Need help with video camera format.?

Question

I just got a Samsung video camera(its like 2 years old) and when i take a video it saves it as a avi. and i cant watch it on my computer(i tried media player and quicktime). what can i do??

Also , when i tried playing it in both of them it played it like a song/sound. .on the windows media player it even had the visual thing going.

Answer 1

Here's your problem: the AVI file is not really a video or audio format on its own, it's a container for any possible set of video and audio formats. But in order to play in Windows Media Player or others, or to be editable in a normal video editor, your system needs a program, called a CODEC, that understands the specific audio/video streams stored in that AVI. Windows does have a CODEC for the audio format they're using, that's why WMP is playing just the sound part.

You didn't explain what sort of video camera you're using. Most AVI files are produced via tape download from a mini-DV camcorder, but some flash-based cameras store the MPEG-4 format as an AVI. Some digital still cameras use AVI and a format called Motion JPEG.

One solution is lots of work: track down the camcorder you're using by model, install any specific software, etc. I could guess, but there's a better way.

There are a number of "CODEC Packs" for Windows that install audio/video CODECs, based on free software, for nearly every format you're likely to encounter. There's a very good chance one of these will cover the formats used by your camcorder, and all of a sudden allow Windows Media Player and others to "just work".

I recommend the K-Lite "Mega" CODEC pack, which you can find here:

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/k_li...

A slightly smaller version can be found here, and may solve your problem:

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_li...

Answer 2

You are probably stuck with some codec related problems. The scenario is like this - the camcorders tend to produce compressed movies and for the compression they use different codecs (XVID/MPEG-4 etc).

Unless you are ripping from a miniDV, you are stuck with the built-in compression and file formats.

Try downloading kLite Codec Pack (http://www.free-codecs.com/download/K_li... or CCC (combined community codec pack - http://cccp.project357.com/Combined-Comm... or even VLC player (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/)

they would not only play those files, but also authoring the movies in other video production software.