Trouble with .avi files

Drew Ott

Drew Ott

Wish I were banned.
My Vegas 6.0 won't play the video for its .avi files unless they originated within Vegas. If I render as a .avi and import it back in, it plays fine, but I cannot play any .avi files that people send me, or that I capture from my camera. This is a problem because I can't get any of my footage onto the timeline unless I first capture the .avi files in windows movie maker and then render out of there and import.

Thanks for any advice I may receive.

-Drew Ott
 
Are those AVI files DivX files? You can't use them in Vegas unless you've installed the codec pack, and even then, it's tricky. Sony doesn't support DivX in Vegas, which requires a license fee.
 
I'm not really sure... when I hook up my consumer 1 CCD camera (not DVX) and capture the video, it works fine. The file comes up later in the media pool and I import to the timeline. Turns out all I am importing is my audio and I thought it was just a messed up capture.

Then recently my friend sent me a video he made and I tried to import it into Vegas to do some color correction and all that showed up was the audio.

I checked and both of these were .avi files which is really annoying because most of my videos are in that format right now. I used to be able to capture video in Vegas but I can't anymore...

-Drew
 
I don't even know what DivX is... I'm pretty sure its a video format, but I've never done anything with it.

I looked on my desktop and I have a "DivX player" but I've only run it once and I don't remember why.
 
bballplaya283 said:
I checked and both of these were .avi files which is really annoying because most of my videos are in that format right now.
Click to expand...
Understand that AVI is not a format; it is a container for several formats. The CODEC determines the format. DivX is a codec, as is DV Video. If your camcorder is miniDV and you are capturing via firewire, it should be using the DV Video codec. If, however, your camcorder also has a USB port and you are capturing via USB, it is quite possible that it is not using the DV Video codec. So how you capture the file can make a difference. This varies with camcorders so it's hard to say but firewire is always DV.

Download a copy of GSpot and open the AVI file in that. It will tell you what codec it is using and whether or not the codec is installed on your PC. This little utility is priceless for debugging these sorts of problems.

bballplaya283 said:
I used to be able to capture video in Vegas but I can't anymore...
Click to expand...
If the CODEC of the file has a 4CC of DVSD (GSpot will show this in the 4CC field) and GSpot says that the codec is installed, then perhaps you have a corrupt installation of Vegas. Try a complete uninstall and re-install.

I had this problem where Vegas would not recognize any of my DV AVI files and I had to uninstall ALL of my Sony products, delete the directories on the hard drive, delete any references in the Windows Registry, and then do a complete re-install of all my Sony programs. The reason I had to do that is because the support for AVI files is shared. So it doesn’t get uninstalled and when you try and install again, Vegas see’s that it’s already there and doesn’t re-install it. So there is no way to get rid of corrupt AVI drivers except by manually deleting your Sony\Shared Plug-Ins folder and in order to do that safely, you have to uninstall ALL of your Sony software.

Good Luck,

~jr
 
gspot.jpg


Thats what I got.

Thanks for your help.
 
Ahh. Looks like it's video recorded by a still camera (like a PowerShot). Vegas won't open those. I've had to transcode them in other software to use them.
 
No, that wasn't recorded in a still camera, although still camera videos don't work either. This was recorded in a home movie type camera, but I don't know the model any more because it wasn't mine and it is gone now.
 
BTW, the "home movie type camera" was a panasonic something or other and it is digital and not something very old. It's maybe 1 year old.
 
Could be one of those video cameras which also records, low-res, to memory cards. Same thing as the still cam. I have one like that.

Believe it or not, Windows Movie Maker will (should) handle it. You can then export a DV .avi which Vegas will take. But remember, it's 15 fps and will be blown up to 720x480 from 320x240, so it isn't going to look terribly good.
 
Yeah I've been using Windows Movie Maker to change the format and I haaaaate it.

The camcorder records to mini DV tapes, but I use a USB cord so I think that may be it.
 
bballplaya283 said:
The camcorder records to mini DV tapes, but I use a USB cord so I think that may be it.
Click to expand...
BINGO! That’s exactly what I was referring to earlier. The USB connection is converting your 720x480 29.976fps DV quality footage into web quality 320x240 15fps Motion JPEG. This is NOT what you want to capture with.

