Can't Play H.264 AVI File

Question

Level 2

289 points

Can't Play H.264 AVI File

Hi,

A friend of mine is having some trouble with QuickTime Pro on her Mac. She has a .avi file that QuickTime Pro won't play. The file uses the H.264 video codec, and the MPEG Layer 3 audio codec. It has a Size of 856 x 480 pixels, runs at 23.98 FPS and has a Data Rate of 1019.17 kbit/s.

Seems totally standard to me, so I can't figure out why it won't play. Well, actually, QuickTime Pro DOES play the audio, but the picture is just a blank white area. So, it's as if QuickTime Pro doesn't understand the codec, even though in the Inspector QuickTime Pro identifies it as H.264.

Any suggestions?

 iMac 17" 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, Mac OS X (10.5.2),  16 GB iPod Touch  40 GB Apple TV

Posted on Apr 18, 2008 5:49 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Apr 18, 2008 7:13 AM in response to Reuben Feffer

AVI's can have any number of non standard h.264. Seeing that you have mp3 for the audio, it must be a non-standard h.264. H.264 (usually) uses aac for audio.

Here try this free component that might be able to play the avi/h.264.

http://perian.org/

Reply

Answer 2

Reuben Feffer Author

Level 2

289 points

Apr 18, 2008 7:36 AM in response to David M Brewer

Thanks. She already has Perian, so that doesn't help.

So are there really different "non standard" flavours of h.264? I assumed it was a standard in that, if your video player plays h.264 content, then it plays any h.264 content.

Reply

Answer 3

Apr 18, 2008 8:13 AM in response to Reuben Feffer

That's the point. Your file is far from standard.
First is the AVI file container (discontinued by its creator, Microsoft, over a dozen years ago).
MPEG-1 Layer 3 audio (17 years old).
The "odd" frame rate (should be 25 in PAL countries) and "wide screen" dimensions lead me to believe it is a poorly made "rip" of a Hollywood DVD.
She got what she paid for.

Reply

Answer 4

Reuben Feffer Author

Level 2

289 points

Apr 18, 2008 9:42 AM in response to QuickTimeKirk

Ok, thanks. I'll pass on the info. Just seems a shame that QuickTime can't play it, 'cos it seems to play pretty much everything with the help of Perian.

Reply