Close to tears over Media Player

[wheeljack77]

As I am very new to this,can somebody tell me how to play downladed video files?!!
I got a certain movie from morpheus which needed a 'smr codec' (?) to run and even once I got this I had 45 minutes of silent black screen.
Where am I going wrong?Is Media Player just crap?
(I'm using Windows 98 & Media Player 7.
Help please!!!!

[setarip]

A) Be aware that there are many FAKE videos floating around in the download world

B) In order to determine which codec you need for a particular .AVI (and other information), you should do the following:

1) Load the file into VirtualDub

2) From the "File" dropdown menu, select "File Information"

3) Post (here) EVERYTHING you see (both video and audio information), or post a screen capture .jpg of the information box

[Juice]

setarip,
I have the exact same problem. I recently downloaded a movie from Kazaa and when I try to play it I get blank screen and no sound. I've downloaded divex 5, 4.12 & 3.11 and the nimo codec pack and still nothing.

I downloaded virualdub and followed your instructions. This is what I got:

Video Stream
Frame Size....................352x288, 4.000fps (250000 u.s.)
# of frames (time).........11560 (48:10)
Decompressor...............Uncompressed RGB1
Number of key frames...11560
min/avg/max/totlkey frm size..12672/12672/12672 (143055K)
min/avg/max/totldelta frm size....no delta frames

Audio Stream is completely blank

Thank you.

[khp]

Originally posted by Juice

Video Stream
Frame Size....................352x288, 4.000fps (250000 u.s.)
# of frames (time).........11560 (48:10)
Decompressor...............Uncompressed RGB1
Number of key frames...11560
min/avg/max/totlkey frm size..12672/12672/12672 (143055K)
min/avg/max/totldelta frm size....no delta frames

Audio Stream is completely blank

This has FAKE written all over it.

[Juice]

Thanks khp, that's what I was afraid of.

I know nothing about virtualdub or any of the information that I posted ("frame size", "# of frames", etc.). What was it about that info that suggested it's a fake.
Also, is there any way I might determine if a file is fake before I download it.

Thanks for your help.

[Batman]

Most likely the file is a fake

Just for the heck of it try divfix.

Its relatively easy to tell if a file is "incomplete" or a "fake." Go for the most common download, examine which directory it is in, and if the file size seems "wierd"---too small.

Also have you installed the smr patch, and I would recommend you UNINSTALL divx 5.x, and revert back to divx 3.11 alpha. Use gdivx, or WMP 6.4 for viewing divx media.

[khp]

Originally posted by Juice
What was it about that info that suggested it's a fake.

OK lets take it line by line...

Frame Size....................352x288, 4.000fps (250000 u.s.)

Frame size is rather small, but OK. But 4 fps thats just creazy, that would be more like a slide show than video.

# of frames (time).........11560 (48:10)

Number of frames and playback length. Nothing unusual about that, execpt it's a bit short for a movie.

Decompressor...............Uncompressed RGB1

Now this is where you should start hearing alarm bells. It states that the video is uncompressed. That is, each video image is basically stored as a bitmap. This is extremely inefficient, and was probably done just to inflate the filesize to make it look real.

Number of key frames...11560

All video streams contain Key frames, these are frames that can be read independently of the rest of the video.
High compression codecs such as divx, also contain deltaframes, these depend on other frames (usually just the frame before it )and can only be decoded when this frame has been decoded. Because the video is uncompressed all frames are key frames.

min/avg/max/totlkey frm size..12672/12672/12672

This states the min/avg/max size of all the keyframes. Because the video is uncompressed all frames are the same size.

min/avg/max/totldelta frm size....no delta frames

This states the min/avg/max/total size of all delta frames, because the video is uncompressed the there is no delta frames.

[Juice]

Thanks khp.

This was a second part of a 2 part movie, hence the lenght (48:10).
And the file was 140 megs so I thaught it was real, but your response explains perfectly (and in plain english) why it appeared like a real file:

"( Now this is where you should start hearing alarm bells. It states that the video is uncompressed. That is, each video image is basically stored as a bitmap. This is extremely inefficient, and was probably done just to inflate the filesize to make it look real. )"

Thanks again for taking time to explain it (and thank you Batman).

[tWeEk]

Same Problem...Different File Info

I have the same problem as Juice but my VirtualDub results look like this:

Video Stream
Frame Size....................352x288, 25.000fps (40000 u.s.)
# of frames (time).........93708 (1:02:28)
Decompressor...............DivX 5.0.2 Codec
Number of key frames...313
min/avg/max/totlkey frm size..1132/1132/1133 (347K)
min/avg/max/totldelta frm size....58/58/58 (5290K)

Audio Stream is all blank

The file is the first part of "8 Mile" by SMR and is 180Megs
Please tell me if these results look fake as well because I also tried all kinds of things and all it does is counts on the timer but shows no video and plays no audio.

Thanks,
tWeEk

[khp]

Re: Same Problem...Different File Info

Originally posted by tWeEk

min/avg/max/totlkey frm size..1132/1132/1133 (347K)
min/avg/max/totldelta frm size....58/58/58 (5290K)

These numbers tell us that all key frames are the same size and all delta frame are the same size. This strongly suggest that the video contains the exact same frame from start to finish. Which also explain why all you see is a black frame.

The curious thing is that according to the stats the file should only be about 6-8 MB. So something must be attached to the end of the file.

Could you try compressing the file with winzip. If it can be compressed by more than 5% it's cirtainly fake.

[tWeEk]

Thanks

That was pretty funny. I compressed it with winace and the file came out to a whoppin 221 KB!

I am still wondering....why do people create fake movies? Do they not have a life? Oh well...back on IRC I go.

Thanks khp,
tWeEk

[khp]

Re: Thanks

Originally posted by tWeEk

I am still wondering....why do people create fake movies? Do they not have a life?

That may be part of the reason. Another possible reason is that many P2P require that you share a cirtain amount of data to join the network. And some people claim that the MPAA put out fakes to discurage pirates.

[Trane]

Video But no Audio

I downloaded a movie (K19.The.Widowmaker.DVDRip.DivX-DiAMOND.CD1) from iMesh last night. The video works but I get no audio. Attatched is a printscreen of the error message I get when it starts to play in RealOnePlayer as well as the VirtualDub output info.

What am I doing wrong and how do I fix it?

trane

[setarip]

To Trane

There is no attachment in your post...

[gd_nimrod]

Right, there is no attachment as setarip pointed out, but before doing anything else i suggest you install Nimo Codec Pack. It can be found on the www.divx-digest.com website.