QuickTime X HDV capture -> Vegas 9.0d Import ?

gordonmcdowell wrote on 4/28/2010, 9:56 AM
After installing an HDV codec on my MacBook (but not before!), I'm able to use "QuickTime Player" on Snow Leopard 10.6.3 to record via FireWire/1394 directly from my JVC GR-HD1 (720p) onto my Mac's hard drive. (I'm using maximum quality which is supposedly the native format of the camera.)

The default file extension for this capture is MOV, however when I copy that file onto my PC and try import it into Vegas 9.0d (x64), ONLY the AUDIO appears in the timeline, not the video.

Since the MOV contains the raw MPEG-2 from the camera, I tried renaming the file with a M2T extension on my PC. Now Vegas will NOT show AUDIO on the timeline, but WILL show VIDEO.

Inspecting the file with VLC shows:
Video = mpgv, 1280x720
Audio = sowt, stereo, 48kHz, 16bps

SOWT is apparently Apple's "alternative little-endian byte order format"...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Interchange_File_Format#AIFF_on_Mac_OS_X

...which I'm sure is just what the world needed. But anyway I'm wondering if there is a mechanism I can use to use both the audio and video components of this file in Vegas without having to perform some sort of correction on it?

If not, could Vegas extend its parsing of M2T files to include the... "sowt" found in captures performed on Macs? I suggest that as a rename-the-file-to-have-M2T-extension fix, because I'm assuming Vegas has less parsing control over MOV files (maybe that is handled by whatever QuickTime is installed on the PC)?

For now my work-around is using VLC to export the audio from the file, and sync the M2T (renamed) video with the separate audio file. ANYONE HAVE A BETTER APPROACH?

(But of course it would be preferable to have Vegas parse either the MOV or M2T files correctly itself.)

-Gord

Comments

musicvid10 wrote on 4/28/2010, 10:02 AM
See if you can demux the files in AVIDemux.
That would be preferable to converting in a third-party app.
gordonmcdowell wrote on 4/28/2010, 10:26 AM
musicvid, AviDemux does not appear to understand the video data in the file, I get a green display (but I do hear audio). This is my trying to open both the original MOV capture, and the M2T renamed copy.
musicvid10 wrote on 4/28/2010, 10:29 AM
Gordon,
Why don't you upload a short clip of your original MOV somewhere and I'll look at it when I have a bit of time later this week.
gordonmcdowell wrote on 4/28/2010, 11:04 AM
http://gordonmcdowell.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/MacBook-Capture-720p.mov

...warning that clicking the link and opening the MOV using my FireFox QuickTime plugin crashed the browser. So if you have multiple tabs open that could ruin your day.
musicvid10 wrote on 4/28/2010, 12:10 PM
OK, if QT for Windows doesn't like this file, neither will Vegas.

But here's what you can do. Mux the file to TS or M2TS in TSMuxer, ignore the warning.
The muxed video will open in Vegas. Then you can add the original MOV file to get the audio. Not a very elegant solution, but it should get you by until you find something a little spiffier.
gordonmcdowell wrote on 4/28/2010, 2:56 PM
musicvid,

Thanks for your input on this. I didn't even notice QT7 on my PC wouldn't play the video.

I'll continue renaming the MOV to M2T to access the video portion, and use TSMuxer if I should end up having a problem with the video part.

And there's lots of ways I can extract the audio. Was just hoping some codec would allow me to not have to manage 2x the files and resync them in Vegas.

-Gord
musicvid10 wrote on 4/28/2010, 6:13 PM
How are you getting the video to import by changing the extension to .m2t ?
I have Vegas Pro 8.0c and QT 7.6 and I just get the audio no matter how I name it.

As for getting your hands on the right codec for Windows - Vegas uses the Quicktime library. If it's not there, it's going to be impossible to find, a hack, or terribly expensive.
bill-kranz wrote on 4/29/2010, 2:55 PM
Gordon:

Hi. I am dealing with this issue but I plan to buy a $35.00 third party decoder that will go from .MOV to .AVI. I am at work and do not have the name of the software but they have a trial version also.

In my case the audio track is the only one that works right and is topped by a black video track. This is rather interesting as I plan to use my new Powershot S20 as a straight stereo recording device with some extra SD cards.

I do plan to investigate the other tips provided in this posting and will judge them all by the final output quality. I am working with the highest quality as much as possible through this first project.

Good luck,
Bill K.
gordonmcdowell wrote on 9/24/2010, 5:09 PM
Bill,

I don't capture on my Mac often, and having just recently dealt with this problem again, I've found an OK solution.

So again, I captured MPEG-2 on a Mac, using QuickTime. It created an MOV file containing MPEG-2, but problems is:

- SONY Vegas (no matter that I have QT Pro on my PC, and that I ALSO paid $30 for the QT MPEG-2 codec from Apple) 9.0e would import the file, but only show audio track, no video track even appeared.

This program is the best export tool I've found to transcode it without losing video quality...

MediaCoder x64
http://www.mediacoderhq.com/

...there are other apps that can accomplish this IN THEORY, but both SUPER, and VLC Media Player failed to parse my entire 11 GB source MOV... they'd error before they reached the end.

So this is not a re-encoding process (except I do re-encode audio, more on that in a sec), I'm selecting...

TAB=VIDEO | [X]Enable Video | [X]Copy Video
TAB=AUDIO | [X]Enable Audio | [X]Auto Select | Format->MP3 | [ ]Copy Audio

...and by specifying Container = MPEG2, it is just moving the MPEG-2 data out of the QuickTime container, into a nice standard everyone loving and loved by all MPEG-2 container.

The audio re-encode is because Mac is recording little endian or not-little endian integers in the audio file. Whatever Mac does, Vegas doesn't like it. So until Vegas supports that weird integer format Mac captures to, this is my new workflow.

And that MediaCoder is of course free, just supported by donations. I'm sure there's command line ways to accomplish the above, but I'm happy to have a GUI solution.