I own Neo Scene 1.1.2. Whenever I use VirtualDub to output an AVI file with the Cineform codec, it plays back terribly with Windows Media Player. Whenever I use Neo Scene or Vegas 8.0c to output an Cineform AVI file, it plays back beautifully in WMP.

Why is there a difference?

Are the codec settings the same in both Vegas and VDub? Also, in VDub, check the audio interleaving settings. You'd have to ask David Newman as to what effect that might have on playback.

I used the default settings for Cineform with HighHD and Progressive set for all methods. Within VirtualDub I tried both with audio interleaving every 500ms and no interleaving.

All VirtualDub versions play terribly (or practically not at all), while all NeoScene and Vegas versions played perfect or near perfectly.

Can anyone at Cineform tell me why playback of a Cineform AVI is inconsistent?

Does anyone at Cineform have any theories why playback of CF files is inconsistent?

Could you prove a link to a few seconds of the same sequence rendered both ways. My guess is this has nothing to do with CineForm compression at all, more to do with what might be in the AVI header causing your video card to choke. Related we have also seen Vista issues where WMP stupidy decides to using VFW instead of DirectShow playback as part of the paranoid content protection engine. Using Vista?