.DAT to .AVI file problem

[shecky981]

downloaded a rather large (250 MB) AVI movie for work from a client using Kazaa (this is a legal movie of his own content) and, as we know, Kazaa makes a .DAT filename while it is downloading, and, when done, it takes a second but then switches over to the actual file extension, be it .MP3, or .MPG or whatever.

Well, in this case it does NOT change over, and stays a DAT file. now, i know fully well it is a vaild and legal AVI movie, that i have seen run numerous times, so i know it is not corrupted. So, i manually renamed the file with a .AVI extension, hoping to fool Win XP Pro. it will still not work, however, when i look at the file in Windows Explorer, and click once on it, i DO get the preview of the 1st frame of the movie. when i try to play it in Windows media player, its just pulls up a visual swooshie thing and does nothing.

?????????????????????????????????????????

PLEASE HELP! this is kinda important.

[audiyoda]

DAT files are also associated with VCD's. But basically if MediaPlayer won't playing, you may be up a creek.

A DAT file (in terms of what I've described) is an AVI file -- just converted to a pure datastream that can be handled by consumer DVD players. Players like PowerDVD also handle these files with no issues -- as long as the VCD files structure is intact.

If this is a case of Kazaa not doing it's job -- no suprises there -- that's why I hate that program. Renaming should have taken care of it -- that's what is leading me to believe this is a DAT file from a VCD.

You can also try a program called I-Video CD Player -- it handled AVI, MPG and DAT files rather well. It's freeware that should be listed on download.com.

-Craig

[shecky981]

eccellent! much thanks!