avi black clueless

After hours of pursuing what could be causing this issue, I finally gave up researching and decided to post the issue here... I'm not sure where else to turn to resolve this.


Information:
Particle Illusion 3.0.4.1
Up to date

I'm using an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260

It's a pretty new computer. My previous computer's hard drive failed. I was able to upload these same videos into particle illusion on the previous computer (without any issues).

Issue
Using the same video avi clip... I am...

Able to clearly see the video when importing it into particle illusion, with these dimension:
128x128 12bpp 12 bit (but it's very low quality, distorted, pixelated due to the quality of the video)

I upped the quality a notch, and now I am unable to see the video in particle illusion at all...
The new dimensions of the avi's are 320x240 24bpp 24 bit.

The screen is almost always black.

The video uses a preferred codec of vp61. Related issue? I don't know. I've run out of ideas.

I've read concerns about downloading certain codecs interfering with other programs, so I'm uncertain which would be "safe" to try to see if any difference is made.

Any advice?