Hello,
I’ve downloaded several episodes of the old British TV show. However, none of the episodes I’ve downloaded play video or audio.
I first thought that I might have the incorrect codec or I needed one — so I downloaded G-spot to test one of the files. G-spot indicates that the file is “Not a valid AVI file." In the video codec information the 4CC displays n.a. I’ve attempted to render the file and rendering fails. I also downloaded VideoInspector and I can’t find out anything about any of the .avi files I’ve downloaded.
I have downloaded FFDSHOW and installed it - and this is going to sound ignorant - but I am not sure what FFDSHOW is suppose to do so I removed it.
I used AVIPreview and got the following error: 0x8004022F --
I need some help please.... 
gspot is pretty good at detecting an avi when it sees one. I suspect your file may be a fake. You can do one last quick check using a a hex editor like http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm#download. If it’s an avi, at the start of the right column you should see RIFF AVI LIST. If you see nothing but zeroes it’s definitely a fake! It could be another file type... for example PK indicates a zip, MZ an .exe, JFIF a jpeg etc...
There is a criictal shortage of informative articles like this.