Adding Codecs

Try VLC Media Player.

Start with Perian from Perian.org. Free. Plays AVI's.

I'm having the same problem... sortof. My video plays great, but my sound is DVI ADPCM, and in Quicktime it stutters very badly. VLC "plays" them decently, and the audio is okay, but the video is not nearly as good as QT. I have almost every component and just added the suggested perian component... but that didn't work either. Hmmmm..

It seems like a lot of camcorders and digicams are using this compression...

Apple? Hello?

I cannot imagine any proper camcorders using this at all. DV tape, DV codec, DVD or HDD cameras MPEG-2.

Well, I guess mine's not "technically" a proper camcorder... it's an Archos 404. Primarily a portable video player, but it has a camcorder as well. And the movies are better than most digital camera's "movies"...

Well, I guess mine's not "technically" a proper
camcorder... it's an Archos 404. Primarily a portable
video player, but it has a camcorder as well. And the
movies are better than most digital camera's
"movies"...

I too use an archos but the earlier 420. It records in:

DivX 6.0, 512 x 384, Millions
DVI ADPCM, Stereo, 48.000 kHz

I had a sound stuttering problem in files that previously played OK. I fixed it by binning the Perian component from Macintosh HD>Library>Quicktime.

I already had DivX installed, so I assume that there was some sort of conflict. I haven't really investigated further.

I'm a bit confused... what did you do to the Perian componenet? Binning?

I'm a bit confused... what did you do to the Perian
componenet? Binning?

I just moved it from Macintosh Hard Drive>Library>Quicktime....where the componets live....to the Trash and emptied the Trash. I probably restarted the computer or quit and restarted Quicktime as well.

This is not a reflection on Perian, which has had good reviews. I'm just relating what worked for me at the time. Usually, I would investigate more such as reinstalling Perian to see if I could recreate the problem. No time.

The 2gb files I have were recordings of video only
although audio tracks may show up with nothing on
them. I believe they may have been recorded on an
Archos. How can I convert them into something that
will be accepted for editing by Final Cut Express
v3.5?

Do you have DivX installed? If not try it

We use archos created AVI files that use the DivX codec. I simply drag and drop files into the clips pane of imovie.

If the files won't open or play in Quicktime then they are unlikely to be suitable for FCE or imovie.

Aleclt,

Try VisualHub, I've been told it converts the Archos 404 files to DV format for editing in iMovie. Should work for you too.
http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/seeit.php

Hope this helps.

So far I'm no better off than
when I started this morning...any more suggestions
will be greatly appreciated.

Do the original files play in Quicktime or DivX player?

Do you have 3ivX installed? If so try removing it as I have heard that it can sometimes conflict with DivX

As another poster suggested, VisualHub may be of use. There was a bug in VisualHub where converted DV diles were speeded up. This may have been corrected on recent versions. If not the workaround was to force Quicktime decoding in the advanced controls. Mind you, this rather negates the point of using VisualHub in this instance.

Do you have any files from the same source that are smaller? If so can you play and/or convert them on your Mac.

Do these large files still play on the original or any Archos? If so you could use the editing capabilities of the Archos to split them into more manageable lumps.

I am assuming that your computer is healthy, up to date and with plenty of spare hard drive space.