# How do I watch this video I downloaded? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-this-video-i-downloaded/274057 "2004-11-10T18:59:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-this-video-i-downloaded/274057/1 "2004-11-10T18:59:55Z")
Recently acquired bittorrent and used it to download a video. There are two folders called “CD1” and “CD2.” Also an MSinfo document called pot.videots. The two folders contain bunches of files that all have that “pot.” pre-fix. When I click on the MSinfo file, I get a message that says “system cannot open this NFO file. It might be corrupted or an unrecognized version.” Help? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-this-video-i-downloaded/274057/2 "2004-11-10T19:03:42Z")
The ‘pot’ extension normally refers to MS Powerpoint files. But with all the hundreds of different shareware apps floating around on the internet it could be anything. Do you have MS Powerpoint? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-this-video-i-downloaded/274057/3 "2004-11-10T19:07:35Z")
Whoops. I misread your post. (pot is not the extension but the filename. The extension you say is ‘videots’? Is that the word after the very last dot?) Common extensions can often get re-used by new software, so you can end up with a file with extension “.nfo” which is not designed to work in MSInfo. I suspect it’s a text file. Open notepad and drag the file into it. It may give you instructions on how to read the other files. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-this-video-i-downloaded/274057/4 "2004-11-10T19:18:12Z")
I opened the info file with notepad, as you said, and found this information: FORMAT…[ NTSC VCD RiPPER…[ POTS RLS.TYPE…[ TELESYNC RUNTiME…[ 100 mins RAR COUNT…[ CD1/40 CD2/37 What now? ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-this-video-i-downloaded/274057/5 "2004-11-10T19:23:03Z")
Sounds like VCD’s to me. Are the files _just a little_ too big to burn to regular CD-R’s? Try [this player](http://www.videolan.org/vlc/). ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-this-video-i-downloaded/274057/6 "2004-11-10T20:16:39Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Sounds like VCD’s to me. Are the files _just a little_ too big to burn to regular CD-R’s? Try [this player](http://www.videolan.org/vlc/). Well, I tried the VLC player, and I am getting the audio nut no video. Windows Media Player will do the same thing. We’re making progress, though. Any additional help? ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-this-video-i-downloaded/274057/7 "2004-11-10T20:42:21Z")
Looks to me like the video was broken down into .rar files, which you’ve now assembled, and can watch, but can’t hear. You’re going to need to know which audio codec was used, and if your computer is set up for it. A good tool for this is [GSpot Codec Identifier](http://www.headbands.com/gspot/). Give it a try. Might solve your problem. A good site for general help of this type is [VideoHelp](http://www.videohelp.com/). Massive lists of how to’s. Be warned, it’s pretty in depth. Prepare to be edumacated! ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-this-video-i-downloaded/274057/8 "2004-11-10T21:05:15Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Sounds like VCD’s to me. Are the files _just a little_ too big to burn to regular CD-R’s? Try [this player](http://www.videolan.org/vlc/). As a newbie to the whole VCD thing, how _does_ one burn these files to CD? ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-this-video-i-downloaded/274057/9 "2004-11-10T21:12:27Z")
> [@Nonesuch](#): > > As a newbie to the whole VCD thing, how does one burn these files to CD? As far as I know, the way to do it is to edit the video a little shorter. Cutting the credits is a common technique. I’ve been led to believe that the formatting applied to computer created disk don’t allow the entire file to be burned to disk. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-this-video-i-downloaded/274057/10 "2004-11-10T22:03:42Z")
Well, I’m watching it. It was a s Dante said. I used a free program called “weapons of mass downloading” to asseble the .rar files into a .bin file. Then I used Isobuster to extract .mpg files from the .bin files. Thanks to all for your help. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-this-video-i-downloaded/274057/11 "2004-11-11T00:50:49Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > As a newbie to the whole VCD thing, how _does_ one burn these files to CD? Depends on what type of file you have for a source file, and what type of DVD player you have. If you’re in the mood to buy a new DVD player, I highly recommend the Philips 642DVP. It plays most .avi files in their native format. So all you have to do is burn the .avi file to a CD. Check out the reviews of the player on [videohelp.com](http://videohelp.com). It costs $79.99 at Target. If not, you’ll need to convert most files from their .avi format to an .mpeg format. Again, [videohelp.com](http://videohelp.com) is your best source for the step by step procedure on how to do that. It can get complicated. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-this-video-i-downloaded/274057/12 "2004-11-11T03:45:58Z")
> [@Dante](#): > > If you’re in the mood to buy a new DVD player… The problem is that the files are just a little larger than the capacity of a CD. Two recent examples I had were 720 and 730Mbs. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-watch-this-video-i-downloaded/274057/13 "2004-11-11T14:14:29Z")
I’ve had that happen once, so I just watched it on my computer. There are other options, though. 1. Buy 800 mb discs. I’m not big on this since I usually burn mine to CD-RW, and they only come up to 700 mb. Once you burn to a 800 mb disc, you’re stuck with it. 2. Use an editing tool to change the file size. For example, you can change the bitrate of the video source so that it uses up less space and gets you under that magic 720 mb number. There are a number of tools to do this (Fit2CD, for example). This conversion generally uses a 1:1 time ratio though. So expect it to take about 90 minutes to do for a 90 minute movie.