XnView does not show Thumbnails for MP4, AVI and FLV files!?

[Alberto]

Greetings to all forum members and especially to the creator of XnView

XnView 2.12 does not show Thumnails for MP4, AVI and FLV files !?

I have the newest version of the K-Lite Codec Pack installed and under options all 4 checkboxes for displaying video data are checked (so files are displayed but no thumbnail is generated) !

In Windows Explorer all thumbnails are generated fast and without problems so K-Lite Codec Pack is working fine but XnView unfortunately not !

OS is Windows Vista with all the latest patches.

What's the problem with this? Any solutions to this very annoying problem ?

Via search function I found this http://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.php?t=27912 older thread from April but no solution there

Hope you can help

[xnview]

Can you play video files in XnView?

[Alberto]

Yes: I can play the mp4, avi and flv files and I can also create a Video-Thumbnail-Gallery (Contact Sheet) from them.

One other thing I found out (though it does not solve the problem correctly):

If I add ".mkv" to an mp4 file (i.e. rename "test.mp4" to "test.mp4.mkv") the thumbnails will get generated but for the avi and flv files this won't work !

Pierre, it would be great if you can find a solution to this

[xnview]

is it possible to send me a little avi?

[ehathgepiurhe]

I had the same problem only last night. Your problem might not be the same root cause as on my system, but I fixed it by installing the XnView FFmpeg plugin:
http://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.php?t=13577

For whatever reason, the plugin is not listed on the XnView addon's download page, and hasn't been updated since 2007. However, there are only two files in the plugin archive:
1. FFmpeg itself; and
2. A POSIX dll file.

Thankfully, you can update both to the most current versions - there is nothing XnView specific in either file.
1. FFmpeg: http://ffmpeg.zeranoe.com/builds/ (32bit Static is the one you want)
2. POSIX: ftp://sourceware.org/pub/pthreads-win32 (pthreads-w32-2-9-1-release.zip is the one you want)

To update the plugin files, simply download FFmpeg and extract the ffmpeg.exe file from the \bin folder in the archive. Then, download the POSIX file and extract the pthreadGC2.dll file from the \Pre-built.2\dll\x86 folder in the archive. Lastly, copy both those into the AddOn folder in the XnView installation directory. The 2007 version of the plugin linked from the above thread may actually work fine as well - I didn't test it, once I saw how old the files were, I immediately went about updating them.

Anyway, it fixed the problem for me, so it might be worth a try for you as well.

[stussy]

amazing, 3 years later I got the same problem. I tried everything I could find. Installing codec packs etc. Nothing worked out. I don't know what I did, de-installed whatever, suddenly xnview is not showing preview thumps for avi, mp4 files anylonger. Only wmv is still working really frustraring. Even the Windows Explorer (w7, 64bit) is no showing thumbnails for those video files. I tried the suggested solution here, but the thumbnails looking different to the ones before. Is it possible to tell xnview not to show the first frame of a video? perhaps frame 10 or so?

[XnTriq]

Is it possible to tell xnview not to show the first frame of a video? perhaps frame 10 or so?

You have to add VideoFramePercent to the [Browser] section of xnview.ini:

VideoFramePercent

• Changes the frame from which video thumbnails are extracted.
  Value: Integer (percent), default is 10
  Note: This change might not be visible, until the thumbnails are rebuild.

You may also want to give another undocumented setting a try:

• no thumbnails for video :(
• cant play mp4 video

[stussy]

thanks for your reply

I added:

VideoFormat=3
VideoFrame=1
VideoFramePercent=50
VideoPlayBar=1

and I downloaded the suggest files (ffmpeg.exe, pthreadGC2.dll) Now I am getting thumbnails again, but always the first frame is used. I got the latest update of xnview
The last years I never used (ffmpeg.exe, pthreadGC2.dll) I still don't know what causes the problem on my computer

[XnTriq]

Hi stussy (-:

Did you quit XnView prior to editing the INI file?
Does View » Rebuild thumbnails make any difference?

[stussy]

Yes, xnview was closed when I edited the xnview.ini. I also double checked if it is the right ini file

[XnTriq]

Could you please try these steps:

1. Create a new folder (e.g. X:\XnView\).
2. Copy xnview.exe to the new folder.
3. Create a text file named xnview.ini in the same directory with the following contents:

   Code: Select all

   [Browser]
   VideoFormat=3
   VideoFramePercent=50
   
   [Cache]
   IsActive=0
   SavingMode=1
   
   [Start]
   ParamsSavingMode=1
   SavingMode=1

4. Start XnView and point the browser to a folder that contains video files.

Related topics:

• Video Thumbnail Frame Percentage
• Xnview and .Mov video file thumbnails always first frame
• Video thumbnails for WMV files

[stussy]

OK, I tried this. When start xnview.exe I don't get any video thumbnails at all. But when I start xnview as an Admin (I have two accounts) I get Thumbs from avi (divx) but not from mp4 files. I just checked my windows settings. Normally I am log on as a User, HomeUser. Does it help? thanks

[XnTriq]

Does it help?

I hope so! This issue seems to be related to UAC.
Let's wait for Pierre (the developer of XnView).

[stussy]

OK, the UAC was at the highest level on my account

[xnview]

OK, the UAC was at the highest level on my account

very strange, but i don't know why???