[LoTekJunky]

i originally posted this as a reply to someone else, but i think it probably deserves its own topic. i tried searching for things along this line, but i keep coming up with nothing... so here goes.

i've noticed that avi files with an aspect ratio of 2.0:1 on "up" (and by "up" i mean 2.1:1, 2.01:1, 2.35:1... things with a higher number before the colon) will not play properly.

usually, depending on the ar again, i can play the file for 2-5 minutes, but then it gets so choppy, it seems like still frames instead of video. usually, the sound will continue to play fine, but the video is unwatchable.

here is a quick list of codecs and ar, and if they worked or not
---------------------
xvid mpeg-4, 4:3, works!
divxnetworks divx 5, 4:3, works!
opendivx v4, 4:3, works!
divxnetworks divx v5, 16:9, works!
divx v3 ;-) mpeg-4 (low-motion), 2.21:1, won't work!
xvid mpeg-4, 2.0:1 wont work!
divxnetworks divx v5, 2.35:1, won't work!

the list just goes on and on... the only correlation i can draw is with the a/r...

i never really used to play xvid/divx movies on the xbox, usually just tv shows... (that were 4:3) so when i started to notice this last month, i went crazy trying to figure out what happened.

being anal retentive, i keep every build of xbmc that i've ever used... so i reverted back, one build at a time, all of the way until 1/2005. it was not build specific, these files will not play on any of the 15 or so builds that i tried.

has anyone else noticed this? if you want to know what the aspect ratio is, there are many ways to do it... i use a free tool called "dvtool", and you can find it here:
http://www.musclesoft.de/combatm....&lang=e

easiest way to find out what your files are encoded with, at least the way i do it, is to use "avicodec", you can find it here:
http://avicodec.duby.info/

if you have windows xp (and maybe 2000, i dunno), you can look at the resolution size of each file by changing the view of the folder to detailed, then right clicking in the field bar and turning on dimensions. you may have to click on more to get the dimensions to show up, but its there.

let me know if anyone else is able to reproduce this. and better yet, let me know if you can fix this!!!

[LoTekJunky]

another note... i have an ntsc xbox and a ntsc old school 4:3 tv. i'm using the plain jane rca cables with the xbox.

i have tried all of the files on an unmodified xml file, and i've also tried setting the video mode to 4:3... i still get problems.

dvds play perfectly fine using mplayer, and the new xbmc media player as well. dvds play well using the addon dvd app that i have... and the name of it is completely slipping my mind right now... i will check on that if it is important.

also, changing the ar within mplayer on a file that i know will not play does not help... the ar does change, and it seems to change correctly... but irreguardless of what choice i select, it still freezes at nearly the exact same time!

these files play perfectly well on my pc.

one last thing. i've tried streaming these files over network, moving them to the xbox hard drive, and burning them to a dvdr, all approaches produce the exact same results.

if you want me to paste a log file, please tell me what debug level to run.

[jmarshall]

1. aspect ratio is pretty meaningless when it comes to codecs - most don't care. note that you should try to keep things aligned to multiples of 16 if at all possible (for efficiency more than anything).

2. set your loglevel to 0, which is full debugging. note that you can do this by holding down x+y on boot.

please paste the log on pastebin.com and link to it from here.