Computer not recognizing any type of video file

mdgrim

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Right so I have been recording stuff with the "im poor" fraps and xfire to make a Teamfortress 2 video, But every time I go to open one of these files I get an error along the lines of something like this [windows was not able to recognize the video file format. Maybe it was compressed in an unknown way or you do not have the codex installed.]

I dont understand why this is occurring because they are .avi files and I have worked with them before. I have tried converting them to different formats and installing codex stuff, but nothing. Any suggestions/help?

P.S. I'm using Windows Vista


~ Thanks, mdgrim
 
well if you using windows failure player,, you may need to update to the latest edtion (i think they're at 11 or 12 now) if not - try reinstalling fraps / xFire - you may be on to something with a corrupt packing system within the files...
 
I would also suggest recording a demo using TF2 and then converting it. If not i would suggest dropping WMP and getting VLC to play and watch your files.
 
well it isnt just windows media player that will not run the files, it is also windows movie maker, which I was going to use (and already have used) to splice parts together. Also, I tried uploading a short 5 second gameplay video to youtube (which took around 20 minutes on my failnet) and the upload failed.
 
Windows media player might not just work with that format. Use quicktime or vlc media player?
 
Still nothing, installed that thing and restarted comp. Both windows movie maker and windows media player are up to date. Videos still wont run :facewall:
 
Well, this is interesting.
There is something deeper going on here.
The easiest thing to do is just re-install your OS.
 
yeah, but doing so would get rid of all personal files (a.k.a games,documents,music,etc) wouldn't it? Seems like too much of a hassle for something I spend basically none of my time doing on computers hehe.
 
yeah, but doing so would get rid of all personal files (a.k.a games,documents,music,etc) wouldn't it? Seems like too much of a hassle for something I spend basically none of my time doing on computers hehe.

ya it would

but you could just back things up and a reinstall will fix any other issues with the OS

and a suggestion if you reinstall, dont use the default partition scheme windows does by default make one for the operating system and make a partition for your personal data that way during reinstall you don't lose anything all you need to do is reinstall your apps
 
Well, I discovered today that my college offers multiple programs to us students, along with keys for free. All we must do is return the CD in a givin amount of time. One of these programs turns out to be Windows 7! So if there is a way for me to put Windows 7 (free notheless) on my PC that has Vista, and without losing my files. I will be happy and maybe will help fix the video problem
 
Well, I discovered today that my college offers multiple programs to us students, along with keys for free. All we must do is return the CD in a givin amount of time. One of these programs turns out to be Windows 7! So if there is a way for me to put Windows 7 (free notheless) on my PC that has Vista, and without losing my files. I will be happy and maybe will help fix the video problem

just back up your files to an other partition or external drive
 
you could just resize the current windows partition and use the extra space for backup.

partitions are just divisions of a harddisk so you can split one disk up and and use it for multiple os's and data
 
VLC Media Player is win.

I never install codecs for anything, except for the XviD codec because I need that for VirtualDubMod to compress files.

I'm not a fan of Win7 personally but it's definitely better than Vista. Hell, Windows 3.1 is probably better than Vista. hehe

If you don't want to reinstall all of windows or your fearful about losing your personal files, you can try uninstalling any Windows Media related Windows Components and then reinstalling them perhaps. Bare in mind you will most likely need a Windows CD in order to reinstall these components.

  1. Click the Start button
  2. Click on Control Panel
  3. Click on Programs
  4. Click on Turn Windows Features on or off
  5. Uncheck any boxes next to features that have anything to do with Windows Media Player or video in general
  6. Click OK to have Windows Vista save and apply your changes.
    At this point, any components should be uninstalled, possibly requiring a reboot depending on what they are.
  7. Next, launch the Add/Remove Components applet again and re-check the boxes next to the media services you just removed to reinstall them, click OK to save the changes once again

I don't know what the components are named if there are any since I'm working from memory here (I immediately removed both Vista and Win7 after like 10 minutes cuz i hated them) but that should be the path to the components applet. Now, I don't know if this will have any effect at all on your playback issues, but it's worth a try. I believe Vista and Win7 also have a service for Diagnosing and Repairing system errors, might want to give that a try if this has no effect.

In XP, you can type appwiz.cpl in the Run dialog box to bring up the Add/Remove Programs menu, it might work as well in Vista if you're unsure where to find the item in control panel.
 
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