View AVI's made with webcam ...

[Nick Marshall]

Hi all,

In desperate need here - at my wits end!

I have a few avi files (of my kids as babies sob sob!) ... I recorded them with a Logitech webcam 10 years ago. The computer they were stored on died a long time back and I just can't get them to play or convert or anything ...

I have tried every player and converter and codec I can find, though I confess I'm new to codecs. MPlayerC, SMPlayer, VLC, Super, Core Media Player, TeVeo, Irfan, Prism Video Converter and more ... I have installed the Logitech software (which strangely only reads WMV's) ... all with no joy.

"Super" Analysis reports:
Codec ID/Info : DIVIO JPEG Light for WebCams (Pegasus Lossless JPEG)

The header of the avi includes the following:
RIFF AVI LIST hdrlavih8 strlstrh8 vidsJPGL strf XVID

Please, any help much appreciated ...

Nick

[DarrellS]

maybe...

http://codec.kiev.ua/codec/Pegasus_PICVideo.htm

[jagabo]

ffdshow might work too. fourcc.org indicates Lead's codec supports it:

http://fourcc.org/codecs.php
http://www.leadtools.com/sdk/multimedia/codecs.htm

Can you upload a small sample?

[Nick Marshall]

Sorry for the 2-year delay in replying (I've had another baby in the meantime!) ... Please find a sample file attached to this message - still trying, still failing!
With thanks - excuse me if I also pm you to remind you to check this the-longest-waited-for-post ever!

[leye0]

Looks like a very special mjpeg video. When parsing it, there's a lot of packets preceded by the word "Junk", and even parts with words like Example Goto Method, etc. It is an mjpeg video (JPGL), in 320x240, with no specification for the pixel format. The audio isn't compressed, but images are compressed. Normally, when parsing a mjpeg, you can cut the jpeg in side the files, put it in an hexadecimal editor, paste it, save it as a jpeg an open it. But in this case, there aren't the "JFIF" word in the sample header.

What I know, though, is that this is a codec that doesn't use motion prediction/estimation, so that the camera can save on CPU/processing cost. ffmpeg detects a number with the JPGL format, which is 0x4C47504A. I don't know if it can be useful in your long investigation.

Here, I can here the sound from the video in VLC.

Btw, the best way to analyze a video is to use a recent ffmpeg or ffprobe.

- Leon Pelletier

[jagabo]

Maybe Pegasus's PicVideo lossless JPEG codec?

[Cornucopia]

What I would do would be to set up a new computer that could be dual-booted into the OS that would have been in use at the time the camera was being used (so, 2001 could be Win95, 98, 98se, ME, 2k, or maybe XP, though not likely the last).
Install that OS fresh, then install the drivers & corresponding apps fresh, then install a basic video editing app that would have worked back in that day (might be VFW-only-based, might be Directshow-based, or both).
Load up the files & immediately convert to something like uncompressed AVI (should always be an option). It will of course be HUGE compared to the originals, but you'll have HDD space available, right? Oh, BTW, make sure you format the drives so they are compatible with the OS at the time (IOW, no NTFS on Win98, etc).
Once you have uncompressed AVIs, save those off to an external drive, then you can wipe clean the whole thing and give the PC a modern OS. Or if you had dual-booted, you just boot back into your normal working OS.
Now you have files that you can do something with-view/play, edit, convert, etc. All via your own "time machine".

Scott

[leye0]

That's the third reply that says to use that codec. I hope he already tried it. :P

[Cornucopia]

I won't bet money that it would work. I'd just use the original codec, as per my suggestion above.

[Nick Marshall]

Hi all ... and thank you all too.

I think Pegasus's PicVideo is the solution but I still can't force a player to use the codec. Can someone give me a step by step method to do this?

Cheers