Convert the footage to a format Vegas understands. I don't think FLV files will load in directly. If Prism allows conversion, convert that file to an AVI or QT file. I usually convert to AVI and use the Huffyuv lossless compression codec to save hard drive space, but you can save as uncompressed if you have the space.

The Huffyuv codec is something you'll find on the web to download.

Plasma,

I just converted it to an AVI file and it didn't work. I also tried WMV and still nothing.

ANy suggestions?

By "not showing up" and "not working" do you mean you cannot import them into the bin, or when you put a clip on the timeline it has no video or audio or both? If it does go on the timeline, does the length appear correct, and the content is missing?

What type of AVI file did you convert to?

I'm not familiar with the Prism software, so I'm trying to grab at straws.

I use a little program called "Super" that seems to do a decent job of transcoding FLV files. There is also one I use called Avidemux. Both of these are freeware.

When go to 'import media' I select the videos and when they go into the bin there's nothing inside them...just a blank white outline with a logo in the middle.

I'll try those programs thanks.

NoBull,

Assuming you're not violating copyrights ...

I have a friend who's a YouTube fanatic. She uses OrbitDownloader to download as FLV files. (The High Quality files download as MOV files but apparently can be renamed to FLV files and work fine ???). Then converts to WMV using a free program FormatFactory; the converted file works with Windows Media Player so I assume Vegas would recognize it. I'm a beginner and I don't know what kind of quality this provides but she's happy with it.

Dave

From one Dave B to another thanks!

No it's not copyrighted, its free stock footage.
I'll try that program as well.

I use http://keepvid.com/. It's easy, fast and free. No software on your computer at all to do this. It's best to choose the MP4 downloads if available and then convert the file to a format that will play smoothly in Vegas. Like someone else, I use "Super" to convert files with great success (but it is requires some knowledge to use it) and even Microsoft's free Windows Media Encoder which comes in 32 bit or 64 bit versions and works very well (limited to outputing WMV files) ..

With all due respect to the above answers, none of them will give you the higher quality of this method:

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/04/download-youtube-videos-as-mp4-files.htmlhttp://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2008/04/download-youtube-videos-as-mp4-files.html[/link]

When you add the "&fmt=18" suffex to the end of a Youtube video address, you'll see the same mp4 version that people are looking at when they look at the video with an Apple TV, iPhone or T-Mobile G1. The quality is quite noticably better than the flv version. Not only that but you can download it and put it directly on a Vegas timeline with no extra conversion.

Laurence, that's great! What a find - thanks.

Laurence,

THANKS! Just tried it and it worked great!

how does one know when YouTube videos are free to use? I often download stills from Flickr that use Community Commons licenses that allow me to use them in non-commercial projects. However, it is my understanding that any image or video that does not specify usage terms is automatically protected legally unless the website Terms of Use states otherwise (such as Google's Sketchup 3D Warehouse before its recent rewrite of Terms). I'd like to find a legal source of free videos for non-commercial use, if anyone could give me some info . . .

I've used this with great success until now. Every video I download has problems. The videos aren;t copyrighted or anything. It stops, skips and has green break-up all of a sudden. ANybody have any ideas?

Nevermind got it to work.

Thanks for the link Laurence!

That is sweet :)

NoBull, my downloads have the same symptoms.
How did you fix yours downloads? J_Mac