VLC Media Player v2.1.0 CRASHES All the Time Playing AVI files

Ever since I got VLC v2.1.0 when it came out, I've noticed it ALWAYS crashes when trying to play any sort of AVI file (i.e. DivX, XviD). MP4, WMV, and MKV all seem to play fine.

At first I thought there may have been something residual due to migrating from v2.0.7 to v2.1.0 so I uninstalled v2.1.0 entirely including the preferences and cache. I ran CCleaner to remove anything leftover in the registry, etc.

I reinstalled VLC 2.1.0 and loaded an AVI file right after installation with no changes to preferences whatsoever. AVI files play fine.

I go to preferences to turn on "hardware-accelerated decoding" and VLC crashes next time I load up an AVI file. It doesn't matter if I choose "automatic" or "DirectX Video Acceleration". Both options cause VLC to crash whenever trying to play an AVI file. When I disable hardware-acclerated decoding, the AVI files play just fine.

My hardware in case this matters:

Windows 7 64-Bit RAM: 16GB Boot Drive: SSD GPU: Radeon 6850 CPU: Phenom II 965 Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0