previewing avi files

Hi can anyone tell me if you can preview video files when you are still downloading them as i see the option to but when i right click on the file and select preview file nothing happens..i dont really want to wait 6 hours for a film that wont play ...can anyone help me with this please
Gary

hi Gary.........

as far as I know you can only preview what has already been downloaded;....... in other words, if your 'film' has partly downloaded, say 5minutes worth, then you should be able to watch 5minutes of your film and see if it's what you really want to download without having to go further.

This goes for mp3. and all the rest.

Hi thanks for your reply but i have tried to preview after downloading 50 % of the film and it still doesnt work.. I have managed to work around this, so for anyone else having this problem you can download (VLC media player ) which is free from www.download.com This player lets you play the file straight from your incomplete folder.
Gary

glad things worked out ok.

grts. Gerry.