[HPFGU-OTChatter] A computer video software question.

[Dennis]

Iggy here:

Does anyone know where I can download a free AVI to MPEG converter
program?  A friend sent me a disk with some AVIs on it, and I can't view
them.  (Alternately, does anyone know where I can get a free AVI viewer
program?)

I should mention that my OS is Windows XP.


Iggy McSnurd


___________________

Dennis:

If Windows Media Player won't play it, you probably have a non-standard .avi
file, probably Divx if I was guessing, because it's the most popular.  You
can easily find out what codec your .avi file was encoded in by right
clicking the file, choosing "properties," and then clicking the "Summary"
tab. There will be three sections listed on that page, Image, Audio, and
Video.  Look under Video for the line "Video Compression."  It will tell you
what codec you need, such as "Divx Codec" or "Cinepak codec."  Anyway,
whatever it says there, type it in Google followed by "download" and chances
are you'll get a list of sites to download the codec from for free.  If it
happens to be Divx, then you can go straight to divx.com and click the divx
tab for a free player and codec plugin. 

If it's not a non-standard codec, then downloading and reinstalling codecs
might also help to repair a damaged one.  I believe the common codecs can be
downloaded at Microsoft.com somewhere, though I can't give a better link
offhand.

Good luck.  And let us know if that works. *grin*

-Dennis