How-to: Get those none working avi files playing! - Updated 20/07/09

[chris57]

I see quite a few avi files that wont play or play choppy, some may play video but don't have audio.

The first thing to try before anything else is a quick remux. Why? Because it takes seconds rather than minutes and some encoding apps that are used on the internet and play fine on a PC are not compatible with hardware players such as the NMT players. There is also no reduction in quality.

How to Remux an avi

The best and indeed simplest way to remux an avi is with virtualdub. There are many modded versions of virtualdub including the one that I like to use called 'mp3_freeze'.

It can be downloaded here for free.
Simply unzip/unrar to your desktop. There's no installation required the software just opens and works on doubleclick.

I use this version as it can cope with 'vbr mp3' audio without causing any audioskew whereas occasionally virtualdub cannot cope with vbr mp3 without causing audio sync problems. I stay away from NanDub as i see numerous encodes that don't work and the common thread seems to be NanDub.

Doubleclick on the mp3_freeze icon and the app will open.
Then select the option File>Open Video File



The avi will then be imported into the app.

Then move along to the Video option and choose 'Direct Stream Copy':



Then its simply a case of selecting File>'Save as avi'


Selecting your file name and the app will then resave your avi rewriting the header and indexing.

That is it!

How to Remux and Remove JUNK from an avi with Avi-MuxGUI

Occasionally an avi file will play fine apart from not having any audio. This may be due to JUNK in the header information. To remove JUNK you can simply use an app called AVI-MuxGUI.

Download AVI-MuxGUI, I have problems with v1.17.8 on Vista x32 but v.1.17.7 works fine. Launch the app and you should see this window:-


Click on the 'Settings' button to open this window:-


Click on 'AVI Structure' and ensure that there is no check in the JUNK box:-


Drag and drop the troublesome avi file and highlight it:-


Then click on the 'Generate Data' button:-


Click Save and select a name.avi and location for your file.

Click 'Start' and it should start processing:-


A couple of minutes later you should see the process finish:-


Some files will still not play despite the quick remux option or removing the JUNK so a recode is necessary.

How to recode avi files

For these files we have to look at why from looking at the file specifications. To do this I use software called Mediainfo which again is free and can be downloaded here.
Install the mediainfo software and on installation select 'text' output as your default output. It is easier to do this as it can be copied and pasted should you need any further help in the forum.

Here's the output from a file called 'Deathrace' that would play choppy:-

Code:

General
Complete name                    : E:\Last Nights TV\Death Race.avi
Format                           : AVI
Format/Info                      : Audio Video Interleave
File size                        : 1.29 GiB
Duration                         : 1h 40mn
Overall bit rate                 : 1 831 Kbps
Writing library                  : VirtualDub build 0/release

Video
Format                           : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                   : Streaming Video@L1
Format settings, BVOP            : Yes
Format settings, QPel            : No
Format settings, GMC             : 3 warppoints
Format settings, Matrix          : Default
Muxing mode                      : Packed bitstream
Codec ID                         : XVID
Codec ID/Hint                    : XviD
Duration                         : 1h 40mn
Bit rate                         : 1 693 Kbps
Width                            : 720 pixels
Height                           : 304 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 2.35
Frame rate                       : 25.000 fps
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Interlaced
Scan order                       : Bottom Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.309
Stream size                      : 1.19 GiB (92%)
Writing library                  : XviD 1.2.0.dev47 (UTC 2006-11-01)

Audio
Format                           : MPEG Audio
Format version                   : Version 1
Format profile                   : Layer 3
Codec ID                         : 55
Codec ID/Hint                    : MP3
Duration                         : 1h 40mn
Bit rate mode                    : Constant

The interesting part that is causing the problem is this part:-
Format settings, GMC : 3 warppoints

You can see that the file has GMC 3 warp points. PC's can play these files but hardware players cannot, the maximum number of warp points that the NMT players can cope with is one.

To remove the GMC warp points we have to recode. Recoding WILL reduce quality, the extent is debatable.

Remember the bitrate that the mediainfo app displays as we need that later:-
Bit rate : 1 693 Kbps

We have to again open the avi file in mp3_freeze making sure that we also select 'Fast recompress' option:



Then move further up the same Video options and select 'Compression' which will open this window:



You should see the xvid codec as an available option. If you dont then download the xvid codec from here.
Click on the 'Configure' button opening this window:-


Change the profile level to 'Advanced@L5' and if the button below on the left is entitled 'Target Quantizer' click on it to change it to 'Bitrate'.

Then enter in the box to the right the bitrate that was obtained earlier from the mediainfo details:-
Bit rate : 1 693 Kbps



If you click on the 'more' button top right a further window appears. There should be no checks in the boxes entitled GMC or Quarter Pixel(QPEL):



Moving on the the 'Aspect Ratio' tab ensure that it is on Square Pixels. It is the default and once you have checked this there's no need to in future.

Click 'OK' a couple of times to get back to the first window:



Click on 'Save as Avi' and select your filename, as soon as you have done that a further window will open showing you the progress of your recode:



You may also get a second window opening showing you a nice graph etc. just minimize it.
When its finished you should have a perfectly playable in sync properly indexed avi to enjoy on your NMT.

