Hi there... after getting some choppy video playback I decided to reflash the device to see if that fixed it but it didn't.

I have a few videos downloaded that I want to play on the N900 without the annoyance of conversion. They are all AVIs.

Some play perfectly, some awfully. Here is an example of two and their details, please don't judge me by their content!!!

Video 1 - Awful Playback: Lost Series 6 Episode 12
624x352, 350MB, DivX Style "packed bitstream" AVI
Codec: XviD, 1028kbps, 23.976fps
Audio: MPEG-3 48000Hz

Video 2 - Perfect Playback: WWE Extreme Rules Disc 1
640x368, 721MB, AVI v1.0
Codec: XviD, 1023kbps, 25fps
Audio: MPEG-3 48000Hz

Interestingly, another awful playback video has the same data as Video 1, both playing at 23.976fps. Might this be the problem?

Does anyone know why some play perfectly on the N900 and others not?

Is it a codec problem built in, would flashing an overclocked kernel, maybe with overclocked DSP improve playback?

Even MPlayer struggles and speeds up and slows down playback.

Thanks everyone!

why are you trying to play 48000khz thru crappy stereo speakers?

Also Xvid and DivX are not simply codecs, how was is made?

Audio and video codecs have the same name but they can be completely different depending on how they are encoded, Mux de-mux single pass etc. If you want them on your phone its the same as any other medium re-encode it to what you know works.

They weren't encoded by me.

The info I posted was drawn from the GSpot codec program.

I was under the impression that the N900 *should* play AVIs if they are under the 800x400-odd resolution.

Well you have been miss informed, like any other media player it wont play anything, only what works. Like a PS3 it plays almost anything but CBR MP3 avi's wont play they need to be re-encoded.

@TheMathMan

I'm guessing the problem in the first video is because of the "packed bit-stream"

Have a look at this thread for solution to the same.
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=603432

Well un-named_user hit the nail on the head...

A 1sec fix with MPEG4 Modifier and Video 1 with the "packed bitstream" plays like a dream!!

No need for Handbrake now! Whoop whoop!

Just download some converter and convert the video for the best quality n900 can handle and use it always when u get new videos. also videos with tag [ipod] are almost always optimized for the screen and size of file.

P.S. be carefull as downloading copyrighted content is illegal and sharing it in some countries, so by doing it - you are breaking the law