Attn: Codec Experts

amendegw wrote on 7/25/2010, 10:32 AM

I must have been doing some pretty vanilla stuff as I've been using Vegas since Version 4 and have never had this problem.

Some months ago I purchased a DVD with a library of Video Background loops. I just tried to drag one of the AVI's to the Vegas timeline & it wound not drop. Just got a black circle with slash.

I'm assuming this is a Codec issue, but not sure. I'm seeing this problem on my laptop: Win 7 64bit; Vegas 9.0e 32bit. Here's the results of running Gspot:

Can anyone help?
...Jerry

EDIT: Here's another clue. I tried to open the clip in VirtualDub and got the following error:

Comments

Tom Pauncz wrote on 7/25/2010, 11:20 AM

Hey Jerry,
I bough the same loops and have no problem with the clip and 9.0e.

As far as I know, DVSD, is the indicator for the Main Concept 2.4.16 DV codec, which I have on my system.

HTH...
Tom

amendegw wrote on 7/25/2010, 11:24 AM

Tom,

Thanks for the reply. It turns out the VirtualDub Error was the clue. I Googled it and found that I needed an AVI type II decoder: Cedocida DV-Codec. Downloaded & installed, works fine now.

Thanks,
...Jerry

John_Cline wrote on 7/25/2010, 11:33 AM

DVSD is the Four-CC code for generic DV-format files. In Tom's case, they are handled by the Main Concept DV codec, but DVSD is not specific to the Main Concept codec. Vegas has a built-in DV codec which is only available to encode/decode DV files from within Vegas itself.

Tom Pauncz wrote on 7/25/2010, 12:15 PM

Thanks for the clarification John.

While on the subject of these clips - I wonder if anyone can explain the preview window I am seeing - the black bar to the right of the clip?

This looks the same with Vegas 8.0c on another system.

And then after playing around with some settings .. the preview changes to this.

This in 9.0e 32bit on XP Pro SP3.

Gspot show the exact same info as posted by Jerry and even though Gspot sees the clips as NTSC DV WS (720x480), take a close look at what Vegas shows under the preview image.

Been a long time Vegas user (since v3) and have never seen this.
Tom

amendegw wrote on 7/25/2010, 12:38 PM

Hmmm... mine previews just fine. Of course my media properties list the Cedocida Codec.

...Jerry

Tom Pauncz wrote on 7/25/2010, 1:14 PM

Thanks jerry...
What are the project properties set to??

I set mine to match the clip by clicking on the folder icon in Project Properties and then selecting this clip.

Tom

amendegw wrote on 7/25/2010, 2:07 PM

"What are the project properties set to??"Okay, there's something strange here. I also set mine to match by selecting the clip - it came back as the "NTSC DV Widescreen (720x480, 29.970 fps)" template. However, I noticed that your Project Size was listed as 856x480, so I changed the project settings to match.

With the default 720x480, here's what my screenprint looks like - no pillars at all (as it should be).

Strange,
...Jerry

amendegw wrote on 7/25/2010, 2:22 PM

Okay, Really, really strange. I set the project properties by selecting the clip & the project properties are 720x480, but when I display the Media Properties of the clip in the timeline, it displays as 856x480.

Also, notice that GSpot shows the clip as 720x480.

What gives?
...Jerry

Tom Pauncz wrote on 7/25/2010, 2:51 PM

Jerry,
Some mysteries we'll not solve. :-).

I think it has something to do with PARs and aspect ratios. My brain's too old to figure it out, but....

My display issue was with the Main Concept codec. I uninstalled it and installed the one you did - Cedocia - and now the display is as I would expect.

Likely to do with how those clips were originally rendered and with which codec. There are quite a few variants of 'DVSD', but so far MC was 'best of breed'.

It is old and perhaps some newer flags in the wrapper/header aren't respected.

Tom