RichJ207 Loc: Sammamish, WA

Sometimes, when I put an SD card into my iMac after I take it out of my trail camera, some of the videos are accessible and some aren't. For the ones that won't load, I get a message like "QuickTime Player can't open "PICT0006.AVI"" for instance. If I try to open the video in LightRoom, it won't open there either. Would appreciate insight from anyone who has had this experience and has a fix or another way to open the files. From yesterday's SD card, one file opened and sixteen would not. Thanks.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

You can probably avoid that by using a video format OTHER than .AVI. .mov is QuickTime's native format. It will also read .m4v. It may read AVCHD as well.

.AVI is a PC video format. Avoid it when using Macs, unless you pay for a CODEC that converts it properly.

Ways to play AVIs on Mac OS X:

1) Use VLC. Probably the easiest way to just play AVI and DivX files on Mac OS X is to download and install the freeware VLC Media Player for OS X. VLC is a better video player than QuickTime.

2) Install the 3ivx® D4 CODEC.

3) Convert AVIs to QuickTime movies.

4) Try the DivX for Mac CODEC.

Another issue you may have is RAM. Video requires a lot of RAM. If you have less than 4GB, you might have to upgrade.

Yet another issue to consider is the bit rate of the video. HD video requires at least 6 Mb/second. 4K requires more than 20 Mb/second. Moving all that information requires a fast drive with fast i/o, lots of memory, fast processor, and no background tasks slowing down the computer.

My 2013 iMac with 8GB RAM and 4-core 2.7 GHz i5 can edit and play 1080P HD .mov 24fps video recorded at 100 Mbps. It chokes on most of the 4K output my camera can record. So if your video camera is
recording 4K at a high bit rate, see if you can drop back to 1080P.

RichJ207 Loc: Sammamish, WA

Thanks for the thorough answer. Since the AVI format comes out of the trail camera, I will try one of the other options you provided. It is baffling that some AVI files will load and some will not.
Cheers!
Rich

TomV Loc: Annapolis, Maryland

I run into the same problem. Most will load and run Ok but there always some that do not for some unknown reason. Bushnell camera.

drklrd Loc: Cincinnati Ohio

You can get that same problem on a windows machine. It's the .avi file that gives them both trouble. I think the video camera manufacturer never expected the general public using a non-pro vid cam to try and use the .avi file in computers. Premier elements 15 says it supports the .avi file format. It is still not the most used format out there except for certain non-pro vid cams.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

You should find something here that will open those files on your Mac. Then you can convert them.

https://www.google.com/search?q=open+avi+on+a+mac&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-ab

VLC is excellent, buy the way.
https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html

a6k Loc: Detroit & Sanibel

As already said, but my "ditto": just use VLC, tell the Mac to make it the default app for all types of video and you will be fine.

RichJ207 Loc: Sammamish, WA

Thanks to all responders for your great suggestions. Wonderful resources. Downloading VLC at the moment. Will give feedback next time I retrieve SD card.