MOV files all black in timeline and preview

ShaneJ wrote on 4/5/2010, 7:19 AM

This is really frustrating. For some reason when I import MOV files into the time line in Vegas 9.0, all I get in the video is nothing but black, yet the audio works perfectly. This just started happening yesterday and has never happened to me before. I have been importing MOV files into Vegas for over two years now, since I had Vegas 8.0. I currently have 9.0c. I'm able to open up any other video files with no problem. I'm even opening up old project files of things I edited two years ago that worked several days ago with no problem, but today the video is showing black.

The only thing I have done differently was yesterday I edited some video off of a home video DVD that I had authored (in DVD Architect) four years ago, I had dragged the VOB files directly into the time line and rendered some clips out of it for YouTube. It was after that the MOV files would no longer show video in the time line or preview.

HELP!

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 4/5/2010, 7:56 AM

MOV files come in many different flavors. Use MediaInfo to post the necessary information about your files.

Did you recently update your Quicktime Player? If so, you will probably need to roll back.

jfyi, the engines Vegas uses to import MPEG-2 (vob) and MOV files are completely different and do not affect one another. What you observed was coincidental.

ShaneJ wrote on 4/5/2010, 8:24 AM

That is really strange because I never had this problem before. It only happened after I edited the VOB files. I have NOT updated Quicktime at all, or anything else. The only thing I've done different since the last time I successfully opened MOV files was edit that VOB straight from the DVD.

The MOV files I am editing are from my Kodak Easyshare V550. I tried a few other MOV files from other sources with the same result. It seems to be a system wide issue with these type of files.

Here's the Codec details that VLC media player gives me under media information:

Stream 0
Codec: mp4v
Language: English
Type: Video
Resolution: 640x480
Display resolution: 640x480
Frame rate: 30.013925

Stream 1
Codec: ulaw
Language: English
Type: Audio
Channels: 1
Sample rate: 16000 Hz
Bits per sample: 8
Bitrate: 128 kb/s

Laurence wrote on 4/5/2010, 8:46 AM

Quicktime will update itself if you don't have that feature turned off. The last Quicktime update was just a few days ago and there are at least three other threads on this. I'm sure the VOB thing is just coincidental. Check out http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=703931this[/link] thread.

ShaneJ wrote on 4/5/2010, 9:13 AM

Oh wait a minute, yeah. I forgot all about it, but I was prompted the other day to update iTumes. Damn. So now I have to uninstall and reinstall an older version? This SUCKS. Can't Sony work on a fix right away?

John_Cline wrote on 4/5/2010, 9:20 AM

This really isn't Sony's fault, it's not like Vegas has changed in the last couple of weeks. Apple has a long history of rendering hardware and software obsolete overnight. They expect you to just buy new hardware or fix your software to adapt to whatever changes they have made. Apple has never given their users a choice in the matter, you WILL do what Steve Jobs says.

Laurence wrote on 4/5/2010, 9:30 AM

What really sucks is if you have a recent iPod. Some of them only work with the latest version of iTunes (which requires a recent verion of Quicktime). Then you are stuck with the choice of whether to use your iPod or Windows video editing software (no it's not just Vegas).

ShaneJ wrote on 4/5/2010, 9:51 AM

I never said it was Sony's fault. My question was can Sony come up with a fix to adapt their software to the latest change in Quicktime? I don't see why not. They've done it before.

Jøran Toresen wrote on 4/5/2010, 10:10 AM

Shane, of course SCS will come up with at fix, but SCS cannot release an update only because Apple release a new version of Quicktime.

Jøran

ShaneJ wrote on 4/13/2010, 8:46 AM

You guys are AWESOME down there at Sony. I just installed the new release, 9.0d, and the MOV problem is FIXED! I figured I would wait a while for a release rather than uninstalling the latest version of iTunes and Quicktime since the MOV files I'm working on are old and I'm only re-rendering old projects for archival, and look at that. Less then two weeks I had to wait and there is already a new release and the problem fixed. Now I don't have to bother uninstalling anything. Way to go Sony.

To anyone out there who has Sony Vegas version 9, download the new release 9.0d and that will fix the issue. No need to uninstall the latest version of Quicktime or iTunes.

Thanks again, Sony. You are all FANTASTIC. :D

mtntvguy wrote on 5/19/2010, 10:18 AM

Well, now I've got 9.0e installed and I'm having the same issue... when I bring in a .mov file it gives me audio but no video. Now what?

Cliff Etzel wrote on 5/19/2010, 11:55 AM

mtntvguy wrote on 5/19/2010, 1:25 PM

I have no idea what the codec is. It was the most recent version of Quicktime. Following the advice of others, I uninstalled it and installed QT7.6. Same thing... audio, but no video comes in.

Let me guess... I need to purchase QT Pro.

