DVD MOVIES, BROKEN AVI FILES AND SOME OTHER QUESTIONS

Some DVD movies do not play or they crash/freeze.

If you open DVD with DVD program, try with No DVD menus option (aka dvdsimple). Some new DVD disks include protection mechanism, that free avi player do not support. It might help if you place that movie into hard drive with the help of DVDFab Decrypter or AnyDVD and use VLC to play these files from hard drive.

DVD movies do not play smooth ( they stutter, lag etc…)

Increase the VLC DVD cache. Go to Tools -> Preferences (set Show Settings to All) and then to Input/Codecs -> Access Modules -> DVD with menus (or DVD without menus if you use dvdsimple method for playing) and increase “Caching value” in MS value to for example to 5000 or to 20000. Press “Save” and restart VLC.

If DVD files from hard drive work better, then check that your DVD drive has DMA enabled (if it is a IDE/ATAPI DVD drive).

Can I play DVD files (VOB+IFO) from hard drive?

Yes. Go to Media ® Open disc and instead of DVD drive, and specify the location to correct folder by using either “Browse” button or customize field. For example: dvd://"c:/movies/Supernatural/VIDEO_TS"

How to run broken AVI files?

Seeking will not work correctly. You can try to fix them temporally with the help of VLC for and permanently with the help of other tools. If you don't fix those files, seeking won't work correctly and those files may also crash players.

Can I always use the same repair action?

Yes you can. Go to Tools -> Preferences (set Show Settings to All) and then to Input -> Demuxers -> AVI and specify the wanted action from “Force index creation” dropdown box. “Ask” – is default (it will always ask you what you want to do). “Always fix” – the computer will try to always fix AVI files. “Never fix” – always starts playing without fixing. Press “Save” and restart VLC.

Can I repair those broken AVI files permanently?

Yes. Try such programs as DivFix++ or Virtualdub for fixing.

What to do when some MP4 or 3GP files don't have audio at all?

If those files have AMR audio (usually ones from mobile phones) they won't work with current stable VLC versions.