STOP. Go buy yourself a $20 firewire card (if your computer doesn’t already have one) and always capture via firewire from your miniDV camcorder. What you have now is low-res web video that isn’t worth editing in Vegas.

~jr
 
For the record, I shoot little movies on my tiny point-and-shoot Canon SD400 that are in motion jpeg format (MJPEG) all of the time, and as long as you have the right codec installed and Vegas can use it, it works fine. It took me a while to get it working, but now I can easily mix DV and MJPEG in the same timeline without any hassles or transcoding needed. I can't remember how I got it working exactly, but I had to install a codec to make it work. In fact, I actually use Vegas to convert the MJPEG files to quicktime and wmv format (which reduces the size by an order of magnitude without much degredation in quality). So, anyway, for what's it's worth, I'm 100% positive you can get this to work in Vegas, because I do it personally.
 
JohnnyRoy said:
BINGO! That’s exactly what I was referring to earlier. The USB connection is converting your 720x480 29.976fps DV quality footage into web quality 320x240 15fps Motion JPEG. This is NOT what you want to capture with.

STOP. Go buy yourself a $20 firewire card (if your computer doesn’t already have one) and always capture via firewire from your miniDV camcorder. What you have now is low-res web video that isn’t worth editing in Vegas.

~jr
Click to expand...

I don't think it really has much to do with the USB cord per se, because I can capture DV video without dropped frames from my USB cord no problem (I still use FW most of the time because there are things you can't do with USB that you can with FW, but you can DEFINITELY capture DV using USB). So, my guess is that it has more to do with HOW he is trying to capture, not so much what cord he's using.
 
Tainted said:
I don't think it really has much to do with the USB cord per se, because I can capture DV video without dropped frames from my USB cord no problem
Click to expand...
Without knowing the make and model of his camcorder you cannot say that for sure. There are camcorders that provide DV out of the firewire port and web cam out of the USB port. Some camcorders only transfer still images out the USB port while others, like yours, transfer DV over USB. So what port you use does matter depending on the camcorder you use. What he captured from his USB port was definitely not DV (it was 320x240 MJPEG).

If he is getting 320x240 MJPEG from his USB port then my recommendation remains, get a firewire card can capture via the firewire port.

~jr
 
JohnnyRoy said:
Without knowing the make and model of his camcorder you cannot say that for sure. There are camcorders that provide DV out of the firewire port and web cam out of the USB port. Some camcorders only transfer still images out the USB port while others, like yours, transfer DV over USB. So what port you use does matter depending on the camcorder you use. What he captured from his USB port was definitely not DV (it was 320x240 MJPEG).

If he is getting 320x240 MJPEG from his USB port then my recommendation remains, get a firewire card can capture via the firewire port.

~jr
Click to expand...

That was basically my whole point. It doesn't really matter what cable it is PER SE, it matters what you are doing and what your gear is and what software you are using, etc. My point was is that just because it's USB doesn't necessarily mean that's the problem, and then I gave an example. I totally agree with you on all of your points except to just blindly go buy and install a FW card. Why not read the manual first? LOL!
 
Tainted said:
My point was is that just because it's USB doesn't necessarily mean that's the problem
Click to expand...
Agreed except that he showed us what he was getting from his USB port and it was 320x240 MJPEG, not 720x480 DV. So obviously this USB port was not giving him full resolution DV. Granted there may be an option in the camera to switch what gets sent out the USB port but without knowing the make and model, we can’t be sure.

Tainted said:
I totally agree with you on all of your points except to just blindly go buy and install a FW card.
Click to expand...
This is NOT a blind recommendation. Firewire is the accepted standard for acquiring DV footage from a miniDV camcorder. It has no CPU overhead and full bandwidth available all the times. USB requires significant CPU processing and shares it’s bandwidth across the available ports even if the ports are not being used. So buying a firewire card will GUARANTEE that he gets full resolution DV footage. Even if his camera was capable of using USB I would still recommend that he use firewire instead. In the long run it will be more trouble free because it puts less load on the system.

But your point is valid so to be more accurate (and less blind) my response should have been:

"Go read the manual and see if there is any way to switch your USB port to generate 720x480 DV output. If there is not, then your only alternative is to buy a firewire card and use that instead." ;-)

~jr
 
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