I have taken some footage from my CCTV hard drive using a memory stick and copied it to my pc. The folder says AVI, there is also a Instcodec and an AVF player. I have tried the Instcodec first then the AVF player but it is not picking up the AVF file I want to play. I have tried changing the PLAY WITH options in the file itself but no happiness.

HELP

http://www.lancelhoff.com/how-to-play-avi-files-in-windows-media-player/

I tried that...no luck.

I've tried opening it with a divx player and downloading the additional directshow filters..nothing

WTF is a .avf file? I know asf and avi but never heard of avf.

Try and run the file directly with vlc, that should do it. If vlc won't run it (and vlc runs damn near every media file type known to man) you'll have to find some sort of converter I guess.

nope...doesn't work

Sounds like you're screwed then. What does the CCTV instructions say? What's the make of the cameras? And more importantly do they explain why they record in some obscure format? o.O

Try giving Moreton Alarm Supplies a ring. They are always happy to give advice. Their number is on at the end of their advert
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Laq0YVhFIrQ

Try changing the extension to .avi and it should play in VLC player.

If that doesn't work replace the extension and download super to convert the file to your choice.

Download super from here.... Clickme

Ex0, please tell me wtf does o.O mean?????

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=o.o&defid=5216627

Agreed on VLC, I love it. It'll even play .iso images if they contain any video content, no need to mount them with Daemon Tools or similar.

Cathie: find and download a utility called GSpot and drag and drop the .avf file on it. It'll tell you which codec (encoder/decoder) is needed to play the file and you can then search for it or post back here for more help.

CCTV uses a lot of proprietary formats, usually so you have to use their software. But you may be able to use it in something else.

In a Hex editor, what are the first 4 bytes of the file?

This may help ID exactly what you can do with it.

I remember when I worked in CCTV we mainly used Motion Jpeg, which was a horrible format.