.avi only plays audio... no video in Movie Maker 6.0 / Win Media Player

[graymouse]

I'm brand new to video editing and hoping folks here can help me with what has been a rough start so far.

I recently paid a company to scan my parents' old Super8mm videos, add some music, and send me the data in an uncompressed .avi file. Today I downloaded Windows Movie Maker 6.0 and tried to start editing the uncompressed.avi file. For some reason, Movie Maker 6.0 only recognized the audio when I attempted to add it to the storyboard. I could play the video and the sound was there, but the screen remained black. I had the same issue when trying to play the file in Window's Media Player. Oddly enough, the same file will play both sound and video in VLC and VirtualDub.

After spending all afternoon trying to adjust graphics card settings and update my drivers, etc. all to no avail. I have more or less given up on getting Movie Maker 6.0 to work figuring it may be a compatibility issue with my older OS (Windows 7).

Ultimately, I think I would like to use Avisynth for my editing. Unfortunately, I seem to get Avisynth to read the file either. When I set up an AVISource file using the .avi files full file location, I can't seem to run it using Windows Media Player, VLC, or Virtual Dub.

Does anybody have any ideas what I am doing wrong or what might be wrong with my .avi file? I am only looking to apply some basic filters to this video (i.e. stabilization), but I can't even get started because I can't open the file in any applications.

Any help you can provide is much appreciated. Please let me know what other info you may need from me.

[sneaker]

Use MediaInfo if you are interested in finding out about the detailed properties of the avi file. VirtualDub's File->File information can also show some infos. Maybe you are missing some VfW codec that AVISource() requires.

Alternatively try to open in AviSynth using the ffms2 source filter (based on ffmpeg like VLC):

a=ffaudiosource("input.avi")
v=ffvideosource("input.avi")
AudioDub(v, a)

https://github.com/FFMS/ffms2/releases

Ultimately, I think I would like to use Avisynth for my editing. Unfortunately, I seem to get Avisynth to read the file either. When I set up an AVISource file using the .avi files full file location, I can't seem to run it using Windows Media Player, VLC, or Virtual Dub.

Bad error description. What is the exact message you get when you open the .avs script in VirtualDub? How does your script look exactly?

[jagabo]

Both VLC and VirtualDub have built in "codecs" for uncompressed video in most common pixel formats. Windows' DirectShow only supports some pixel formats without adding codecs to the system. See http://fourcc.org/ for a list of many different pixel formats.

AviSynth will probably be able to open the file directly with AviSource(). If not, use MediaInfo or GSpot to determine what pixel format is used and install a VFW decoder for that.

[graymouse]

First, thank you both for your help. Second, below, I tried to do a better job of describing what I've done so far... error messages and all.

First, my .avi file will only render audio (no video) in both Windows Media Player (WMP) and in Windows Movie Maker 6.0. It will render both audio and video in VirtualDub and VLC Player, but the video is very choppy with a lot of pausing.

Second, I tried running the following .avs script using WMP and VirtualDub:
avisource("F:\Home Video (Mom & Dad)\Video\Home_Movie.avi")

WMP gave me this error: AVISource: couldn't locate a decompressor for fourcc v210 (F:\Home Video (Mom & Dad)\Video\New AviSynth Script.avs, line1)
In VirtualDub, the same script gave me this error message: "AVI Importer Filter error: (Unknown) (80040154)"

Third, I tried running this script on WMP and Virtual Dub:
DirectShowSource("F:\Home Video (Mom & Dad)\Video\Home_Movie.avi", fps=29)

This time, I didn't receive an error message using WMP, but it would only render the audio, no video... same thing as when I would just open the uncomressed.avi file directly using WMP. When I tried to run this second script using VirtualDub, I received the same error message as before: "AVI Importer Filter error: (Unknown) (80040154)"

So, I took your advice and downloaded GSpot to get more info on the .avi file. Given that I have zero background in all this, the information provided by GSpot meant nothing to me, so I'm uploading an attachment in hopes that you can tell me what it all means and where I need to go from here.

