have to agree with dlion - whenever i get some 'odd' codec (thankfully not to often), i always transcode to something i know works in vegas - usually mxf, but avi if not.

there's enough going on on the tl without adding potentially 'crashable' junk....

Thanks for the info, sadly it's a no go on Handbrake, I get the following error:

"No Title(s) found.

Your Source may be copy protected, badly mastered or in a format which Handbrake does not support."

And Handbrake during install said some files were out of date and it would update them, now I'm back to not being able to add the files to the timeline at all and whereas they were playing fine in Windows Media Player now they wont, though VLC media player still plays them fine.

- Ray
Underground Planet

Ray,

See if this is helpful.

j razz

I believe thats the one that allowed me to bring the files into Vegas though most of em were messed up on the timeline. Handbrake seems to have messed it up though, I uninstalled Handbrake, reinstalled ffdshow and was hoping that would at least get me back to where I was with being able to at least bring the files into Vegas but no such luck, can't even drag em to the timeline now.

Grrr ... I hate codec!

- Ray
Underground Planet

Ray, I can promise you that Handbrake does nothing outside of the confines of its own territory to affect Vegas, your system, or anything else.

However, if you have installed ffdshow on your system, then that is known to be rife with problems that are very difficult to undo. Try these steps in order:
Uninstall ffdshow.
Rollback system to a point before you installed ffdshow.
Reinstall all Sony apps.
If this doesn't work, you may be faced with a full backup restore or an OS install.

There is a great deal of difference between applications that conscientiously confine their use of ffmpeg to their own applications, such as Handbrake and Super, and codec "packs" like ffdshow and k-lite which blunderbuss your system and registry haphazardly with codecs that may be buggy, outdated, or which replace the ones Vegas needs to work with. This has been well documented on these forums for as long as I can remember, and uninstalling does not restore your system to its previous state.

I hope you've got a recent full disk backup, just in case.

That fmp4 should only be opened in an ffmpeg frontend, and converted to something generic for Vegas. And despite what you may read on the Movie Studio forum, never install a codec pack on an NLE machine.

I've had K-Lite bite me before and thats exactly why I was asking here. I cant say for sure that Handbrake did anything to make matters worse but I can tell you the series of events. Originally I couldn't bring the clips into Vegas at all, I installed ffdshow and I was able to bring the clips into Vegas but they displayed wrong, I installed Handbrake and I could no longer bring the clips Vegas again. No idea of the whys and wherefores and in truth it doesn't really matter as even though I was able to bring the clips in they were unusable as they were.

Anyway, still stuck. Wish VLC did conversion cuz that plays em perfect.

- Ray
Underground Planet

"Wish VLC did conversion cuz that plays em perfect. "

VLC does do conversions using ffmpeg, you have to dig a bit deeper.
However, it has been a bit hit-or-miss, IME.

Super by Erightsoft is another ffmpeg frontend, and may do what you want.

Since ffdshow directly invades the system, and Handbrake is extremely careful not to do so, I suggest following the three steps I gave.

I originally installed ffdshow on the advice that it would open my old DC10+ MJPEG files; it did not, and I ended up doing a full backup restore and Vegas re-install to undo the damage it did to Vegas, when I found its once-working codecs had been replaced by those that did not. Other Vegas Pro users have reported similar experiences.

Can't wait to see your next music vid!

Thanks man, I'll tinker around some more, so far no luck.

As for my next music vid I can't wait to post it! Sadly the artist is waiting to release it in January or February, hate sitting on stuff that's done! If ya hit me with your email I'll give ya a sneak peak. =)

- Ray
Underground Planet

My username at gmail will reach me. Thanks!

I'm pretty sure handbrake decided about a year ago to drop .AVI support.

Regarding ffmpeg:

I made the mistake of installing it several years ago, whereupon Camtasia lost its ability to render flash videos. Not having a recent OS image, I had to ask Camtasia tech support for help to be guided through the process of disabling ffmpeg (I never did get all the pieces uninstalled).

