.avi problems on laptop

[deadman1972]

installed veoh required software needed to use site then downloaded 850mb .avi movie using veoh own downloader.film downloaded but veoh could not import it into the library to play it on veoh player.have tried divx and vlc both of which will not play it,also tried convert x to dvd which cannot convert the file.this seems to be a reoccuring problem with .avi files for me and since most of the movies i download are in .avi format i really need to solve this problem.i believe it to be a software issue ie.there is some software required which i do not have.i have never seen convert x to dvd have a problem before except with certain .avi files.file itself should be alright.

[minidv2dvd]

try gspot or mediainfo to get the details of the avi. if they can't read it, it's probably damaged.

[deadman1972]

what player would you recommend to play .avi files? i usually do not bother burning them to dvd i just save them to hard drive and watch them on laptop or desktop.

[guns1inger]

If VLC won't play it then it is probably fubar'd. VLC will play most things, including partial and broken files that other players won't touch. If this is a common problem with your AVI files then you have a much more systemic problem with your machine.

[deadman1972]

ran the .avi file through gspot and it said not a valid .avi file which i can not figure since it came from veoh and i was able to watch it on veoh just when i downloaded it using the veoh link it came out messed up?

[minidv2dvd]

either the file got trashed in the download or it's a protected video, there are some that just can't be downloaded. try again and see if you get better results.

[deadman1972]

the movie streamed on veoh using its online web player but there was also a link on the page to download the movie to pc so if it played ok on the web player does that not mean it should download ok? thanks for the help

[guns1inger]

Anything can happen between the server and your HDD. if you downloaded it through the Veoh player, does it play back through the Veoh player ?

Also, just because it is called .avi doesn't actually make it a .avi file. File extensions can be changed.

However, as I said in my earlier post, if this is happening to files regularly - and you seem to be saying that it does - then I suspect you have much larger problems that not being able to play this file.

Have you tried playing in on another PC ? This is the simplest way to test the integrity of this file. if it plays elsewhere, then it is probably tiem to do some serious work on your laptop. Maybe a rebuild is in order.

Do you have any codec packs installed ?

[deadman1972]

no actually the file would not play on the web player after downloading.i think the file got thrashed in the download.my main problem is i have so many programs on my laptop like avg this and adware that.i love downloading programs and trying them out i just never remove them and then the laptop gets bunged up.i have been looking for the best anti-virus,the best anti-spyware,the best internet security etc.etc. so i download these programs.i suspect my laptop issues are all coming from this?trouble is that aside from avg anti internet security i have not decided on what is the best for other stuff.

[guns1inger]

You should either set up a virtual machine for testing, or if your laptop is too slow or old for that, use something like sandboxie. That way you can test and keep the environment clean of crap.