cant play avi's

[pammy37]

If this is the wrong forum for a total novice like me, then I apologise in advance. But all I want to do is play a couple of avi's I downloaded for my little grandson - and I am getting error messages that the format is not supported, and that I dont have the decompression software for them. (or something like that)\I went to the help site, and followed that as much as I could till it got a bit too technical for me..lol..
I downloaded windows media encoder 8 but WMP or winamp still cant open them.
Can somebody please help me, or at least tell me what forum I should be going to.
Thanks
Pammy
(P.S. I am running windows 98se, and am using wmp7 and winamp 3. DirectX is also installed)

[Enchanter]

Try downloading and installing FFDShow. Once installed, go to Configuration -> Codecs tab and enable the various compression types supported (DivX, XviD, etc.; except MPEG-1/2).

Try playing some of your .avi files and see if they work this time.

Regards.

[pammy37]

Thanks enchanter for that fast response. Well, I did what you said, but although I am not getting error messages now, i am just getting a "blank screen" on both wmp and winamp when I try to play either of the avi's.
I didnt see a "mpeg 1/2" in the configuration..but there were other mpeg's which I left ticked..Is that the problem????
Pammy

[Enchanter]

The following thread may give further insights:

Link

Cheers.

[letherneck]

Try this fix, i think it will help fixing your problem.
hxxp://www.morgan-multimedia.com/MMODMLFix/

[pammy37]

thanks heaps letherneck..but I just did that and the 2 "finding nemo" avi's still wont work..They dont give me error messages any more about missing codecs etc...but they just give a blank screen . The "slider" in WMP is even moving as though they are playing, but nothing is there...
OH well..it sure was worth a try..
Thanks to everybody for your help..I guess my grandson is just going to have to wait for the movie DVD to be released here..
Pammy

[Enchanter]

The (far) better quality of the DVD will be worth it, I assure you.

[pammy37]

thats for sure..he is only 3 years old, so the finding nemo screensaver I downloaded for him lat night is keeping him really happy for the time being anyway..lol

[videopnut]

Are you sure those "avi" files aren't actually DivX files? DivX uses the avi file extension for some strange reason (maybe just to piss people off).

Try opening the movies using the DivX player. If you don't have the DivX player, it's free for the download.

[Enchanter]

"DivX uses the avi file extension for some strange reason (maybe just to piss people off)."

That's the way it is. Hence the term "DivX-compressed .avi files". Some are not aware of this (the use of the container format AVI for DivX) and hence resorted to renaming the extension to .divx (which does not do anything in terms of functionality).

Regards.

[Enchanter]

And by the way, pammy37 posted the file information of those files in another thread. The files were found to be fake (unfortunately indeed).

Regards.

[pammy37]

Thanks again for the interest in this. I have deleted the files now.
I downloaded a couple more things just to try it on this puter..mpg's actually - and they worked fine..So I guess it must have just been the Finding Nemo ones.
What a great group of people you are.. I will certainly yell for help when I need it.
Pammy
(http.www.pammy37.worldzonepro.com/)

[Enchanter]

Glad to have been of help (or disappointment for discovering your fake files actually ^_^). Do post back here when you find the need. There will always be more than enough people willing to help.

Regards.