AVI movies playing very slowly

[dhoomketu]

Hello everyone

I have received some avi movies from a friend who converted his VHS tapes to avi. According to him the movies are in MPEG-2 format and are compressed. When I play them on my computer, they seem to play as if in slow motion (somewhat like some of those DIVX movies). Even if I convert them to MPEG1 using TMG, they still dont play smoothly although the file size increases to 395 from 211 MB. I have no problem in playing other mpg /dat files or VCDs. I even tried using virtual dub but it too made a mpg file that plays in slow motion.
Can some shed some light on this as to what is happening? Or what I need to do in order to have them play smoothly? Any input will be highly appreciated.

[wee haggis]

First of all if you friend gave you an AVI then it could'nt be MPEG2 (perhaps if it was DIVX then it would be MPEG4).
Perhaps he converted it to SVCD which would be MPEG2 but you fail to mention if the original AVi he mad works ok on his compter or just yours and if he indeed encoded it to MPEG2.
You will have to make sure you have all the codecs(get Nimo Codec Pack) and also find a player that can play MPEG2 (www.vcdhelp.com).

[dhoomketu]

wee
I think you are right that it is not MPG2 but MPG 4 instead. Now although I can print it, I want it to be a VCD (Not a SVCD). Somehow TMG still does not decompress the file. Any other suggestions??

[wee haggis]

Try opening the file in Virtualdub.
Go to File Information and it will tell you all youi need to know about it.
Then with VIrtualdub run a Direct Stream copy by:
File > Open > Video Tab(direct stream) > Audio Tab(direct stream) > File > Save as AVI.
Now if its already and Mpeg it will probably not open right away when you open it in VIrtualdub .It will Parse.
I also wonder about the quality .If this is a full length movie it would normally be about 700mb if its MPEG4 so,your movie size makes me wonder.

[dhoomketu]

Thanks pal
I am trying right now. Will update shortly.

[dhoomketu]

hmmm
it parsed within 2 minutes and made avi of almost same size that also plays slowly !
Well I guess thats the way it has been capured.

[wee haggis]

It sounds like the capture was indeed flawed.
When you open up the movie in Virtualdub,what does the File Information say under File tab?(copy and paste it here).
Also download this version of Virtualdub:
http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/virtualdub.html

scroll down to Mp3_freeze version.
When downloaded ,open movie then Video > Scan for bad frames.
If you have some bad ones (but not an over abundance) they can be extracted with Virtualdub then save the AVI.

[dhoomketu]

okay wee
Will give that a try later tonight and let you know. Appreciate your help on this one.