VLC always requires repairing camera .avi vids

[jon08]

Whenever I want to play vids that I shot with my Canon SD800 camera, VLC Player always says that the .avi file is broken and I thus need to repair it. It will work after repairing the file, but it's annoying when for each vid it asks for repair. It will always work when I play my .avi camera vids in Real Player or QuickTime, but why is VLC causing problems?

Is there a way to fix it?

 

[MisterMe]

Whenever I want to play vids that I shot with my Canon SD800 camera, VLC Player always says that the .avi file is broken and I thus need to repair it. It will work after repairing the file, but it's annoying when for each vid it asks for repair. It will always work when I play my .avi camera vids in Real Player or QuickTime, but why is VLC causing problems?

Is there a way to fix it?

What is it that you want to fix? The first thing that you need to understand is that .avi is not a video format. It is a wrapper format that supports any number of different codecs for its video and audio tracks. QuickTime supports the old Video for Windows codec. Most .avi files on the web today are DivX-encoded files. These can be played if you have the DivX or Perian codecs installed. Commercial digital camera manufacturers use some obscure codec. Both the QuickTime Player and VLC will give you the audio and video codecs used.

So again, the question is: What do your want fixed? As far as the QuickTime Player is concerned, nothing is broken. Things are playing fine. RealPlayer is using the QuickTime codecs. Nothing is broken there. VLC is an opensource player that uses its own codec clones of popular [and obscure] codecs. Whatever codec is used by your camera's manufacturer has not yet been cloned perfectly in your version of VLC.

My advice to you:

• Update VLC to the most recent version that is compatible with your computer.
• State which codecs are used for the audio and video tracks of your .avi files.
• If the latest version of VLC has problems with your .avi files, then share this information with the VLC project team.

 

[dumell]

why is VLC causing problems? Is there a way to fix it?

Many Canon cameras produce MotionJPEG video inside AVI files in such a way that VLC considers them slightly broken. There is no exact standard for how to implement MotionJPEG inside an AVI file and as a result we end up with these problems.

You can fix the files by re-saving them. You may have noticed that the files are VERY large so it might make sense to convert them to something like h.264 video inside an MP4 file either using QuickTime Pro or VLC itself (file -> streaming/export wizard).

 

[jon08]

What is it that you want to fix? The first thing that you need to understand is that .avi is not a video format. It is a wrapper format that supports any number of different codecs for its video and audio tracks. QuickTime supports the old Video for Windows codec. Most .avi files on the web today are DivX-encoded files. These can be played if you have the DivX or Perian codecs installed. Commercial digital camera manufacturers use some obscure codec. Both the QuickTime Player and VLC will give you the audio and video codecs used.

So again, the question is: What do your want fixed? As far as the QuickTime Player is concerned, nothing is broken. Things are playing fine. RealPlayer is using the QuickTime codecs. Nothing is broken there. VLC is an opensource player that uses its own codec clones of popular [and obscure] codecs. Whatever codec is used by your camera's manufacturer has not yet been cloned perfectly in your version of VLC.

My advice to you:

• Update VLC to the most recent version that is compatible with your computer.
• State which codecs are used for the audio and video tracks of your .avi files.
• If the latest version of VLC has problems with your .avi files, then share this information with the VLC project team.

First of all, I'm using the latest version of VLC (1.0.1). I never said QuickTime was broken - in fact, I said it ALWAYS plays my Canon camera .avi video clips. On the contrary, VLC doesn't - unless I repaired them. And that's what bothers me.

 

[MisterMe]

First of all, I'm using the latest version of VLC (1.0.1). I never said QuickTime was broken - in fact, I said it ALWAYS plays my Canon camera .avi video clips. On the contrary, VLC doesn't - unless I repaired them. And that's what bothers me.

Nobody knows what you do unless you tell them. So now you know what you need to do. Report the problem to the VLC project.