MPEG-4 Codec Problems (XviD & DivX)

MeMSO wrote on 12/31/2004, 1:41 PM
I have been unable to use any of my video content in Vegas whatsoever. I have done an enormous amount of video editing with VirtualDub and the fact that the program is not meant to do video editing makes the task a bit more difficult, hence my reason for purchasing Vegas.

My videos are mostly in XviD or DivX 5, and not a single one will load in Vegas 5.0b. I have gone through the forums and uninstalled all the codecs, reinstalled XviD (my favorite of the two for encoding) and still no go. FFDShow also did not fix the problem. I have tried splitting my video into two files, an AVI just for the video and a WAV of the VBR/CBR LameMP3 audio. The audio has worked all along though, and this only caused me to waste drive space, not solve anything.

I've tried all combinations of "Ignore third party DV codecs", "Use Microsoft DV codec" and "Strictly conform to AVI2 specification", just for the heck of it and still no go... If I go to properties on the video file, it says "(stream offline)".

These files all display beautifully in Windows Media Player, Media Player Classic, BS Player, etc. as well as being fully editable in VirtualDub and NanDub.

Here is a sample AVI file (DVD rip of a documentary I own):
http://memso.net/media/xvidtest.avi (2.77MB, 15 sec)

The only way I've been able to successfully load anything into Vegas is to save it as an uncompressed AVI file, which is rediculous to have to do when using a professional video editing suite.

Also, whenever I start the program I always get this error:
"An error occured starting Vegas. The reason for the error could not be determined."
Might this be related to the problem? Why would I get this error?

Thanks!

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 12/31/2004, 4:55 PM
I think that the v5 and on of Divx can't be edited in Vegas because of a codec change. Not sure about Xvid. However, if you edit in those formats you'll get a lot more loss then of you edit in DV. You should probley just convert your compressed files to that. If you don't have a DV codec (besides the crappy MS one) you can go to the matrox web site & download their DV codec there. It's a pretty good one.
MeMSO wrote on 12/31/2004, 5:53 PM
Thanks for the suggestion...
I was planning on editing in uncompressed RGB honestly (it's what I've had to do so far with VirtualDub to retain quality), but didn't want to have to manually convert every file I intend to splice together to uncompressed first to get them into Vegas. At least in the other programs I could piece together the pre-encoded parts without reencoding (cutting by keyframe), and add the reencoded parts in as necessary, but having to dump everything to .BMP files, modifying each frame in Photoshop and then importing images and reencoding the video is a big pain....

If DV is pretty close to lossless, I'll have to take a look cause saving space is always good esp when you can retain quality. I've never really dealt with DV codecs before...
Spot|DSE wrote on 1/1/2005, 3:12 AM
DV ISN'T pretty close to lossless, but in comparison to what you're working with, you'll be much happier with DV.
B_JM wrote on 1/1/2005, 7:14 AM
you could also use HUFFYUV - which is lossless, but a lot bigger than dv will be ..


BUT - and i hope this info is repeated here --

I did some investigation into why Vegas will not take some DiVX and XViD files if encoded in certain versions of those codecs ...

I found that if you change the 4CC codes in the AVI file header to :

Description code - DiVX3
FourCC code used - DiVX

for both XViD and DiVX ..

I had no problem importing and viewing the files in Vegas ...

Thsi should be confirmed by someone else though ...

Vegas does not always reconize the field order of a mpeg4 file (DiVX, WMV, XViD) -- vegas is not the only program that has this problem .....

I will be making up some H264 files today -- i'll see how vegas treats those ...
p@mast3rs wrote on 1/1/2005, 7:31 AM
H.264 is the future. Honestly, I cant tell the difference whatsoever between the source and the H.264 file. (Nero's version.)
B_JM wrote on 1/1/2005, 11:17 AM
codec shootout test (new) with AVC codecs included

http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/codecs-104-1.htm
MeMSO wrote on 1/1/2005, 12:30 PM
Funny you guys bring this up, I wrote the zoom in and image swapper that Doom9 (Stephan) is using for the codec comparisons (if you View Source and then look at the javascript controlling it, such as the doom9zoomer.js file, you'll see it as MeMSO all over in the code)... I've been following this all rather closely (which is why I have so much finished content over the last year in XviD).

Anyways, thanks for the suggestions... any idea where I can get a FOURCC changer so I can try out using other values in my files instead of XviD/DivX?
B_JM wrote on 1/1/2005, 2:01 PM
the 4CC changer comes with XViD builds or get it here http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=AVI_FourCC_Code_Changer
MeMSO wrote on 1/1/2005, 2:47 PM
You're completely right, AviC.exe which came with XviD changed FourCCs... wonder how I missed that one?
Thanks again!
MeMSO wrote on 1/3/2005, 10:16 AM
To anybody else experiencing this problem, here is what I had to do to get AVIs w/ DivX or XviD to load in Vegas:

First, do NOT use the AviC file that comes with XviD. It's bugged and killed one of my files before I realized this (thankfully it's easy to replace that file)...

Instead, head here and download the latest version of AviC. It's 255KB whereas the AviC that came with XviD is only 6KB, so it's pretty obvious which one is the correct version:
http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=AVI_FourCC_Code_Changer

Then, set both values to DIVX, even if the video is XviD. I tried several combinations, and this was the only one that caused the files to play in all my programs as well as work in VEGAS.

I hope this helps someone else too!
lizard wrote on 1/8/2005, 1:14 AM
dude i have this fuking problem too i tried ure suggestion with avic and put div4 to div3 and it just fuked up me video making it audio only and vegas stil cant read it this shit isss reeaally pissing me off aye and other suggestions thx
B_JM wrote on 1/8/2005, 2:20 PM
which version of divx are you using ... we found that you generally have to have DiVX 5.1 pro version (or higher) installed to read many divx files ...
clearvu wrote on 1/11/2005, 6:10 PM
Sakuya wrote on 4/2/2005, 3:09 PM
The AViC won't do anything for me either. My DivX video is DivX 3 Fast-Motion. Is there a universal method for rendering XVID and DIVX so that it'd work in Vegas? It's so frustrating. :(
p@mast3rs wrote on 4/2/2005, 3:57 PM
Another thing Vegas chokes on is Mpeg-4 .avi files with VBR mp3s. I just throw them into VDub and recompress the audio using CBR and it loads just fine in Vegas.
p@mast3rs wrote on 4/2/2005, 4:01 PM
Lizard said "dude i have this fuking problem too i tried ure suggestion with avic and put div4 to div3 and it just fuked up me video making it audio only and vegas stil cant read it this shit isss reeaally pissing me off aye and other suggestions thx"

Can we please watch the language? Just because it doesnt offend you by saying it doesnt mean others are not offended by reading it. English is a wonderful language so please use that instead of profanity.
Sakuya wrote on 4/2/2005, 4:14 PM
You said to change both parameters in the AViC above to DIVX. I got it and opened the AVI first. Then in the parameters above that, you only get options DIV4, and then the second parameter you get DIV3. Where do you find DIVX? It doesn't work anyway. Help?

Edit:
I find that if I open it in Virtualdub and encode it (fast recompress) using "Uncompressed", then it works! However, even at Fast Recompress it is taking forever. 13 minutes for a 25-minute AVI. Is there a faster way?