error: No existing templates

tanner99 wrote on 12/16/2007, 9:55 PM

I've rendered several videos into the .mp4 format. But all of a sudden now, when I select the Main Concept AVC/ACC (*.mp4) as the output format, the description in the Render dialog box says "No existing templates support this media". I was able to render several videos in this format just this morning, but now I can't. On top of that, when I drag a .mp4 file to the timeline, only the audio portion of the file shows up -- no video. I can play the video file just fine by double clicking on it in Windows explorer, where it plays with Quicktime. But I can't play or edit it in Vegas.

I've removed and reinstalled the software (Vegas Movie Studio+DVD Platinum Edition, v7.0a) and I'm still having the same problem. Suggestions for how to fix this problem would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

Ivan Lietaert wrote on 12/17/2007, 6:08 AM

Reboot your system. Second, have you upgraded Apple Quicktime or iTunes?

tanner99 wrote on 12/17/2007, 4:33 PM

I rebooted my system and am still having the same problem. I don't *think* I updated Quicktime or iTunes recently. In other words, it's the same version now as it was before the problem began. Any ideas, anyone?

Eugenia wrote on 12/17/2007, 4:35 PM

re-install quicktime and vegas and you might get back your templates. As for mp4 in the timeline, this is a hit and miss job: vegas does not support all kinds of mpeg4 (which is a huge standard).

If you still can't get your templates, email Sony.

tanner99 wrote on 12/17/2007, 5:58 PM

Thanks for your help, but I'm still having trouble. Here is what I did:

Removed Vegas
Remove QuickTime
Reinstall QuickTime
Reinstall Vegas
Reboot

I'm seeing exactly the same behavior as before. I emailed Sony yesterday and have not received a response (and really didn't expect to this soon). By the way, I have this trouble with both the MainConcept and the Sony AVC/AAC mp4 output file types.

One note of clarification: The mp4's that I'm trying to drag to the timeline are the mp4's that I created with Vegas before this problem began. They used to appear in the timeline without any trouble. But now that I can no longer render to .mp4, I can also no longer edit the ones that I previously created.

Eugenia wrote on 12/17/2007, 6:12 PM

I suggest you wait for a reply from sony.

As for editing the mp4s, this is a bad idea. MP4 is a lossy format and every time you re-encode using it, you lose quality. You need to use the original project to edit, and you should also encode in the .avi format which is lossless. This way, you can pull back to your project the lossless format, not the lossy one.

tanner99 wrote on 12/17/2007, 7:01 PM

Thanks for the advice, Eugenia. I'll wait for Sony's reply.

For the mp4's, my plan was to use the .mp4 files as proxies for the m2t files from my HD camcorder. The m2t files are cumbersome with my somewhat older hardware platform. I was going to edit the mp4's and then replace with m2t's in the final render. I can use another format for the proxies if necessary. (I could also buy newer hardware so I don't need proxies, but I'm too cheap.)

Eugenia wrote on 12/17/2007, 7:48 PM

Mp4 editing is very slow on Vegas -- no matter the size of the video. Use this for VMS proxy editing: http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2007/12/12/proxy-editing-with-sony-vegas/

tanner99 wrote on 12/19/2007, 10:27 AM

Thanks again Eugenia. I'll give your method a try.

Meanwhile, I'm going to pursue this problem with creating mp4 files because I may one day have other reasons to create them. If and when I hear back from Sony and get to the bottom of it, I'll post what I've learned in case someone else runs into the same problem.