Help! I have a serious problem.

Avene wrote on 3/9/2001, 7:47 AM
A few days ago I installed those Direct X 8 updates from
Microsoft. Direct X itself, and the DV one with PAL
support. For over 2 months I've been editing a music video.
I did all the audio in Vegas Video and have been using it
for all the video aswell. All my clips were captured using
the Soft DV codec, and I'm running Win 2000 and Me on a
Gateway 9300 laptop. Each OS on a separate drive.

Anyway, since installing those updates most of my avi files
are now corrupted. In Vegas Video when I try to preview one
of those files, it tells me that 'Video: Stream attributes
could not be determined'. Half the clips used in my project
are like this! They just won't render. They appear on the
timeline, but have lines through them. To give you an idea
of how much work I've put into this and how much this
worries me, I've got video edits on nearly every drum hit
of the song. Even 128th not drum fills. Although at 25fps,
you don't see any change below 32nd notes. Basically, it's
a very rhythmic track. I've been looking forward to posting
it up on a site so you could all see it when I finish it.
Unfortunately, it looks like that won't be happening.

These clips will still play back in Media Player, but they
appear pixelated. When I check the properties, no video
compressor is listed. It used to come up as DvSoft. Any new
video I capture turns out the same way. MPEG files playback
with this pixelated look also. The DivX previews I've made
are just the same.

This is by far the biggest computer problem I've
encountered in a long time. It's seems like 2 months of
intensive work down the drain, even though I save and
backup my project often. It's as if Microsoft have put a
virus in Direct X 8 which has ripped through my drives
destroying the video portion of nearly every video file on
my machine. On top of this, I've got a movie on here that a
friend has been putting together on and off for quite a
while also. Every one of his files has been affected. Even
the final AVi of a scene that he'd cmpleted for his film.

If anyone can help me out here, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Comments

dpearce wrote on 3/9/2001, 8:29 AM
Is it just your box that plays the files back badly? Try
them one another box. Video drivers/DirectX can really
mess up the appearance of certain files, though not the
actual content of the files.
Avene wrote on 3/9/2001, 8:42 AM
Yes, I did. Forgot to mention that. I've got another
machine networked. It's a NT machine I use for 3d work.
I've got Vegas Video installed on there. So, I opened the
project, clicked on some of the affected files and got the
same error there also.

Something else I just tried. I opened one of the files in
Viscosity and saved it out again under a different name.
When I checked that file, it couldn't be recognised either.
I might try again, but this time I'll save it out
uncompressed. Although even if that works, it still won't
solve the problem of any new files I capture having the
same problem.

Thanks for the reply.
Avene wrote on 3/9/2001, 8:50 AM
Ok, I saved a file out from Vegas uncompressed, and it
worked. So it looks like I'll be able to save my project
after all, even though it may take me forever, and may use
up all my hard drive space saving them as uncompressed
files. So it looks like it's a codec problem. Although I
tried saving it as a DivX file, and that didn't work.
CDM wrote on 3/9/2001, 9:02 AM
Hey -
There's no way you'll be able to render it out uncompressed
unless you have a TON of space. Plus it will take forever.
The DVSoft codec is a bitch to get off the system (I
suggest that once you resolve this, you just use
Microsoft's dv codec, or the one vegas installs). But since
your files were captured with that codec, you need it to
decode. So, can you re-install the application that put the
dvsoft codec there? For me it was the sh*tty video software
that came with my firwire card. I just reinstall the app
and everything is fine. Give that a shot now that you've
updated all your DirectX components.

good luck.
Avene wrote on 3/9/2001, 9:17 AM
Yeah, it was Videowave, and I've tried reinstalling it. I
have to use that to capture, because using Video Capture, I
can't see what I'm capturing on the screen. But it's not
just that, as other avi files with different codecs such as
DivX, and even a DV Raptor codec file won't work either,
where as I've never had problems before.
SonyEPM wrote on 3/9/2001, 9:41 AM
Here's the issue (most likely):

Whenever DV Soft is installed, it OVERWRITES the DirectX DV
codec (whether DX 6, 7, 8) and more or less takes over the
system. It's also almost impossible to get off the machine
(it doesn't uninstall, and its hard to find/delete all the
components, plus it usually throws in the dvcam.sys drivers-
another problem). It shouldn't behave like this- it should
show up along side the native Windows DV codec and not
overwrite it, or it should at least ask before overwriting
mandatory components that Vegas requires.

Premiere6, Ulead, and Vegas all reccomend that you stick
with the DirectX drivers and DV codec.

In the near term, you may have to reinstall DV soft
(probably came with Video Wave?) to finish your project. If
you have the Raptor codec, I believe you need to have the
Raptor physically installed for that to work (even if you
aren't talking to the card directly). If this doesn't work,
please send me a short (3-5 second) avi file rendered in
Vegas with the NTSC DV template and I'll take a look.
(daveh@sonicfoundry.com)

We've been running DirectX8 since the beta days (October)
and have had no problems. When other drivers and codecs,
that we don't reccomend, are added to the machine,
complications can arise. We will do our best to help of
course.

Once this project is done, I suggest dumping the DV soft
codec and dvcam.sys driver. Image quality is inferior to
the DirectX8 codec in all internal tests, plus we've heard
the same from many many customers.

To restate what I consider the "best practice" for all you
DV editors out there (and I'm one of 'em):

1) Install and OHCI compliant DV card such as a Pyro, SIIG,
Orangelink, or UniBrainDV

2) Install absolutely NO, none, zero, zip software that
comes with the card or anything else claiming to install DV
drivers or codecs

3) Let Windows 98SE/ME/2K choose the driver (and codec)for
that card - its part of the OS!!

4) Install DirectX8 and the DV Updater (free from Microsoft)

Everything SHOULD work great. If it doesn't most likely you
have

a) an unsupported DV driver and or codec or

b) an older Via chipset or

c) a system problem, maybe IRQ related or

d) UDMA was turned off for IDE drives when you installed
Win2k- easy to turn that back on.

More info about identifying, and fixing, DV drivers and
codecs can be found at
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/Support/Productinfo/OHCI.asp

good luck-

Avene wrote on 3/10/2001, 1:48 AM
Thanks for the advice. Things are a bit better now. More of
the files are working again. What's really strange, is I'll
highlight an avi in Vegas Video one minute and it will say
that it cannot be determined. Then I'll click on it again
and it will work.

I see what you mean about the DVsoft codec. If I render
anything out using the PAL DV templates, they end up using
the DVsoft codec, even though the PAL DV one is selected.

Anyway, I'm thinking that I might just reinstall Windows
2000, and then try and get them working again. The files
are all on the C drive, whereas 2000 is on D. It's a
Gateway laptop with a standard OHCI firewire port. As I
think I mentioned, the only reason I use VideoWave to
capture is so that I can see what I'm capturing. In Video
Capture, I just get a message saying that preview is not
available.

Hopefully I'll get this sorted out. But I will scrap that
DVsoft codec once the project's complete.
CDM wrote on 3/10/2001, 2:14 PM
there is an option to preview in Vid Cap. Just select
Always Preview from the Options menu. It's probably on
Smart Preview now. I do it all the time with no problems.
Avene wrote on 3/10/2001, 4:09 PM
It's alright, I just installed the 2.0d update, and
everything works again. Although from reading about the
fixes it had, I have an idea my problem may have even been
that 75 open avi files limit in the Vegas Video window. I
haven't checked if the PAL preview in monitor works yet
though.