Thanks for the input Peter.....what you have said sounds totally logical, yet I am still confused as when I bring the file into AE it says that the avi is in Microsoft DV format
, so presumably using the Microsoft codec. Also I have just tried it on my dads PC which I installed AE (as I stated, I don't have Premiere) on and the avi comes in fine...ie that machine doesn't have Vegas (and therefore its codec) installed...actually the only things installed on this XP machine is Word and Explorer!

The thing that confounds me, is if my client can play the file in Windows Media Player, why can't he import the file into Premiere?

The DV AVI files that Vegas generates should be readable in any application that supports standard OpenDML DV AVI files. Your dad's machine identifying it as a Microsoft DV AVI is perfectly normal.

You can try rendering with the AVI2 turned off, but you will be limited to a 2 gig maximum file size, which is about 9 minutes of video.

John

Isn't there a possible issue with VV generating AVI 2 files that some things cannot read correctly?

If I'm correct it maybe that the version of Premiere is out of date.

Yes, it's entirely possible. By the way, AVI2 and OpenDML AVI files are essentially just different names for the same thing.

John

Ok,
this MAY have something to do with the problem:

http://www.sonicfoundry.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=97685

If that doesn't help I'd suggest doing a bit more searching.

I've used rendered DV AVI's from Vegas in Premiere 6 a lot. On a Premiere computer that doesn't have Vegas on it. There might be a difference between 6.0 and 6.5. Adobe replaced some stuff I liked in 5.5 for 6. :(

The might be a few issues involved. In general I have never had any problems with the avi's from iether Premiere or VV. But in Premiere I only export using the Main Concept Avi/DV codec. (FYI - I heard the new Premiere Pro only uses the Main Concept codecs and bypasses the MS ones now) I have recently been porting a Premiere Edited project over to VV for 30i > 24P conversion and I can open those 24p VV rendered files fine in Premiere.

So possible issues - I think starting with Premiere 5.5 you needed to have Windows 98se installed or DV/firewire would not work. I would guess this is the same for 6.0 and/or 6.5 of Premiere as well. So if the OS is pre Windows 98se that might be the issue. You mention Widows XP and media player so it seems like it does indeed read fine, thusly should read fine in Premiere, on that same OS, as well provided it is at least Version 5.5.

Now if you use VV 4 and simple output using one of the DV templates it will output the AVI in the SoFo wrapper/codec but, again, I am having no issues currently with opening up 24p rendered VV DV avi's in Premiere 6.5, or any other application.

If you are really in doubt try using the Main Concept codec for rendering from Premiere and/or VV and if that doesn't work than it is something else.

When you wrote "reckons Premiere 6.5 won't recognise the file at all" I assumed he hadn't tried it in Premiere yet.

Anyway, Farss points out a dicussion on openDML/AVI2. The short of it is that you should make sure that "Strictly conform to AVI2 specification" is unchecked before rendering.

The Vegas codec is compiled into Vegas. It isn't available to any other software on the system. You could fairly assume from that that vegas writes an avi file that is compatible with the MS DV codec. It uses it's own engine to do the encoding but the end result should be the same. It won't matter if Vegas is on the system or not since the codec isn't available to anything but Vegas.

I think that there may be a demo of Premiere available. You might install it on your father's machine and then test your files on it. The issues should be "strict AVI2" (which should be off in vegas) and then file sizes in general. Maybe this Premiere+matrox combo can't play large avi files.

Check to be sure your rendered files play all the way through- or at least check the first 6 minutes. If you can't play past 5 minutes then the "Strict AVI-2" toggle is probably the issue.

Rob Mack

Zendorf, when you see the "Microsoft DV" indicator, all that's telling you is what codec is being used to decode the file while playing it. That isn't what was used to encode the file.

Cheers for the help, but I could not resolve this issue, so have had to re-render the 42gb file into chunks and slap on good ol DV tapes...can't beat DV tapes for compatability!