Also, I'm not sure whether I did it correctly, but I tried to run the ffms2 source filter using the script below:
a=ffaudiosource("F:\Home Video (Mom & Dad)\Video\Home_Movie.avi")
v=ffvideosource("F:\Home Video (Mom & Dad)\Video\Home_Movie.avi")
AudioDub(v, a)

I tried running this script by opening it with both WMP and VirtualDub. I received the following error message from WMP: Script Error: there is no function named "ffaudiosource" (F:\Home Video (Mom & Dad)\Video\New AviSynth Script.avs, line1)
When running this in VirtualDub, I received this error message: "Importer Filter error: (Unknown) (80040154)"

As you can probably tell, I really am starting from nothing here, so any help you can give me would be much appreciated. Though, it will need to be boiled down to the basics. I would like to begin learning Avisynth, but I can't even get the .avi to render... more than a little demoralizing when starting out!! Thanks again for your help.

[sneaker]

In VirtualDub, the same script gave me this error message: "AVI Importer Filter error: (Unknown) (80040154)"

Are you trying to open AviSynth 32 bit using VirtualDub 64 bit or vice versa? That won't work.

Script Error: there is no function named "ffaudiosource" (F:\Home Video (Mom & Dad)\Video\New AviSynth Script.avs, line1)

ffms2 is not included in the AviSynth package. Needs to be downloaded and installed (or manually loaded).
https://github.com/FFMS/ffms2/releases
Copy ffms2.dll (from "x86" folder for vanilla AviSynth 32 bit) and FFMS2.avsi to your AviSynth plugin directory. (usually C:\Program Files (x86)\AviSynth\plugins)

GSpot says something about UtVideo codec. But with ffms2 it shouldn't be needed. (I haven't used GSpot in ages. It is >10 years old.)

[jagabo]

You need a V210 decoder.

http://fourcc.org/pixel-format/yuv-v210/

You may also need some other special software to handle the 10 bit YUV.

[graymouse]

Good point about the 32-bit/64-bit compatibility problems between Avisynth and VirtualDub... hadn't even thought about that. Looks like the build I downloaded from the Avisynth.org website is 32-bit; however, I have 64-bit VDub on my computer, and I am running a 64-bit OS. Any idea where I can find an up-to-date 64-bit version of Avisynth? The only 64-bit versions I saw on the website were for an Ubuntu OS and a deprecated 64-bit build.

I looked into manually loading the ffms2.dll and FFMS2.avsi files. After downloading the zip file from Git Hub, I was able to find the FFMS2.avsi file but not a .dll file... where should I be looking? I found the Avisynth plugins directory no problem.

Also, I initially thought the v210 codec was the issue, too, so I went and installed a codec pack that contained v210. Now GSpot is telling me that I have the v210 codec installed; however, the .avi file is still behaving the same way... rendering audio but no video in WMP and Movie Maker 6.0.

[jagabo]

There are two video libraries in Windows. DirectShow and VFW. When running 64 Windows you have two versions of each of those libraries 64 bit and 32 bit. So you have four separate video systems:

32 bit VFW
64 bit VFW
32 bit DirectShow
64 bit DirectShow

You need all matching components to form a complete filter chain. None of the systems can "see" any of the others. It's like having four separate computers. VirtualDub and AviSynth's AviSource() require VFW codecs so you need:

32 bit VFW V210 codec + 32 bit AviSynth + 32 bit VFW editor/player

or

64 bit VFW V210 codec + 32 bit AviSynth + 64 bit VFW editor/player

AviSynth's DirectShow() source requires DirectShow codecs. So you will need

32 bit DirectShow V210 codec + 32 bit AviSynth + 32 bit editor/player

or

64 bit DirectShow V210 codec + 64 bit AviSynth + 64 bit editor/player

But... I'm not absolutely sure AviSynth supports V210. If not, hope that the codec will convert to YUY2 for you. If you make a small V210 sample video available I'll take a look and see if I can work out something for you.

[sneaker]

I have 64-bit VDub on my computer, and I am running a 64-bit OS. Any idea where I can find an up-to-date 64-bit version of Avisynth?

Official AviSynth is 32 bit only. Use VirtualDub 32 bit.

I looked into manually loading the ffms2.dll and FFMS2.avsi files. After downloading the zip file from Git Hub, I was able to find the FFMS2.avsi file but not a .dll file... where should I be looking? I found the Avisynth plugins directory no problem.

Download "fms2-2.23.1-msvc.7z".

Once you got AviSynth running there is the option to use the virtual file server (avfs). It's kind of a last resort but then almost any software can load the AviSynth scripts and they might even work in the Windows Movie Maker.
Thinking of it. Are there 32 bit and 64 bit versions of the Movie Maker? I have no experience with it.