"Stuck" AVI files

[nightglider1]

I hope someone can help me. I've downloaded some video files in .avi format. When I attempt to play them, they "stick". In other words, they display the first frame, but don't proceed. I can click on the "timeline" bar, and the video will jump to that spot, but will not continue playing. Clicking on the pause button does nothing.

This happens with WMP 10 and WMP 11. WMV and MPG files play fine. AVI's will play fine in Zoom Player.

I apologize, but I can only say for sure that one of the files is XviD encoded. I am unsure as to the codecs used on the other files.

It appears to be an issue with WMP. Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks!

[guns1inger]

You don't seem to have the correct codecs installed for WMP to be able to play the files. I can only assume that Zoom Player has it's own decoder built-in, which is why it has no problems. VLC would also work.

If you must use WMP (and god only knows why you would want to), you could install FFDShow as a good, general purpose decoder set for most videos, or use something like G-Spot to find out what you are missing, and install those codecs as required.

Avoid the temptation to install codec packs to resolve this type of issue though.

[nightglider1]

You don't seem to have the correct codecs installed for WMP to be able to play the files. I can only assume that Zoom Player has it's own decoder built-in, which is why it has no problems. VLC would also work.

If you must use WMP (and god only knows why you would want to), you could install FFDShow as a good, general purpose decoder set for most videos, or use something like G-Spot to find out what you are missing, and install those codecs as required.

Avoid the temptation to install codec packs to resolve this type of issue though.

I neglected to state that this behavior is recent. I don't recall installing any new codecs recently, my video card drivers are from back in mid-04, and I've had the XviD/DivX codecs installed for at least a year and a half.

[nightglider1]

UPDATE:

I uninstalled the codec packs I had on my system (there for 6+ months), as well as the stand-alone DivX and XviD codecs. I restarted my system, reinstalled DivX and XviD, and restarted my system again.

Used GSpot on the file in question, says that it's XviD and codec is installed. File still doesn't play in WMP, though I can play it with the DivX player and Zoom Player.

I understand that I could always stop using WMP, but that doesn't help get to the bottom of my problem of "Why WMP stopped playing AVI files".

Anyhow, thanks for any feedback you can give.

[Krispy Kritter]

You can use Codec Sniper to browse and cleanup any corrupt or not used codecs.

Next I would uninstall all of the codecs, codec packs and players listed under "add/remove programs". After you reboot, then reinstall the lastest divx codec.