I can't play the videos. :|

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Moleculor
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I can't play the videos. :|

Postby Moleculor » Sun Jun 07, 2009 1:46 am

Ok. The videos. About Subversion. In the blogs. I can't play them. I have the Xvid codec installed (v1.2.1, I believe), but I just get black, or sometimes very corrupted visual stillness. Worse, my video player (MPC) seems to play -past- the end of the time on the file.

No audio either, but I think that's normal.

Does anyone happen to know of a solution? My system's got the CCCP installed too, mostly for MKV files, if that gives you an idea of what I'm used to working with. (I build computers from scratch too, to give you an idea of my technical knowhow.)
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Phelanpt
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Postby Phelanpt » Sun Jun 07, 2009 2:06 am

There's a program called GSpot that analyzes a video file, and tells you what codecs it uses, and if you have them or not.
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Postby Pox » Sun Jun 07, 2009 2:34 am

My tip: try VLC. It's the best way around the whole codec-hassle Windows presents... I think the only thing I've found it doesn't play is indeo.
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Postby Moleculor » Sun Jun 07, 2009 4:42 pm

@jelco: The CCCP is a collection of codecs 'n filters that enable it to translate various esoteric video and audio (and subtitle) formats, usually* contained within MKV container files (which can contain any number of video, audio, and subtitle streams).

Hardware isn't even my forte, it's more software, it just helps to explain to people that yes, I know how to plug my computer in so they don't waste their time giving me explanations or braindead advice about stuff I already understand.

And, eh. I was hoping to not have to rip everything out and start from scratch, but I suppose I'll have to.

(*I asterisk the usually since you seemed to have missed the 'mostly' in my last post.)

@Phelanpt: Yahr, I already ran it through GSpot. The FourCC listed is xvid, as Introversion says. The decoding path however seems to be routing it through my Divx codec. Which -seems- wrong, but I know of no way of forcing it to use a different codec. Plus the file itself doesn't play within GSpot, which is something I've not seen before when it claims to have the correct codec installed. GSpot is usually the one thing out of anything that can play a file as a last resort.

@Pox: VLC automatically decodes anything, without the use of codecs? I'm skeptical. I'll try that first, but I suspect it will give me the same issues MPC gives me. EDIT: FASCINATING. It worked. Bizzare. Very very bizzare. Now I'm curious why VLC works and MPC, WMP, and GSpot couldn't.
Last edited by Moleculor on Sun Jun 07, 2009 5:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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NeatNit
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Postby NeatNit » Sun Jun 07, 2009 5:03 pm

VLC has codecs built into it. However, those codecs are only available to VLC itself, making it a very reliable media player, if still too annoying to some.
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Postby xander » Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:15 pm

jelco wrote:...muxers...

Heh. That is a funny word. "Muxers." Heh.

xander
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Postby KingAl » Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:21 pm

jelco wrote:NeatNit is right


:o

/me pinches himself
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Moleculor
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Postby Moleculor » Sun Jun 07, 2009 10:14 pm

@jelco: I apologize for attempting to save time by making sure people understood that I knew of codecs and what they did, and attempting to provide whatever information that might be needed to track the issue down, and in the future will try to keep in mind that you prefer to have your time wasted by people asking questions acting as stupidly as possible.

Srsly, your nitpicking is rather irritating. I said -I- had the CCCP installed FOR THE PURPOSE OF VIEWING MKV FILES. I did not say that CCCP was exclusively and only permitted to be used for said purpose. It's not my fault you've misread both posts I've made, either accidentally or intentionally in an attempt to flaunt your own technical knowhow.

Most people don't install the CCCP to view AVI files. Most people attempting to view MKV files -do- install the CCCP. The word 'usually' does not exclude various other esoteric and far rarer file formats such as flash video or ogg-vorbis media, nor does it exclude other methods by which you may view MKV files (though the folks who do the matroska format do endorse CCCP as I understand it) and I at no point excluded other file formats from my offhand and mention of the various codecs I had installed in an attempt to provide whatever information folks might need to identify the issue.

If it was a bug report with a game, I would have instead mentioned my use of a GeForce 9500 with the 185.85 drivers. Would you then have nitpicked at that statement, saying that I didn't have a GeForce 9500, I had a GeForce 9500 GT, and my failure to mention the extra two letters at the end was an indication of lack of knowledge on my part? Because that's pretty much the same thing you're doing here.

Irritating. More irritating than the process of having to uninstall every codec I have installed. Which was not something I thought I'd have to do, since this has been an issue in two separate installations of Windows. Both sporting corrupt codecs in exactly the same manner that prevent me from viewing ONLY these particular videos and no other, not even other videos encoded with xvid? Seriously strange.
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Postby xander » Sun Jun 07, 2009 10:53 pm

It should also be pointed out that when you come to a forum asking for technical advice, and you say things that don't make sense, you are going to get treated like an idiot. It is better to give us less information than confusing information. Of course, it is always best to give a lot of good quality information. In that regard, report what you did (In this case, you had installed the CCCP. Period. End of Story.). Don't bother with why. No one cares, and it makes Jelco pissy.

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Postby The GoldFish » Sun Jun 07, 2009 11:20 pm

I think it's actually quite common for IV videos to seem to be unplayable; they're more finicky than your average xvid encoded video stream. I think usual advice is, if you have a problem, try VLC. It's so low impact and tends to sort out most problems, it's just easier than trying to find out the real problem and dealing with it (in this case, possibly old or finicky xvid codecs). I'm pretty sure it's one of those "it's not me, it's you" moments.

I think if you'd just been given that advice from the start, everyone would have been better off.
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Postby Phelanpt » Mon Jun 08, 2009 5:41 am

Moleculor wrote:Plus the file itself doesn't play within GSpot, which is something I've not seen before when it claims to have the correct codec installed. GSpot is usually the one thing out of anything that can play a file as a last resort.

I had that once, but can't remember how I fixed it.

I'll try VLC the next time I have codec problems. Which I'm guessing will be soon. :p

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