I learned two lessons:

1. Always keep a recent OS image.

2. Never install codec packs.

Regarding Super:

I like it and occasionally use it, but it seems to have bitrates that are too low for 1080 60p work. So disappointed. Handbrake gives some really good .MP4s, but would take Cineform (.AVI) files. I'm still looking for a good utility for such work.

The good news is that HB will take DNxHD files, and in the correct colorspace if the 709 box is checked. Laurence, Jerry, and I were able to sort it out in another thread.

AFAIK, Handbrake will still give the colorspace error with any YUV codec.

incidentally, if desperate and there would seem to be no solution other than install ffmpeg, you might consider creating a virtual machine just for the purpose. I've created a nice WinXP virtual machine using the free EasyVMX (http://www.easyvmx.com/; I'm pretty sure I used their V2).

I then installed WinXP in it. Probably one that already is installed on one of my other computers (or maybe on this one, which is dual-boot with Win7-64) - can't remember for certain - but it got activated with no hitch from MS. If you download the free VMware tools (you'll get a prompt soon after installing Windows), you can zoom the virtual window as large as you wish, and you can drag'n'drop files to your real machine (WinXP or Win7-64, in my case). I love it.

It doesn't take much time at all to try it, and cost is zero. Incidentally, if you created a "20 gb" or "40 gb" virtual disk, it'll actually take up only a few gigs on your real hard disk unless you fill it up with lots of stuff. I prefer to keep mine pretty lean, and just drag'n'drop files onto as needed, then take them off when done.

Tried Handbrake again, unfortunately most of the converted didn't turn out usable, whacky pixelated blah. I've basically resigned myself from using them at all, disappointing and somewhat crippling to the project I'm working on but there's only so much fiddling around that I can do, lost a good three or four days already. Grrrr ....

Appreciate all the input and advice, mental notes abound.

- Ray
Underground Planet

Ray, If you are able to upload one of the original files somewhere, someone here might have a fresh look at the problem.

Cool cool, if nothing else would be good info for the future. I'll send ya a link as soon as its done uploading. =)

- Ray
Underground Planet

Ray,
Your first example (shiva) needs a Divx for VFW codec, which I do not have on my machine, but you should be able to find it.

Your second example (rhinoceros) which is fmp4, will convert to MJPEG using AVIDemux and then open nicely in Vegas.

Cool beans, so I downloaded AVIDemux but not sure what I'm doing. I'd tell ya what I have tried that hasn't worked but it might just be easier if you tell me what to do once I open a file. =)

- Ray
Underground Planet

Drag your file to the window, select MJPEG for the video, and click the "Save Video" icon (2nd from left). Give it a name that ends in .avi. If it complains about not being a multiple of 8, click Yes and you're good to go (don't know why it is 710x480?).

Okay, when I do that I get a pop-up that asks "Width is not a multiple of 8 continue anyway?" I say "Yes" than it encodes. If I open the resulting video file it plays in Windows Media Player but if I drag it into Vegas only the video shows up. I have the Audio set to "Copy" as you do in your screen grab. Are you getting the same results or am I missing a checkbox somewhere?

- Ray
Underground Planet

I get both video and audio using Vegas Pro 8.0c.
If yours is not picking up the mp3 audio, try dragging the original video on the timeline below the remuxed version to give you the audio. Does that work?

Or, you could try different Audio methods in the AVIDemux dropdown, leaving the rest the same as before.

Here is another approach that should work.

Set Audio to MP3 and Format to DUMMY.
Demux the audio using Audio->Save and typing a filename with .mp3 extension.

-- or --

Do the same with PCM audio and DUMMY format, typing a filename with WAV extension.

I don't know why your Vegas isn't opening the audio the same way mine is. I hope ffdshow didn't mess something up. There are many posts on the internet about ffdshow breaking mp3 compatibility with Win 7.
;?(

harumph ... wonder why I'm not getting the same here with the same settings. Will try different audio options. As a plan B I assume that there shouldn't be any synch issues with dragging in the originals, just with twenty or so of em it's a good amount of tedium added to the mix.

A'ight, going back to experiment. Thanks.

- Ray
Underground Planet