Here are the Mediainfo specs of the newly encoded file, notice the absence of any warp points:

Code:

General
Complete name                    : E:\Last Nights TV\DeathRace.2008.avi
Format                           : AVI
Format/Info                      : Audio Video Interleave
File size                        : 1.29 GiB
Duration                         : 1h 40mn
Overall bit rate                 : 1 829 Kbps
Writing library                  : VirtualDub build 0/release

Video
Format                           : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                   : Streaming Video@L1
Format settings, BVOP            : Yes
Format settings, QPel            : No
Format settings, GMC             : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix          : Default
Codec ID                         : XVID
Codec ID/Hint                    : XviD
Duration                         : 1h 40mn
Bit rate                         : 1 691 Kbps
Width                            : 720 pixels
Height                           : 304 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 2.35
Frame rate                       : 25.000 fps
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.309
Stream size                      : 1.19 GiB (92%)
Writing library                  : XviD 1.1.2 (UTC 2006-11-01)

Audio
Format                           : MPEG Audio
Format version                   : Version 1
Format profile                   : Layer 3
Codec ID                         : 55
Codec ID/Hint                    : MP3
Duration                         : 1h 40mn
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Sampling rate                    : 44.1 KHz
Resolution                       : 16 bits
Video delay                      : 3ms
Stream size                      : 92.4 MiB (7%)
Alignment                        : Split accross interleaves
Interleave, duration             : 40 ms (1.00 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration     : 500 ms
Writing library                  : LAME3.90.3

Q: When I open the file I get this error message:
'Couldn't locate a compressor for DIV3 mpeg4'
A: Install the 'Divx codec' and then recode using the guide above but select the 'divx codec' not the 'xvid codec' to recode. You still need to enter the bitrate

[Mental]

Wow nice tutorial and it helped me quite a bit.
I used to recode avi's using ffmpeg or virtualdub itself by extracting the audio as wave and lateron setting it as the audio source for the new file (and reencoding it).
This will save me some time, thanks!

[lebleaux]

When trying to remux an avi I get an error message from Virtualdub that says 'Couldnt locate decompressor for format 'Xvid' (unknown)' when opening the file. I have downloaded and installed a number of different versions of the Xvid codec but no joy.

The avi file plays successfully in VLC but has gaps in the soundtrack when played on the PCH. I would like to recover it.

Any ideas

[chris57]

(01-27-2009 08:55 AM)lebleaux Wrote:  When trying to remux an avi I get an error message from Virtualdub that says 'Couldnt locate decompressor for format 'Xvid' (unknown)' when opening the file. I have downloaded and installed a number of different versions of the Xvid codec but no joy.

The avi file plays successfully in VLC but has gaps in the soundtrack when played on the PCH. I would like to recover it.

Any ideas

Try this:-
http://www.moviecodec.com/topics/26374p1.html
Or this:-
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/246698

There are quite a few solutions for this just google the error message. The solution for you will depend on what codecs you already have installed, in which order, and what OS you use.

[Steel A Jeeg]

I have a quick question. I actually found this post using a google search, so please forgive me if I'm dredging up an old topic, but your solution worked wonders for me. I've been having trouble playing certain videos on my Western Digital Media Player, and this does the trick.

I was just wondering if there was a way to keep the video quality CLOSER to the original, even at the expense of a larger filesize?

[chris57]

If your remuxing then you are keeping the original video so no quality drop at all. If you are rencoding then there will be a drop but it shouldn't be very noticeable. Whenever you rencode you lose quality im afraid, no matter what container or format.

[sharnon007]

Thank you gor the excellent tutorial.
I googled the problem and this was in the top 20 answers! Nice job!
Because of the excellence in which it was made, I have joined.


Thank you!~~~~~~~~~~~~~ sharnon007

[chris57]

Thanks for the kind words, ive updated the Guide a little to reflect using Avi-MuxGUI to remove JUNK from the header as that seems to be causing playback issues.

[jnook1]

Hey Chris,

I'd posted in this thread about some AVI files playing with no audio. I'd tried the remux and it didnt do anything but the JUNK removal step did get the video and audio both playing. The issue is though after removing the JUNK the audio/video are now out of sync. Audio is about a second behind the video. Any reason for this, or a quick fix?

[chris57]

Here's a guide I always use for audio synch:-
http://nickyguides.digital-digest.com/audio-synch.htm

Could be down to numerous things such as changing from VBR to CBR or the audio delay could have been in the header and is not any longer. You can add/delay audio via entering ms in Avi-MuxGUI in settings.
Also you can try this app called avi-recomp on the original avi file as I have had success with audio sync in it:-
http://www.avirecomp.com/news.php

[gaborg]

VirtualDub MP3 Freeze works fine for avi files to make them able to play on PCH. Is there a similar application that can do the same job on mac?

[diogoquintao]

Great tutorial !!!

Thanks

[Burner]

I have trubble playing xvid movis if I play them from a USB memory in to my TV (streaming them through my xbox and they play just fine).
Some movies play just fine and some lag very mutch
Will remuxing them help so I dont get lag?
Thx in advance

[chris57]

Not really the place to discuss, please ask in the A100 Video section posting the mediainfo output and details of exactly what you are referring to?

[swattpopcorn]

Many thanks for such a well documented piece - trying to remidy IceAge now