I put an avi file on my memory card to test out watching video and it was very choppy and pixilated. Does the N810 support avi files or do I need to try a different format? The file is large (350 MB) and about 45 minutes long. Was the file I tried too long?
The file size doesn't matter. Were you using the included media player? What frame rate was the video encoded at? The frame rate is important since a high frame rate could cause stuttering. Also mplayer plays video better than the included media player. I've used a bit rate of 634 kb/s without trouble in mplayer.
I put an avi file on my memory card to test out watching video and it was very choppy and pixilated. Does the N810 support avi files or do I need to try a different format? The file is large (350 MB) and about 45 minutes long. Was the file I tried too long?
Most likely. This sounds like one of those recorded tv shows available (not really available, but linked to) from sites as EZTV.
Regardless of some of the more brazen claims sometimes made here, only rarely will you be lucky enough to be able to watch a video on the tablet without re-encoding it, the stream becomes all too soon too much for the tablet to handle. The format (usually DivX or Xvid) is usually not so much the problem, although the default media player is much more fussy than the excellent mplayer.
There are so many solutions available that I won't even begin to list them. Just click the "wiki" tab at the top of this page and start reading. It's all there...
i encourage you to use mplayer - 175mb episodes of arrested development (22mins) run fine in mplayer on my n800 (SOMETIMES the sound is out of sync, but it is like that from the start due to the soundtrack delay settings in mplayer messing up - just reopen the file and its usually fine)
I had to download one of the repositories from maemo first. D'oh.