No Thumbnails on some .AVIs

I have a different problem I haven't been able to find anywhere. Only some .AVIs I have don't display thumbnails. I use VLC as my primary video player. Whenever I play these certain files, it shows how long I've been watching it but not how long it is. It shows "--:--" for the end time. Also, when I try playing them in WMP, it crashes. Also, not every file in the folders have this problem. I tried using Shark007 Win7codes but that didn't help either. Anyone have any idea?

I've had this problem with a few videos in the past, I think it has something to do with the encoding or such of the specific video, possibly some type of corruption. Wait until the expert's chime in, shouldn't be long.

205tim said:

I've had this problem with a few videos in the past, I think it has something to do with the encoding or such of the specific video, possibly some type of corruption. Wait until the expert's chime in, shouldn't be long.

I was thinking the same thing. I'm hoping not though because I don't feel like converting them just for a small problem. Hopefully someone has an easier fix.

Arc said:

Generally .avi files generate thumbnails automatically, and plays fine in WMP without applying any special codecs. Still you amy try a little trick . In Shark007's window, click on the AVI tab. It is set to Microsoft's splitter by default. You may change it to Gabests splitter or haalis splitter , if they make any difference. (pic 1).

But if it is a .mkv, use haalis splitter, and click on display thumbnail (pic 2)

Unfortunately using either of those didn't work either. Thanks though. This problem seems unsolvable.

Shark007 said:

Open the Shark007 settings app with admin privileges
Go to the SWAP TAB and set the DMO codecs to disabled, and then re-enable them.
check for AVI thumbs.

Still none? read on . . .
Sometimes the AVI header information is not correct. Open the Settings Application WITHOUT administrative privileges. In the lower right of the Misc TAB is a dropbox where an AVI file can be dropped, and then press 'Fix it'. It writes a new file in the originating directory. This will correct any bad headers the AVI may have and allow the thumbs to be generated.

None of that seem to work unfortunately, but I opened DivFix++ in the Tools folder and tried to fix it through that and it said it couldn't because "Error: Input file is not an AVI file!" The extension definitely is .avi. Something must be wrong with these files.

Also, I just tried playing these files through my PS3 and it gave me the error saying "This data is corrupted."

Arc said:

So MCleveland , I hope you got your answer yourself ... that there is some information corruption in your files.

As VLC plays those files, you may allow vlc to play those without any change, or otherwise you may apply HandBrake to make the information correct ; i.e. to recode those.

That seems to be what I'm going to have to do. I just wish I could select many files at once and recode them back to .AVI with HandBrake as it only supports MP4 and MKV. I already tried one file and it went from 138MB (AVI file) to 151MB (MP4 file). Oh well. Thanks for the help everyone!