DV AVI codec issue

Question

Hi all, I have a good one for you:
I have AVIs shot on a camcorder and captured to AVI through Premiere.  Gspot told me that they are DVSD DVC/DV format files.  Play fine in Windows, VLC and even in the preview.
But none will open in QTX.  I have researched and have delete, installed, uninstalled and re-installed DIVX, Flip4Mac, Perian, etc. Tried Low-Res mode. Tried 32 bit mode. Still the missing codec window.  But they still play on the preview (spacebar in Finder).  Go Figure.
Is it as simple as a specific codec I've yet to identify?  I love this mac but this is the kind of stuff for which I ran away from Windows.
If anyone has any tips or I need to be more specific, let me know!

Answer 1

Thanks Jon.  That expalins the QL discrepancy. I had experimented with simply changing the extension from .avi to .mov but it did not work. If there is more to it than a simple extension change I am game to try!
Changing the extension may or may not work. It depends on what the player application is checking—just the extension or the file internals. I usually recommend copying the data to a "real" MOV file container rather than just changing the extension. Even then, I don't know if this is enough to satisfy the QT X player in this case. It is, however, one of the first things I'd try.
Here is one example of how things may vary. If I take a VOB file from a non-encrypted DVD and try to play it in QT X v10.2, the file will refuse to open. Take the same file and it will open in QT 7 on my system and play the "muxed" MPEG-2 video but not the "muxed" AC3 audio. If I change the extension to MOV, the file still won't open in the QT X player, but I get a message saying I may need additional software to open the file but now the MOV file will not open at all in the QT 7 player. However, if I change the file expension to mpg, the VOB file now opens and plays normally in the QT X player and plays the same in the QT 7 player as it does with the VOB file extension. To make things more confusing, I can take the VOB file and demux it to M2V and AC3 elementary file streams and both audio and video will play in both the QT X and QT 7 players as independent files on my system. But if I merge the M2V video and AC3 audio to a single MOV file container and try to play it in the QT X player I am back to getting the "may need additional software" message while the QT 7 player now plays both the video and the audio. On the other hand, if I demux the VOB file to M2V and AIFF elementary file streams, then the files are automatically played as a linked resource reference in the QT 7 player, but play as independent files in the QT X player.
I hope this was confusing enough for you. Basically, all I am trying to do here is demonstrate how the playback of content can vary depending on the file extensions, file container, or player app even when the data is still in the same compression format albeit muxed or unmuxed. This is why I hesitate to say what will or will not happen with your DV AVI file until I can actually evaluate it on my own system.
I want to post a sample of my old videos so if anyone is interested they can have a look....but I could not figure out how to - the "insert video" link was greyed out.  As a substitute, here is the screenshot of the file in gspot:
Unfortunately, Apple has never really activated the ability post videos directly to the forum using the forum software. The normal work flow is to either send the sample file as an email attachment, send it peer-to-peer via IM, or post it to a server or NAS drive that can be opened to internet access usually by username and password. In any case, the file data you imaged looks like a standard DV-25 file containing DV/DV audio/video which is normally exported in the DV file container on a Mac as opposed to DVCPRO-25 normally exported as DV/AIFF to an MOV file container. Based on this assumption, I would normally try opening the AVI source file using QT 7 (keyed for "Pro" use on my system) for playback and/or conversion. Would also normally assume the AVI file could easily be converted to H.264/AAC or H.264/AAC/AC3 content in MP4 or M4V file containers by the free HandBrake app if all you want is QT, mobile device (iPad, iPhone, Ipod Classic), and/or TV playback compatibility.
All of the video footage in question is still on DV tape.  If I were to re-encode, this time to a new format, what would you suggest for future compatiblity with QT and editing software like iMovie?
Assuming the camcorder is iMovie compatible, I would use iMovie to import the files directly into the iMovie app and let it manage the Event folders. That way the raw data is immediately available for editing and should avoid any secondary or intermediate data conversions.