Combustion will not import Vegas PAL DV footage?

organism_seven wrote on 4/5/2003, 11:14 AM
Hi,

I took some footage I had produced in Vegas to college, where they have a copy of Combustion 2.1.
After reading a few comments in here, I thought I would have a look at what it can do.
This footage was rendered out in Vegas using the standard PAL DV template.
But Combustion 2.1 says "File Sub Format - Not Supported".
I have imported this footage into Adobe Premiere, Adobe After Effects, Boris RED,
and all have accepted this file with no problem.

I went to the Discreet website to see if I could get any info on this.

I found this:

---------------------------------------

Question: (1183) Why is Microsoft DV type-1 codec not recognized in combustion?

Answer: Some codecs use DirectShow (directX) libraries as others will use the Microsoft ones.

Combustion relies on Video for Windows library, therefore, it requires the proper codec to be installed in order to give Video for Windows access to the custom codec.

Many of our users have chosen to install this codec which will allow Video for Windows to access the custom codec:

www.mainconcept.com/codecs.shtml


Note that any other DV codec that does not rely on DirectShow should work in combustion.

-----------------------------------------------

Is this something to do with "Type 1" and "Type 2" digital video files, I have heard mentioned before?
If thats the case, then do I have to convert my footage?
If so, is this a long process?
Combustion 2.1 looked very good from what I saw (using its own sample files!), but I'm not going to spend hours converting my footage to use it, when every other video/effects package doesn't require this.
Another thing I thought was strange, was the solution offered by Discreet.
It provides a link to the Mainconcept website.
But that is the codec that Vegas has built in.
Am I missing something here??

Regards
Organism Seven



Comments

jboy wrote on 4/5/2003, 12:08 PM
I find, with the same vegas/combustion combo, (NTSC though), that if I re-render clips to uncompressed, they will work in combustion. You had to do this also for SF's old Viscosity program. Sorry I cant answer your technical questions, and yeah, re-rendering is a pain in the butt, but it does make things work..
BillyBoy wrote on 4/5/2003, 12:37 PM
The reason is: "Some codecs use DirectShow (directX) libraries as others will use the Microsoft" ones. This is true for some applications. Another for example is VirtualDub. Try to open a compressed AVI (NTSC DV for example) generated in Vegas and it will complain as well. However it will work with uncompressed AVI.
taliesin wrote on 4/5/2003, 1:58 PM
There should be no problem using Vegas-AVIs in Combustion if only a codec like MainconceptDV oder PanasonicDV is installed on the Combustion system.
You needn't use the PanaconicDV- or MainConceptDV-codec. It's fine if it only is installed on that system.

Marco
jboy wrote on 4/6/2003, 3:33 PM
Taliesin, how can you install vegas's DV codec on Combustion ? I also have MainConcepts current retail codec, (which I understand is not quite the same as Vegas's MainConcept codec), will this work-if it's not possible to extract (?) the MC codec from Vegas ?
taliesin wrote on 4/6/2003, 5:28 PM
You cannot install the Vegas dv codec on Combustion. But dv codecs are interchangable in general, that's the way them are developed. The only thing what can make them incompatible is the wrapper - AVI or Quicktime.

In this case - working with Vegas dv on Combustion it's the dv-AVI wrapper what causes problems. More exactly - it is the header.
Combustion only can read certain kinds of dv-AVI headers. Now if there is no codec which is able to read a Vegas-made dv-AVI header installed on your system, then there is no way to read the Vegas dv-AVI in Combustion.
Now it is impossible to install the Vegas dv codec on your system. But you need a dv-codec installed on your system which is able to read the Vegas dv-AVI header. MainConceptDV and PanasonicDV both can do that job. Them are needed only to read the AVI file.

If this does not help you might even try to render to AVI 1.0 from Vegas. This way you can render only 2 or 4 GB AVI files but AVI 1.0 combined with a dv codec like MainConceptDV or PanasonicDV will help you for sure to import the Vegas AVI into Combustion.

There should be no need to use a different codec other than SonicFoundryDV
to render in Vegas.

