The VideoLAN Forums

I just upgraded vlc to 0.8.6f. I still have 0.8.5 on another pc.
When I use vlc to view an emule partfile;-
* vlc 0.8.6f gives me a message about AVI file is broken Seeking etc . . . . . . and then displays the movie without a position slider. The --please stay polite--+arrow keys do nothing so there is no way to page through the file. All pretty irritating.

* vlc 0.8.5 on EXACTLY the same partfile (accessed via a network) gives no message and provides a position slider that works just fine and shift/ctrl+arrow that perform very well.

How can I get 0.8.6f to behave the same way as good old 0.8.5? - or is this just the price of progress?!?!

TFAI

http://www.geocities.com/sibermutant/README.htm
you have checked that Settings->Preferences->Input / Codecs->Demuxers->AVI and set Force index creation to Never fix ? If so, try Always fix.

Yes - but only after posting - sorry .
it stops the message about files being broken but does not bring the slider back nor does it allow Ctrl-> or Shift-arrow and leaves no way of skipping through a movie.

Of course not, you CANNOT seek in a broken .avi file.

j-b Thank you for your interest.

Perhaps you did not notice the original post which said:
* vlc 0.8.5 on EXACTLY the same partfile (accessed via a network) gives no message and provides a position slider that works just fine and shift/ctrl+arrow that perform very well.

So I am still curious to know why it has disappeared in 0.8.6

You also tried that Always Fix option? Because it should create new index, which allows rewinding (or least I think it should).

0.8.5 has a parameter 'Force Index Creation' which is blank.
There is also no (significant) time lag before the slider is available and works.
A) If the slider is moved, it takes some while for the picture to reappear - looks like VLC is reading serially through the file
b) if the mouse is clicked on the slider bar (as opposed to the pointer), the picture jumps what looks like a set distance through the file (very quickly) and then starts to read. It can produce no picture or even lock up.

0.8.5 On the file I am currently looking at it comes up with the message "AVI file is broken seeking may take along time etc etc". I opt not to fix it and still get a working slider (as described above). I can advance in (what look like) fixed chunks though the file

0.8.6 comes up with the same message but no slider.
Both play the file from the begining OK (until the good data runs out).

With it set to "Always fix" vlc appears OK and there is no message but there is also no slider.
Ctrl/shift->arrow displays the position (in minutes) but does not move the position in the film

It looks as if 0.8.6 tries rather harder to continue as you can get a stationary picture but proper audio then the picture played properly again. At that same point 0.8.5 simply stopped dead never to go again!!

if its an "either or", I'd rather be able to skip through the file with the slider.

TFAI

You could fix the AVI using a tool such as VirtualDub. If it is e.g. a partially downloaded file then save it with a different file name.

Arite.

I could indeed process the file thru virtualdub (or indeed one of the other 'fix an avi file' utilities. But the reason for using vlc in the first place is to sample various bits of the part file to make sure that the part file is what it says it is ideally with minimum hassle.

It seems that some development work has gone on in this area of vlc (possible to make it more robust) and in so doing the behaviour has changed - for the worse in my view. Hopefully this will get fixed in some later version of vlc.

Thanks for your comments and interest.