Fix the seek/timeline problem in .avi as a stream

[iwata]

while it's all in the title, it has been long now since there is a 'problem' with a streamed .avi : seek, timeline, timecode are not working okay

the weird point here is that actually it could be just too normal ,not VLC's fault , since unless I am wrong the .avi container is not packetised to provide for this

still it actually works 100% okay with Mplayer , which is even surprisingly fast at seek and re-play ! with almost
no lag time to re-deliver clean video as if it would find almost instantly some clean key frame anywhere you seek !

I would not think it is a low level problem for VLC because it is a problem to stream a basic DivX (mpeg4/mp3 in .avi ) on any kind of network

[VLC_help]

AVI format isn't meant for streaming use because you need full random access to file for proper playback.

[iwata]

yes I know , but VLC (the player only) does manage to overcome this limitation and provides for seek but with some flaws.

Mplayer makes this a snap , as if there was no difficulty any ; unfortunately it has its own drawbacks
with random sudden image freeze and audio entering in perpetual loop ; I guess its possibly this that occurs first
thus freezing the video (?)

as for VLC , I wish the Plugin could yet work just like the player , which does allow seek actually, while at the expense
of getting things together clean in the video by waiting for the next key frame to come ; I guess it's what is happening , not sure though...

again, strangely Mplayer does seek 100% clean , instantly, even in a long GOP sequence ; maybe VLC could take interest in the way they achieve it

[iwata]

AVI format isn't meant for streaming use because you need full random access to file for proper playback.

I just checked a movie from former (abandonned) DivX syster company Stage6 , providing streaming DivX movies "repacked" their own way for the purpose ; I used of quotes for 'repacked' since simply changing movie extension type .divx to movie.avi is just enough to fix things with VLC (no need to remux , and thus there is nothing really changed inside the movie !) ; so it really looks just like plain .avi in some DivX style, and/but it then streams ok with both VLC player -and- the Plugin

the Plugin will work with seek/timeline/timecode okay ; if it can help tracing this .avi problem ....

here is such a movie : http://download.divx.com/divxlabs/Apple ... 2Mbps.divx

[VLC_help]

DivX container format is backward compliant to AVI. So if you rename .divx -> .avi you should be able to play it back with default video and audio track. But .divx allows more options, like menus, multiple subtitle tracks etc.

You are right that VLC could handle AVI playback over HTTP connection better, but I doubt anyone wants work with it.

[iwata]

having reviewed all possibilities and 'tricks' to overcome this issue , I have found that .mkv was okay without any kind of problem that I have read here and/or there concerning mkv with VLC ; possibly since my files rely on yet old and well established AV codecs ( mpeg4SP and mp3) ; that is the kind that is still mainstream with so called DivX/XviD 'rips' (while my files are not that kind)

summing up, I haved used first a trick by remuxing .avi to .asf ; it works okay with the Plugin (seek, timeline , etc..) , still I have noticed some possible drawback at seeking, and even simply playing, with (as best I can describe only) some situations where the image would take long to 'recover' as if it had lost/missed any key frame location for a while (??)

Then I used of the DivXMux app and it was first a (time consuming) pain since I had first to extract separately the A and V tracks and finally remux ; then I would change the file extension back to .avi ; in the end the Plugin would provide again seek/timeline, so just fine, but soon I noticed that the all process (avi->divx->avi) had spoiled the AV sync ...

Finally I used of .mkv and it's okay
so if you have those kinda of 'DivX-rip' codecs file as .avi and you intend to stream toward the Plugin in a web page , you simply have to open/export the file as .mkv with the excellent Avidemux app; fast, simple, accurate