nandub/virtualdub - avi/asf whic is it? confusion...

[devonrs]

i want to cut out some extra stuff at the beginning of my copy of harry potter, its supposedly a divx avi file. when i tried to open it in nandub/virtualdub however, it gave me the "program doesn't support asf format" message. when i view the statistics of the movie while playing through wmp it says it uses the mpeg 4 codec, along with the windows audio codec, ... i dont know anything about asf files. but can someone tell me how to find out what kind of file it is, and how do i convert it or whatever so i can open it in virtualdub? or, is there another program i can use to edit it. thanks.

[avih]

mpeg4 is a standard for decoding video. there are many codecs which can encode standard (or nearly standard) mpeg4 audio/video streams (i.e. divx 4.xx, divx5.xx, xvid, and more).
usually asf files contain a m$ codec that is similar to mpeg4, but not a standard one. the audio in asf files is usually windows media audio.

asf is a m$ specific media streaming format (container) ("Advanced Streaming Format"?), which lived for a short while, it was meant to replace the "avi" video format, but had a short life, and got replaced by the new windows media format. it can still be read using the various windows media players, however, microsoft has "requested" avree lee (the creator of virtualdub) to remove his 'support' for the "asf" format, as m$ have some patents on it. i think vdub V1.3c was the last one that supported asf, and copies of it might be floating on the web.

i don't know that for sure, it's possible that windows media encoder (latest is V8) can edit asf files, this way or another)

as an alternative, u can use avisynth's "direchshowsource" to open asf files and frameserve them to vdub or anything else. however afaik, atm directshowsource won't transmit the audio (only pcm audio using avifile open command). so you're kinda in trouble.

i suggest you start with a bit simpler tasks for the moment, untill u feel confident enough to use the more advanced video editing techniques and frameserving.

cheers and good luck
avi

[devonrs]

i downloaded virtualdub 1.3. works with it fine.

[Nic]

ASF isn't that shortlived...WMA & WMV are the ASF format :(

Good reply though AviH :)

Cheers,
-Nic

[avih]

;) thx
no current microsoft product produces .asf files. am i right? :)
i remember reading somewhere that wma/wmv replaced asf..... whether it's internally the same... i'm not THAT interested in m$ formats and codecs (i do know that now thanks to u ;) ). i have other burning issues now, i.e. how tf to make my capture card produce sound on xp... ;)

avi