QT Alternative doesn't work either, by the way.

farss wrote on 5/19/2010, 2:25 PM

I've had something similar happen wiyh H.264 in a MOV wrapper.
I cured the problem by having the clips on the timeline and then changing the preview resolution / quality up and down several times. I don't know exactly which change got it working correctly, it might have been the auto adjust switch.

Certainly whatever it is causing this problem it is not Quicktime itself.

Bob.

mtntvguy wrote on 5/19/2010, 5:30 PM

Unfortunately, that didn't work, either.

What I'm trying to import are .mov files that were ingested from my EX3 via XDCam Transfer. I originally intended to use them in Final Cut on the Mac side of the computer, but now I've got this program that lets me import files from the Mac side to the Windows side, so I decided to do the edit in Vegas.

It's not that program that's causing the problem, either. I transferred some of the files to a flash drive and tried to import them from that. No go. Shazbot.

I could convert them all to XMLs, but that's a pain in the patooti and Vegas is supposed to import .MOVs, anyway. Harumph!

Cliff Etzel wrote on 5/19/2010, 5:38 PM

QT files aren't known to be the most friendly in Vegas - Perrone Ford usually works with them in Vegas as a wrapper for AVID's DNxHD codec. Said it's not a a pleasant experience to edit with in Vegas.

Any chance of transcoding a single clip via mpeg streamclip to something more usable to see if that resolves the issue (AVI specifically)? Does the clip play fine outside of Vegas?

Cliff Etzel
Solo Video Journalist | Micro Documentary Film Maker
bluprojekt | SoloVJ Blog
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mtntvguy wrote on 5/19/2010, 7:10 PM

Interesting. The files that were converted to QT .mov from XDCam Transfer won't work... still get just audio.

I tried the .avi conversion via MpegStreamClip and that worked... except there wasn't any audio.

BUT... taking the .mpeg4 files from the Mac side out of a BPAV folder works fine in Vegas.

So now I know: Vegas hates .mov files.

Even more interesting: Final Cut Pro won't let me do the same thing... import an .mpeg4 from the BPAV. The guy at the Apple store apparently lied to me. Either that, or he didn't know what the hell he was talking about.

Thanks, y'all.

farss wrote on 5/19/2010, 8:41 PM

FCP rewraps the native XDCAM during log and transfer. You can get an FCP plugin I think from DVFilm that lets you edit native.

Vegas will directly handle the mp4 from the XDCAM EX with only one gottcha that's unlikely to affect you. Your other path of attack is to use Sony's free Clipbrowser to Export for NLE to give you MXF files that Vegas will also digest quite nicely.

Bob.

mtntvguy wrote on 5/19/2010, 9:47 PM

Bob: I've used the clipbrowser/mxf route quite successfully since I got the camera last year. That was never an issue. But I wanted to bring files I had ingested for FCP into Vegas and I discovered Vegas doesn't like .mov files almost as much as FCP hates .avi files.

PerroneFord wrote on 5/19/2010, 10:10 PM

The MOV files created by Clipbrowser are Mac specific. This is not a Vegas issue. Vegas 9 can read the .MP4 files straight out of the camera, or you can wrap the files into a .MXF container in Clipbrowser.

There is why you ALWAYS save the BPAV files from your projects, otherwise your can get yourself in a crack if you need to change platforms during the edit. The BPAV structure also preserves the metadata.

Hopefully, you've followed this practice, because if you've ditched the BPAV files, you're going to have to render out on the Mac to something Vegas can read.

Best of luck.

Andy_L wrote on 5/20/2010, 7:16 AM

One of my cameras shoots H.264 in MOV format, and Vegas has had trouble with these files through every iteration (9.0-9.0e). I've kind of learned to live with the blackouts (changing preview modes and stopping/starting helps a little), but it is very annoying.

If you can stand the extra step, buy the Pro version of the QT Player for $30 or so and passthrough the H.264 to mp4 files before you import them to the timeline. Vegas does much better with those, and you're not recompressing, so no data is lost.

Dave_OnSet wrote on 5/28/2010, 5:35 PM

Remember, there are many flavors of .mov files!
The flavor that Final Cut uses requires the Final Cut codec. You can't view these files on a mac that doesn't have FCP installed or a special codec from Calibrated software. (No, the codec is not included as part of QT pro.) Apple has refused to release or license this codec for use on a PC! Unless Apple changes their mind on this I doubt that there is anything Sony can do to get these files to work in Vegas. You could buy a copy of Calibrated to view the files on a PC, but I don't know if this would provide a codec to open them in a NLE.
The moral of the story - not only should you keep your BPAV files as your masters, but the FCP .mov re-wrap process also throws out much of the metadata from the original files, so if you want to keep your metadata, never use the FCP .mov's as a master.
Of course Vegas imports and works ok with other flavors of MOV files - such as the ones from the DSLR's -- and presumably the flavors that you imported easily in the past.