MOV files render black

erichrudolph wrote on 4/17/2013, 12:16 PM
System:
Movie Studio Platinum 12, build 896, 64 bit
OS: Windows 7, 64 bit. Lotsa memory, lotsa hard drive space, etc
Quicktime version: 7.7.3 (1680.64), Pro version
Movie files: iPhone4's MOV files, about 32 of them on the timeline

Problem: at random times, the video (either preview or render to disk) turns black. It sometimes works at first, then goes blaclk later, and sometimes is immediately black as soon as you click anywhere on the timeline.

I've tried changing the .MOV files' extensions to .MP4, and while it works "better", it's not a flawless solution.

I'm NOT willing to backdate my machine to Quicktime 7.anything. I paid for a video editor, and I expect Sony Vegas Team's quality control to give a s*** enough that they'd see to it that .MOV files actually work. I don't expect one of the most common formats out there to render black to my screen.

So I guess what I'm asking for is some kind of explanation from Sony:
1. What versions of Quicktime do you consider "stable"? I'm wanting this answer from Sony, not a forum member who isn't Sony. Too many variables there.
2. Is there anything I can do in my registry to force Quicktime to "do something else", like "not use a GPU-based decompression?" The fact that the blackness is random seems to imply either Sony or QT is sensing a failure and just providing black.
3. IS it QT or Vegas that is drawing black when it senses an error? I'm almost thinking it's Vegas seeing a non-frame come back, it draws black.
4. How can I tell what codec is really being invoked by Quicktime if it's in a MOV format? Are MOV files when present inside Vegas always rendered completely by QT, or does QT invoke "whatever decompressor/codec is on my system"? In other words, can random (DirectShow?) (AVI?) codecs on my system cause QT's decoding of MOV files to fail? Or is it monolithic?
5. If I rename the MOV file to MP4, I've heard tell that Vegas handles this file "directly", and doesn't go through QT. If it handles it "directly", what codecs does it use? Is Vegas' codec stack for MP4 files monolithic, or does it too depend on whatever codecs I have on my system?

I work at Microsoft, in the Video Editing and SDK department. I'd love to talk directly to one of Sony's engineers on this problem, it's making Windows look really bad.

Comments

vkmast wrote on 4/17/2013, 12:28 PM
>>>I'm wanting this answer from Sony, not a forum member who isn't Sony.<<<
eric,
you probably won't get it here. I've seen about three occurrences of ForumAdmin with responses on this forum during the two years I've been here.
musicvid10 wrote on 4/17/2013, 3:24 PM
The generally accepted fallback version of Quicktime is 7.6.2 or 7.6
Those are the versions that have worked more often for people who have had problems with newer versions; thus a reasonable basis for trying them.

That being said, timeline and render blackouts are often related to memory handling, QT decoders being absolutely the worst in that respect. Lowering RAM preview allocation and turning off GPU "may" give you some relief. If not, the workaround is to break your big project up into manageable chunks. Without providing some "actual" hardware specs, file properties, project, timeline, and render properties, that is probably the most specific advice you will find on this peer forum.

Understand that Sony and Apple are competitors. Apple updates its Quicktime products faster than Sony can keep up. So when the newest Quicktime libraries cause collateral problems, all Sony can do is patch it in their next release.

Sony has and is developing its own libraries to handle as much of the load as possible, within the rat's nest of licensing constraints.

You should contact the Sony technical team directly to discuss your suggestions. I can promise Sony development is not going to engage in a dialog with you in a public forum.

The one player who has never been cooperative with Windows NLEs sharing their libraries when needed is Apple, and that history of noncooperation goes back a lot longer than you're possibly aware of.
wormbog wrote on 1/26/2014, 7:52 AM
hi erichrudolph, the problem you describe involving .MOV files from iPhone 4 sounds exactly like the major problem I am having...

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=882492&Replies=0

... in case you are interested in reading it to see if it relates to your situation. I am desperately hoping someone can offer some help with this.
tomlamson wrote on 4/12/2015, 4:56 PM
I had exactly the same problem (displays black in preview window and in renders) with Movie Studio Platinum Version 12.0 (build 1184) 64-bit on Windows 7. This worked for me. Tools, Clean Project Media.
Markk655 wrote on 4/12/2015, 8:03 PM
Have you tired the Large Address Aware fix suggested here?