VLC and AVI re-indexing

[Seeker47]

At some point, I opted for a setting in VLC that tries to fix any bad AVI index automatically, when you go to play the file. It must have been somewhere in the Advanced menus, but now I can't find that checkbox again, for times I might want to turn that OFF. (Like for a truncated .AVI file, where this can cause VLC to choke at xy %, while trying to load it. Can you even re-index a truncated file ?) I did look in the VLC Help and wiki, but found only some command line type info.

I'd also like to find some other, maybe better repair options. Can you take AVI to .MPG in a lossless or near-lossless way ? (I have MPEG restreaming available in Womble DVD Wizard.)

[jagabo]

Tools -> Preferences -> (Show Settings - All) -> Input/Codecs -> Demuxers -> AVI -> Force Index Creation

[Seeker47]

Tools -> Preferences -> (Show Settings - All) -> Input/Codecs -> Demuxers -> AVI -> Force Index Creation

Wow -- that's buried DEEP. Thanx, jagabo !

[AlanHK]

I'd also like to find some other, maybe better repair options.

I find that Avidemux is pretty good for mildly screwy files.
Just save the file to a new AVI, with the default video and audio set to "copy" and it recreates the index, and patches up bad spots (you might still see glitches, but they don't freeze the video).

[Seeker47]

I'd also like to find some other, maybe better repair options.

I find that Avidemux is pretty good for mildly screwy files.
Just save the file to a new AVI, with the default video and audio set to "copy" and it recreates the index, and patches up bad spots (you might still see glitches, but they don't freeze the video).

Thanks -- I'll give that a try. It would be great if it also does that for truncated files. I had a couple like that recently that were only missing 2 - 3 minutes at the end, but having most of it (that would be playable) was better than not having it at all.

[Seeker47]

I'd also like to find some other, maybe better repair options.

I find that Avidemux is pretty good for mildly screwy files.
Just save the file to a new AVI, with the default video and audio set to "copy" and it recreates the index, and patches up bad spots (you might still see glitches, but they don't freeze the video).

I think this may be a good answer for my problem .AVIs. Thanks.

Ultimately, I'm looking to have a set of methods for fixing such problems with most common video file types. From my early attempts at trying Avidemux, it does not seem to offer any remedies for .WMV files (?), and may even crash when trying to load them. For those, I keep hoping to find a decent guide -- or maybe any guide -- for the use of ASFbinWin. That program only seems to have a command line switches glossary available for it. I did try to blunder my way through the use of ASFbinWin on a .WMV clip that erroneously listed itself (so far as Windows shows) as being over 2 hours long when it was really around 20 minutes in running time, and which was non-seekable. (Sounds like another indexing problem to me.) I should find out if this really worked once the file is ready for play on a standalone player. An on-the-PC player like VLC tends to be forgiving or to overlook some file anomalies that won't get a pass elsewhere.

[AlanHK]

Thanks -- I'll give that a try. It would be great if it also does that for truncated files. I had a couple like that recently that were only missing 2 - 3 minutes at the end, but having most of it (that would be playable) was better than not having it at all.

I've recently fixed some truncated AVI files.

Some just by using Avidemux as above. Some wouldn't open in that, but would open in VDub.
So I saved them in VDub (with video and audio set to direct stream copy).
Then I could open them in Avidemux and save them again, which fixed the indexing and gave me a seekable file.

[jagabo]

Don't forget DivFix for rebuilding AVI index chunks.