problem avi's

I have been having problems with my avi files from my camera (also mentioned in Portable Media forum). I had a devil of a time getting the video from the card, everytime I tried to touch the file (open or cut and paste or drag and drop) with the cursor it would cause explorer to crash. I cant view it, I tried renaming it, I tried processing it with vdub (anyone got a good guide for it???). Anything I do with it causes it to crash explorer. It seems to be happening with all the avi from the camera (new canon sd800), I had to get a card reader to get them off the card but it was not easy. Is there something about large avi files that causes them to be unstable? The file is about 3gb. How do I cut it down if indeed that is the problem?

Cheers

__________________
Just waiting for

Well, what are the specs of the computer that you are using because a 3GB avi file is pretty huge. If you were on a somewhat crappy computer that could be your problem.

__________________
Minnesota Genocide Intervention Network

most .avi files, even at high-res, and broadcast quality are like 300-500MB, a 3GB avi file is well...what the heck did you capture?!!?

Off the top of my head, I dont think there is a way to split the file down into smaller chunks, without running it through some video editing app.

Try using a higher spec computer to pull the file off, then running it through an edit app

__________________
My Blog
www.filmsbynick.com
http://www.youtube.com/filmsbynick
For my comp specs, check out my profile

Well my computer is getting old...(socket a Sempron 3000). The file was directly recorded onto a sd card on a new cannon sd800, it was my little ones graduation. It is only 32 minutes long. I dont quite know why the file size is so huge either, is it in an uncompressed avi format? I have read the manual completely and I should get more tha 2 hours of video (or the battery might die first,) but 32 minutes at 3.5gb??? anybody know whats goin on?

__________________
Just waiting for

2-3 minutes at broadcast quality = 300-500mb, so 3.5gb minutes sounds about right for 32 minutes of video.

Most digital cameras use either mpeg4 compression in the movie files, or .avi with some other compression, I havent found a camera that uses uncompressed avi files. however, seeing as the new cameras have better frame rates, and image quality, then you're bound to have bigger file sizes

IMO, 32 minutes sounds about right for 3.5gb. getting more than 2 hours of video will probably be in a lesser quality format btw.

SO, to sum it up, 3.5GB sounds right for 32 mins of video. Best bet would be to use a higher spec comp to grab the files off the sd card

__________________
My Blog
www.filmsbynick.com
http://www.youtube.com/filmsbynick
For my comp specs, check out my profile

Ok so 3.5 gb is right for the amount of video. I can live with that, and one of my partners friends who does digital film editing (albeit on a pro level) says the same about size/time. But why does my computer freeze whenever it has to display a thumbnail. I tried changing the file extention to mpg thinking it was a problem with avi but it still freezes when showing the thumbnail(view>list is ok, not view>thumbnail). What might be causing that? I have other avi files with 500+ mb of video, but k\now I am finding it freezes with something as small as 50 or 90 mb. What is it about these avi files??? If I cant get the gift opening into a viable format the whole family can watchI will screem.

__________________
Just waiting for

sorry for the late reply, no net access over xmas.
Do you have the latest drivers and /or codecs for the type of avi files the camera is generating?

__________________
My Blog
www.filmsbynick.com
http://www.youtube.com/filmsbynick
For my comp specs, check out my profile

As it turns out the avi's are not avi's well maybe they are I dont know. I called Canon and they were reluctant to tell me that it is a proprietary avi. It is played by Qiucktime, and is best edited by QT software ( so how can it be an avi???). They said it was freezing my system because I didnt have the right codecs installed. They are installed now, but I need to fine tune some of the system setting. Anything installed before wont work, only after the codecs install.

Cheers for your help..

__________________
Just waiting for

Canon has proprietary .avi files. That's good to know.

__________________
A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer. ~Bruce Lee

AVI files can usually be used on both quicktime and wmp players, MACs generate them when using FinalCut progs, or almost any other video editing app, just wish MS products would support more file types then .wma, or .wmf

__________________
My Blog
www.filmsbynick.com
http://www.youtube.com/filmsbynick
For my comp specs, check out my profile