index sites saying that some of the files are hosed. I run them all through Gspot and Avicodec, but get inconsistent results. Gspot likes about 80% of them whereas AVIcodec likes about 90% of them. Strangely, all appear to be encoded with either, but as near as I can tell, I have *ALL* of the codecs that were used (Xvid-Mpeg4 and Divx5).

Maybe I just don't understand, but since I own Divx Create 6.2, which includes the latest, greatest Divx codec, shouldn't it handle ALL divx and ALL xvid? How can Gspot/Avicodec like some xvids, but not others? Or like some divx, but not everyone?



TUCK FEXAS.

[DarrellS]

I have VirtualDub 1.6.14, but just installed it. What do you mean by, "...direct stream copy...?" I don't see a command by that name anywhere.

The answer to your 2nd question is not necessarily. I believe you still have to install the DivX 3.11 codec to work on those files and I've also had to install DivX 5 because certain DX50 files wouldn't open with the XviD codec. Some files I can open with MediaPlayer Classic but refuse to open with anything else.



BTW, every time I install the DivX 5 codec, I have to uninstall it after I edit my files because it causes all kinds of corruption when I play back the files. XviD and DivX 5 cannot reside on my machine at the same time. Also, you have to have the XviD codec.

[redwudz]

You are assuming that people 'from the net' know what they are doing and encode the video files to a more or less standard format. I haven't seen that yet. Just because they have no errors doesn't mean that the people that encoded them had a clue on what might be the 'best' format to use. MP3 VBR audio is common and causes more problems than the small decrease in filesize is worth when you need to convert to MPEG. And I see a lot of Divx 3, which is outmoded by several years.

While Divx or Xvid has no 'standard' format, I have seen every possible combination of audio and video settings. You have to be flexible to re-encode any of it to a more or less standard format like MPEG-2, DVD compatible video. Throw in that a lot of it is in PAL format, and you may see the problem.

I use VD Mod most often as it accepts more formats, including MPEG and VOBs than the standard VD. 'Direct stream copy' is the first thing on the encoding list for VDM. Each and every file is a challenge at times, trying to figure out what they have done with a video.

But after all, it is a hobby. I deal with what I have. Rant complete.

[KiwiKid]

If all this fails use Avi ReComp to re-encode the files. It is designed for re-encoding AVIs to make them compliant for "stand alone" players. I also have the 642 and this program is very handy. Good luck.