RealPlayer Not Playing .Avi Files

[DemonDragonJ]

I use RealPlayer to play .avi and .mp3 files on my computer, and while it has always worked perfectly for that task, after I recently upgraded to the newest version of the player, it does not play .avi files perfectly. When I open an .avi file, the player begins to play the file, as normal, but I noticed that the progress bar does not move, and if I click within the window, the program freezes and must be closed with the Windows Task Manager. This situation is even more unusual in that .avi files will still play perfectly well in Windows Media Player, and RealPlayer can still play .mp3 files without experiencing any problems, which means that the problem exists purely with RealPlayer's relationship with .avi files, and not with either the files themselves or the player itself.

What does everyone else say about this situation? Do you have any idea what could be wrong with RealPlayer's ability to play .avi files? I could simply not use RealPlayer and instead use Windows Media Player to play .avi files, but I wish to fix this problem, as the experience will be valuable to me, as I seek to make a full-time and long-term career in technical support. Can anyone here offer me any advice? Thank you very much.

[Stonerboy779]

Either downgrade again and wait for the next update or use a different player.
Personally I use vlc because it almost always works flawlessly and is so stripped down and simple.

[TLHarrell]

I second VLC. If VLC won't play the file, it's likely something you don't want to be successful at playing on your machine.

RealPlayer has always been a mixed bag. I don't have it installed. I have had some very odd experiences with it in the past.

[DemonDragonJ]

I do not use VLC player; I use Media Player Classic, which is part of the K-Lite Codec Pack, to play .mkv and .mp4 files, and while I could use it to play .avi files, as well, I still wish to solve this problem, as I have become accustomed to using RealPlayer after having sued it for many years.

[d_stilgar]

I'll throw in another vote for VLC. Plays pretty much everything.

If you want something really pretty you could go with XBMC. I'm using it on my HTPC and it's surprisingly easy to use.

[Stonerboy779]

I'll throw in another vote for VLC. Plays pretty much everything.

If you want something really pretty you could go with XBMC. I'm using it on my HTPC and it's surprisingly easy to use.

Second vote for xbmc as a well fronted player but at the moment I am playing around with xbmc and wmc with the media browser plugin. Gives a xbmc feel to movies and tv shows for wmc and still lets you use all the great recording and scedualling features from the tv side of wmc.

Real player looks good as a front end but is really damn annoying overall with the excption of the web plugin that allows for easy downloading of embedded videos.

[Airbozo]

I also use VLC.

I use it at home and at work. One of the great things about VLC is it's streaming capabilities. I use it to stream (and loop) a known video file as multicast to multiple video analyzers for a customers test (to verify their systems are analyzing the video stream properly).

Some of the older versions were a little buggy, but the new version has been quite stable for me no matter what I use it for.

[DemonDragonJ]

It seems to me that most people here prefer to use VLC player for playing their media files, although I believe that Media Player Classic is nearly equal to it in all important areas, so, if Real Player does not work again with its next major update, I shall abandon it for .avi files and instead use either Windows Media Player or Media Player Classic for them.

[Markwinstanley]

I think its codec problem or codec is missing try to download codec pack for it