How to see thumbnail for avi videos in finder?

Patrick,

The ability to see icon previews is set on a folder-by-folder basis. Typically, this option is not set as the default, but it can be. Keep in mind that generating icon previews brings with it some additional processing overhead...

Open a folder in which you would like to see icon previews, then press command-j to open the "View Options" for this folder. Check the box labeled "Show Icon Previews." If you would like to make this the default for all windows, select that option at the bottom of the window before closing it.

Scott

Patrick Brennan1 wrote:
Scott,

Thanks but I got that far already setting my movie folder to show icon previews which it does.
But my problem is all the .mpeg movies DO show a picture on the icon, BUT only that extension shows an actual picture, where all my .avi movies only show a blank white icon with no picture from movie.

So my guess is that I am missing some kind of plug-in for the avi movies?

Thanks

Patrick

My avi movies default to QuickTime. I just changed that to VLC and the icon is now the VLC cone. The actual icon for many videos seems to be the first frame in the movie. I see this with .mp4 as well as .avi and .mov.
Interestingly after I reassigned QT to the avi I had changed to VLC, the VLC icon remains. Maybe a reboot will change it back?

Anyway, I like the first frame, usually the title to be the icon, but if you use VLC as the default you can change it to the cone.

Patrick Brennan1 wrote:
Yeah on my old white macbook I had the first frame show for everything mpeg and avi but I know i installed all kinds of movie players and stuff as it was my first mac, but I dont want to go crazy installing things on my nice new mbp!

oh well.....thanks anyway

VLC is a well-respected and problem-free audio/video player for the Mac. I use it for just about all audio and video playing, including DVDs. It has a built-in screen grabber among other things.
My favorite player.

I would add that after re-assigning QuickTime as the default for the avi file, after booting this morning the file has the Q for the icon image. So if you assign or re-assign QT as the default and reboot, the Q will replace the first frame.

Message was edited by: nerowolfe

It's a bit flaky the way it works. But at least it's solved.
I also notice that even when I select VLC for the default player, when I right-click the avi file, the first listing is still QuickTime (default) even though I had selected to open all files of this type using VLC.
Maybe it only changes after a login/logout with some apps????