Marco
organism_seven wrote on 4/6/2003, 7:15 PM
Still trying to get my head around all this!

Are you saying that I would have to purchase another copy of MainConcepts DV codec to install on my system to enable a system wide recognition of the AVI video files produced by Vegas?
So I will have purchased the Mainconcept codec once for use with Vegas.
Then I will have to purchase another slightly different version for these files to be read by other programs such as Combustion.
If this is the case, the words "off" and "rip" spring to mind!
Surely this can't be right, or have I misunderstood?

Regards
Organism Seven
taliesin wrote on 4/6/2003, 7:33 PM
You don't need to purchase such a codec. Any demo version of it will do the job. You don't need that codec for rendering, only for reading.

Take a look here - there you get the demo version of MainConceptDV:

http://www.mainconcept.com/archive/mcdv204.exe

If you've already installed a version of MainConceptDV codec this one will be fine.

Also try rendering to AVI 1.0 instead of to AVI 2.0 in Vegas.

Marco

filmjedi wrote on 4/7/2003, 7:21 PM
Ok I am in the similar boat here guys. I do alot of color correction with combustion and I love to edit with vegas video. This is the problem. We need AVI 2 compatibility with combustion because vegas video captures that file format. I understand that I can re-render everything out with the 2.0 compatible checked off,but not only is that a pain in the butt for time issues but it makes the file sized bigger and a loose a render generation. The question is this: WHY NOT MAKE A CODEC THAT WILL ENABLE OTHER PROGRAMS TO READ AVI 2.0. Maybe im wrong but isnt that the only codec on windows platform that allows over 2 gigs? Shouldn't vegas be ready in intergrade itself with the other professional platforms? Hook it up fellas please!
Tyler.Durden wrote on 4/7/2003, 8:56 PM
Hi All,

I think there are folks using Scenalyzer to capture DV that can be used in both Vegas and C2; I don't have C2, so I'm not 100% certain.


HTH, MPH
shogo wrote on 4/8/2003, 12:01 AM
Yea I have to capture with scenalizer to be able to import my captured video into combustion. I think if you tell vegas to use the microsoft DV codec it will work if you use Vegas to do the capture. I mainly use scenalizer for my captures. Is the DV codec used by Vegas better? I have ran into this too with AVID DV as well if I capture with vegas.
taliesin wrote on 4/8/2003, 5:28 AM
>> Shouldn't vegas be ready in intergrade itself
>> with the other professional platforms?

But this is not Vegas' fault.
AVI2.0 is the newer AVI-version which is very well worth supporting. Vegas does support AVI2.0 - so it should be Combustions turn to be updated to support AVI2.0. This is not the first time in history of Discreet when they missed updating valuable features to their "professinal" products.
If at all this is a question of AVI1.0 or AVI 2.0 ...

Has anybody tested if it works if the MainConceptDV-codec is installed on the Combustion system?

Marco
jboy wrote on 4/8/2003, 4:49 PM
Seems I've been talking about Combustion, but meaning Commotion-duh. It's probably the same problem anyway. I installed the MainConcept v.2.04 codec on my machine with Commotion Pro, and Vegas generated avi's still wont play. I installed the codec by rt. clking on the .inf file and choosing install, though the MC readme file said you could install in manually in the multimedia. Looked there, but couldn't find such an option to manually install it under win2000. Taliesin, although you're talking Combustion and I was talking Commotion, I suspect this is the same problem. Do you have any ideas on how I should install the codec ? hen installed from the rt. clk. menu, it doesn't give me any choice as to where I want it ti go, so god knows where it is..
taliesin wrote on 4/8/2003, 5:39 PM
>> Do you have any ideas on how I should install the codec ?

This is what the help-file says:

"Simply click with the right mouse-button on the provided "mcdv_w32.inf"
file and select the install option, or go to the multimedia settings and
add the CODEC manually."

It's been a long time ago since I installed it but think it worked that way.

Marco
jboy wrote on 4/9/2003, 1:01 PM
That's the way I did install it, and it made no difference. Wish there were an easy fix for this. It's a pain to re-render out uncompressed...