How does MPC or Irfanview or HyPlay play an unknown video codec avi from utorrent?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Carol Frilegh
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Carol Frilegh

What do I need to play a utorrent avi file (cannot render the file).

I googled and decided to try the winxp utorrent software and downloaded a
175MB avi file but when I click on the completed file, Media Player Classic
6.4.9.0 says "Cannot render the file" but there is no other error. So I
downloaded another avi file and the same thing happened. Same with the
third where all start off with ".!ut" and then they get moved to a
completed directory with ".avi" on the end.

So I tried HyPlay based on googling for what freeware player works with avi
files but HyPlay comes up totally blank without even a menu when I use the
right click open with windows xp command.

So I googled some more and tried the recommended Irfanview which at least
provided the first real error message which said

"Windows error text: The specified file cannot be played on the specified
MCI device. The file may be corrupt, not in the correct format, or no file
handler available for this format. You can try to install additional
video/audio codecs from this site http://www.fourcc.org/indexcod.htm Video
codec => Unknown".

I can google some more but I need some better pointers to find what I am
missing to play a utorrent avi file downloaded with utorrent?

Carol
 
Carol Frilegh said:
What do I need to play a utorrent avi file (cannot render the file).

I googled and decided to try the winxp utorrent software and downloaded a
175MB avi file but when I click on the completed file, Media Player
Classic
6.4.9.0 says "Cannot render the file" but there is no other error. So I
downloaded another avi file and the same thing happened. Same with the
third where all start off with ".!ut" and then they get moved to a
completed directory with ".avi" on the end.

So I tried HyPlay based on googling for what freeware player works with
avi
files but HyPlay comes up totally blank without even a menu when I use the
right click open with windows xp command.

So I googled some more and tried the recommended Irfanview which at least
provided the first real error message which said

"Windows error text: The specified file cannot be played on the specified
MCI device. The file may be corrupt, not in the correct format, or no file
handler available for this format. You can try to install additional
video/audio codecs from this site http://www.fourcc.org/indexcod.htm Video
codec => Unknown".

I can google some more but I need some better pointers to find what I am
missing to play a utorrent avi file downloaded with utorrent?
Click to expand...
Hi Carol. D/load and run Gspot on the files.
http://www.headbands.com/gspot/v26x/index.htm

you`ll find out what codec/s you need.
 
D/load and run Gspot on the files.
http://www.headbands.com/gspot/v26x/index.htm
Click to expand...

That's the kind of advice I was looking for! From the name, I wasn't sure
if you were joking or not but the freeware GSpot codec debugger looks good.

When I started GSpot, it said 160 codecs were loaded so I wonder if that is
a "normal" amount.

Anyway, of the four torrents I downloaded, only one resulted in a playable
file and that one was still a *.avi.!ut file which is wierd. The other
files which were avi files in the completed directory all said file type
unknown and mime type unknown.

But the one *.avi.!ut file said
Audio Codec: 0x0055 MPEG-1 Layer 3
Info: 48000Hz 129 kb/s tot , Joint Stereo LAME3.96r
Video Codec: H264 H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
Status: Codec(s) are Installed

The *.avi.!ut file didn't play but when I removed the !ut it did play so
this will help me and others determine if the utorrent files are good but I
wonder why only one of four utorrent downloads results in a good file.

Carol
 
Carol Frilegh said:
What do I need to play a utorrent avi file (cannot render the file).
Click to expand...
I can google some more but I need some better pointers to find what I am
missing to play a utorrent avi file downloaded with utorrent?

Carol
Click to expand...

avi is just a extension for a video file -- it doesn't mean anything by
itself. They use codecs to compress the file to make video files
manageable. The normal reason that avi's don't play is that you don't have
the appropriate codec installed. Most avi's downloaded via uTorrent are
usually Xvid encoded. (I think that Xvid is a variation of DivX but someone
more knowledgeable than me can probably confirm or deny that.)

So what you need to do is find and download the xvid codec.

A quick Google turned this up:
http://www.xvidmovies.com/codec/

You can also download this program:
http://avicodec.duby.info/

This program will analyze any avi file and tell what codec it uses and
whether you have that codec installed on your system.

M
 
M said:
I think that Xvid is a variation of DivX but someone more
knowledgeable than me can probably confirm or deny that.)
Click to expand...

Yup. DivX Newtorks created an OpenDivX project, which stagnated and
turned out to be nothing more than a ploy to use the ideas of others on
a closed project. XviD was a true open branch of OpenDivX.
 
So what you need to do is find and download the xvid codec.
http://www.xvidmovies.com/codec/
Click to expand...

What I don't understand about "codecs" is where they live.

I use the word 'codec' but I really don't understand it but I guess we're
all assuming a codec is a 'chunk of code' stored somewhere on my computer.

If I have, say, 3 video-playing programs, does the codec 'chunk of code'
get put some place inside all three programs or does the codec 'chunk of
code' get put in a central place so that all three video-playing programs
can use that codec 'chunk of code'?

Can't I just look into the codec directory to see a whole bunch of 'chunks
of code' that tell me which ones I've installed - sort of like how I can
look at the printers on windows xp?

Carol
 
the codec 'chunk of
code' get put in a central place so that all three video-playing programs
can use that codec 'chunk of code'?
Yes.

Can't I just look into the codec directory to see a whole bunch of 'chunks
of code' that tell me which ones I've installed - sort of like how I can
look at the printers on windows xp?
Click to expand...

If you get the freeware AVICodec that I mentioned earlier, it will list all
the video codecs that reside on your system, the file name and its location.
These are typically DLL files that are found in the windows\system32 folder.

M
 
I have used utorrent to download files and have had file corruption
problems like you experienced. I don't know the cause. I do like
"GSpot" and "AVIcodec" but they don't help if the file is corrupted.
They do help to identify if you have the codec. If you have the codec
and they still don't play, then the cause is probably corruption.
 
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