Video Freezes at First Key Frame

[megamachine]

On playback, the video stream of a DivX encoded AVI freezes on the first keyframe, while the audio continues playing until the end. I've tried playing the file back in several different media players with the same result. As an added oddity, I am running Windows 2000, but on my friend's PC with Windows XP the video plays fine. I've done about three dozen DivX video encodes and not once have I had this problem. Any suggestions on what might be wrong with this file or how I can fix the problem? Many thanks.

P.S. I also scanned the video stream for errors with none found.

[UncasMS]

in case you're using divx5 as playbackfilter (my first choice is ffdshow NOT divx), check your divx-settings

should you find *smooth playback* enabled, DISABLE it

[megamachine]

Thanks for the reply. I had heard that FFDShow is better, but DivX never gave me any trouble till now. I'm using DivX Pro 5.0.2 and the Smooth Playback box in the properties window is unchecked, which I assume means it's disabled. In the mean time, I tried making a direct stream copy in VDub, to no avail, and also tried cutting off the beginning of the file at the first key frame and the second key frame with VDub, but I still get a freeze frame on the video while the audio plays merrily along. Any other ideas? I was hoping to salvage this file and not have to re-encode the movie, plus I got curious as to what's going on here. Best wishes.

P.S. If I do decide to install FFDShow, should I remove all the other codecs I have installed (e.g., DivX and XviD)? And are there any known issues or conflicts with Win2kPro? I don't want to get caught in the codec stew that I read a lot of folks get into here.

P.P.S. And by they way, where can I get FFD Show? Thanks.

[megamachine]

Thanks Uncas, FFDShow did the trick. Now when I play the movie, there is some garbled video at the beginning, which must have been confusing the DivX playback somehow. After a few seconds the audio and video now play fine, so I'll remove the garbeld part.