WMV file won't play - kills players!

[Cybe R. Wizard]

On Thu, 6 Sep 2012 20:34:33 -0500
"Cybe R. Wizard" <cyber_wizard at mindspring.com> wrote:

> On Fri, 07 Sep 2012 10:29:41 +1000
> Karl Auer <kauer at biplane.com.au> wrote:
> 
> > I have a WMV file from the Twilight Zone. It's sourced off a Sony
> > digital video camera. The file plays fine under Windows, but kills
> > every Linux player I try to play it with.
> > 
> > - Totem just dies; window closes.
> > 
> > - VLC doesn't close, but it does not play the file and a system
> > error comes up that suggests a subprocess has died unexpectedly.
> > 
> > - if I try to convert the file with ffmpeg or avconf, they say that
> > "Interlaced frames/fields support is incomplete"
> > 
> > - if I try to load the file into kino, the conversion dies (I
> > presume Kino is using or similar under the hood)
> > 
> > - if I try to load the file into Lombard or pitivi, they die (window
> > closes).
> > 
> > - avidemux loads the file, and shows plausible information about it,
> > but reports a file size of only 9.44 MB. It even plays the file -
> > except that every frame is blank green :-)
> > 
> > Here's the kicker though - if I try to get the properties in
> > Nautilus (right-click, then select "Properties") Nautilus dies! As
> > in boom, no more desktop icons, no more file manager windows.
> > 
> > The file is not unduly large - around 310MB or so. I can copy it in
> > Unix, or drag and drop it in Nautilus, so it is the content rather
> > than the package that is causing problems. The "file" program
> > reports the file as being "Microsoft ASF".
> > 
> > Any clues out there?
> > 
> > Regards, K.
> >  
> Try xine.
> 
failing that, here are instructions for conversion from this year and
Ubuntu:
<http://www.ehow.com/how_5234211_convert-asf-mp-linux.html>

Cybe R. Wizard
-- 
being "barely capable" on a Linux system is better than 
being "expert" on a Windows system.
	crankypuss