Video format question

[IronFist]

How come some of the video files I download I can use the scroll bar and pick where it is, and other files will only play from start to finish and you can move the scroll bar but it just snaps back to where it was and doesn't change where the video is?

[Tak]

Without knowing more about the circumstances in which this happens, it's hard to say. However, sometimes you get portions of .avi or .asf files that are incomplete, and video players generally can't seek within them because the internal avi index is incorrect in these files. I suppose this could be true of certain streamed files as well.

[shaolinarab]

is there any way to 'rename' a partial avi click as an mpg clip so that would still play, or is it to smart to be tricked like that? :mad:

[David Jamieson]

You can shuttle most quicktime movies. But most wmv, or mpeg format flicks you can't shuttle without using an editor.

cheers

[Stranger]

For the computer challenged, what does "shuttle" mean?

[David Jamieson]

sorry :D

same as scrubbing...no that won't work either.

ok, shuttling is a term used when editing film.
It's basically the ability to move back and forth through a film and look at things frame by frame and having control over where in the timeline you are in the film.

think of it in terms of dragging and dropping the play head to where you want it to be and while you drag the playhead, the frame it is at shows in your monitor.

like forward and reverse through a film or dvd or vhs tape and stopping where you want.

cheers

[Tak]

is there any way to 'rename' a partial avi click as an mpg clip so that would still play, or is it to smart to be tricked like that?
Nope, most video players read the file type from the header(s) in the file. Anyway, if you tried to read an avi as if it was an mpg, the result would be garbage.


You can shuttle most quicktime movies. But most wmv, or mpeg format flicks you can't shuttle without using an editor.
I dunno about wmv (silly format anyway), but you can always seek in mpeg video without problems. Well, I suppose some players might not have that functionality, but that would be because the developers are lazy, not because it can't be done.

[IronFist]

Thanks for the explinations.