Play .arv video in Linux (Ubuntu)

Question

I got a bunch of .arv video files of some security camera footage. The burned DVD has an .exe viewer, but I'm using Ubuntu Linux. Does anyone know of a way to play .arv files or convert them to a more common format?

In VLC, the files don't show up as "Media Files" I have to switch to All Files to open them. When I press play, VLC just flashes like it's going to play then reverts back to stopped.

Answer 1

The arv looks like a proprietary and not widely used media format so there are no FOSS players for it (at least I wasn't able to find one). Moreover, the video player is said to be always exported with the video, so the format may not be consistent. I'll suggest launching that under wine, as the provided software can convert its internal format to avi.

Answer 2

Have you tried playing them with vlc in ubuntu? What error message do you get if you try to play them with vlc?

Since you have the .exe player, you might be able to get the .exe running in Ubuntu with wine.

Both wine and vlc are available in the Ubuntu Software Center.