i captured an asf with asf recorder and it plays fine. properties say the vid codec is Windows Media Video V7...
1)using TMPGE 2.54 puts out a VCD compliant MPEG, but the audio has several pops and clicks that were not present on the ASF, and the video freezes here and there.
2)using ASF Tools, i repaired and converted to AVI, but the avi will not play (i have the MPEG4vki codec) nor can it be opened by TMPG, VirtualDub 1.3c, or Vegas Video 3
3)virtual dub 1.3c will not open the original ASF either - i get a 'parse error- too many segments in packet'

is this some super edit/conversion protection or what?

if anyone wants to try for themselves, the ASF can be captured with ASF recorder at:
http://mfile.akamai.com/5787/asf/rstone.download.akamai.com/5787/netshow/2043760/19007.asx