joining files in virtual dub causes hair loss

[birdy numnums]

i am having a major problem with virtual dub that i just cannot work out. i have 2 files, both divx 502, both 480x256, both 29.97 fps, both 128kb/s audio. and yet when i try to append one to the other i get an error window saying the video streams have different data formats. can someone please stop me pulling my hair out and explain what the problem is and how i can fix it??

[SingSing]

I know, I know this one. Peter Seller in "THE PARTY".

Oh, Maybe you can use TMPGenc to encode both of them to a standard format then joint them, and leave them as two tracks with '0 second' delay between them.

[Poplar]

Several possibilities:
a)one is in YUY2 format, the other one is in RGB format; b) one is DivX5, the other one is DivX5 Pro, or whatever. Anyhoo, VirtualDub detects that they are not originated from same source and rejects them.

BTW, VDub is very picky about appending files. Slightest difference will make it to reject your files. There is little you can do about it. What's so important to join AVI files, or any files ? Video files are not like text documents, which are easy to join and split. They are diffcult to edit. You can join them with brutual force, but you lose a lot by doing that. Leave them the way when you get them.