Vegas and Apple Intermediate Files

Charli

Charli

cool little "title"
Hey guys,

Barlow sent me a couple of Apple Intermediate Files in HD 1440 x 1080 and when I open the quicktime file in Vegas I get dialogue but no picture. I then went to open the files just in my quicktime pro and it tells me that I need an apple component. Anyone know what I need to do?

I imagine once I dowload the component I'll be able to view the files in Vegas, yes?

Really, thanks for whoever helps this girl out.

Charli
 
From what I know, there is no way to read these files on any Windows or Linux OS. The Quicktime Pro for Windows does not include that codec while its Mac counterpart does, and there is no NLE that supports that format either.

This bit me back in June too (with iMovie exports no less). Stupid Apple, I might just say. It's "intermediate" only between Apple apps on Macs.
 
Dang that sucks, I thought AIC was cross platform. I'm trying to convert FCP-captured HDV 1080 24p files to something Vegas-friendly and I don't have CineForm for the Mac, as I'm still on a G5.

What standard QT codec will edit reasonably well in Vegas on a moderate speed PC? (two years old or newer)

PhotoJPEG
MJPEG A or B

I've looked through the list of codecs and those seem to be the only standard i-frame codecs that I can export from HDV and still retain decent quality.

Any input appreciated.
 
One possibility is to use FFmpegX, and see if that build supports Huffyuv. If yes, load the AIC file on FFmpegX, transcode to Huffyuv (files will be huge btw), and then install the Huffuyv codec on Windows. Then the NLE will be able to read the Huffyuv files.

Huffuyv is lossless, but as I said, it creates big files. And it's not for sure that ffmpeX will do the whole thing the right way. Although it might be the only way for a free solution.
 
Hey, thank you very much for the response. :)

The problem I've having is I couldn't choose CineForm anyway because the Mac version (last I checked) only works on Intel Macs. I need to make files in the neighborhood of 10-16 MBs that look like decent HD. If I was going to make huge files I'd just render to SheerVideo but the file sizes are totally out of the question for how much material I need to transcode.

I've done PhotoJPEG before and I know it can playback on PC's, but the question I have is how easily editable are these QT codecs on a PC?

I can't recapture the footage as m2t because I will lose the timecode relationship that I want to preserve from my FCP media.

Again, the feedback is truly appreciated.
 
Oh, we are talking here about intermediate files, not delivery formats. You are refering to user-oriented videos instead of video work: http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2007/10/19/understanding-intermediate-and-delivery-video-formats/
For your case, just export in h.264, .mp4 at 5 MBbps 1280x720 progressive.

Charli and I were talking about intermediate formats though where there is absolutely not a single drop of loss of quality. Read the link above to understand why this is needed sometimes.
 
Actually, I'm talking about a moderately lossy intermediate to edit QT HD files in Vegas. CineForm is technically lossy, as is older codecs like PhotoJPEG.

What I'm trying to do is maintain some semblance of coherency between a Vegas project and a FCP project. The idea is that I'm going to have a project edited in Vegas, but I want the capability to conform the edit back in FCP if needs be. That's why I want to maintain the clip names and timecode relationship from my FCP project. Media Manager in FCP allows me to transcode an entire HDV project to alternative codecs AND maintain pertinent info such as original clip names and timecode. I figure I could possibly work from a Vegas timeline converted to some kind of EDL that FCP can import, and reconstruct in FCP if needed.

I think PJPEG @ 75% quality (minimally lossy, retains YUV colorspace) might be the answer, but I wondered if any of the Vegas gurus out there could convert an HDV file to this codec at that quality setting and see how "snappy" it is to work with. If it can't play in realtime in the viewer and it's especially render intensive for moderate fx, transitions, etc, than I need to see if there are any other alternatives.

B
 
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Eug - thanks for that quick reply. Elton is aka Barlow and he is the one that is trying to transfer these files into something I can read on Vegas. I really appreciate your input.
 
Elton -- you can export a DVCPRO HD Quicktime; someone on a PC can use Raylight Decoder to use it in Windows.
 
Thanks J.R. and David. :)

What's the performance like with these DVCPRO HD decoders? Can the clips edit and play in real time? Slow to render?
 
I tried that, a friend of mine exported DVCPRO HD Quicktime with the uncompressed flag, and the Raylight maker said "this appears to be quicktime", and it wouldn't do the conversion to .avi to edit on Vegas...
 
I tried both. None can read the files I was sent to do color grading on.

I was told that the files were saved as quicktime DVCProHD, "uncompressed".
 
I can't send the files, they are not mine. As for uncompressed and DVCProHD being contradictory, I agree. It's possible that my friend sent me Apple Intermediate Codec or another kind of .mov uncompressed that my PC or my old 10.3.x Mac can't read.
 
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