There are many reasons why an AVI file will not play. Always make sure that you have the required video codec installed. Usually, the Windows operating system, Windows Media Player, or the application that you are using will report an error indicating that the codec is not present or that it cannot find the codec needed. Video codecs are identified by a four character code such as IV50 or DVSD. Here I have collected a couple of problems for your information
Generally Speaking, there are two ways of compression, one is compression with loss, and the other is lossless compression.
An uncompressed or barely compressed AVI file can exceed the bandwidth of hardware especially slower peripherals such as a CD Reader or DVD Reader. The characteristic symptom is that a few frames of the AVI may play before the AVI freezes. If you are converting DVD to AVI with DVD Ripper, make sure that the program you are using has the correct codecs and other parameter settings of AVI.
An uncompressed 640 by 480 30 frames per second true color (24 bit color) AVI file has a bit rate of about 221 Megbits per second. (640 * 480 * 30 * 24 bits/pixel). You can easily exceed the bit rate of even a fast CD Reader (e.g. 50x which is only about 60 Mbits/second) with an uncompressed or barely compressed AVI. Make sure the bit rate of the AVI file is not exceeding the bandwidth of either your CD player or possibly the system bus if playing from a hard drive, before looking for more exotic causes. Similar problems can occur with a DVD player, although the base speed of a DVD player is higher than a CD player.
There are other possibilities of being not able to play AVI.

AVI playback with video problem

This happens that when you play the AVI files, the sound plays well but you cannot get video. Run the avi through GSpot to determine which codec the avi file uses. Then download the codec. Or you could try installing ffdshow since it can decode Xvid, DivX, etc.

Cannot Play AVI Files Over a Samaba Share

The problem is the permissions on the share, nothing really to do with kaffeine or xine or anything although it would be nice if your permissions could transfer. UIf it's a windows share:
From the Windows Host
1 - Right-click the share folder and go to properties
2 - Select the share name and click Permissions
3 - If "everyone" isn't already there, then click Add...
4 - Type in Everyone and press Add
5- Give "everyone" at least read
6 - click "OK"
Also, if it's a Linux share like mine was:
From the Linux Host
1 - Right-click the share folder and go to properties
2 - Click the Share tab and click the "Configure file sharing" button (enter root password)
3 - Click on the share you'd like to stream your videos from
4 - Click change...
5 - Tick the public option
6 - Click "more samba options"
7 - Click the Users tab
8 - Change "All Unspecified Users" to "Allow"
9 - Click OK - OK - OK - OK
I am not sure whether you can find correspond solutions for your problem, I present this to share what I have collected. If you have seen other possibilities that you cannot play AVI, and you have got it fixed, you can share it too, so we can contribute more ways to help people who have this problem out. Many AVI compressors, tailored for different needs, have been designed. For our purpose, the key things to know are the quality of the video playback and the compression ratio for each codec. Which compressor to choose depends on the intended use of the file and the desired output quality? Many codecs can be downloaded directly from the Internet.

Related Article:
How to Convert DVD to AVI
Unterstanding Different Compressions of AVI Files

2009 - 02 -16