Software DV Codec converters

BrianStanding wrote on 4/22/2003, 3:17 PM
Since Sonic Foundry seems committed to keeping thier codec available only to Vegas... (grrrr!)

Does anyone know if Baobab, Advanced, Sonic Foundry or anyone else is planning on developing a software codec converter that will convert to/from the Sonic Foundry DV Codec?

I used to use the Baobab Converter with my Premiere/Canopus Raptor setup, but alas, it does not recognize the SoFo codec. The nice thing about the Baobab converter is that it's an instantaneous file header change, not a complete re-render. It would be truly sweet if it worked with the SoFo codec, too.

I'm really getting tired of having to render in and out of uncompressed video to move back and forth between Vegas and After Effects.

Comments

jboy wrote on 4/22/2003, 4:19 PM
Why don't you try Satish's free Frameserver ? It works great and imports files from vegas' timeline right into AE. (Do a search on the forum for username Satish to get his web address)
SonyDennis wrote on 4/22/2003, 5:36 PM
The Vegas DV codec does not use a non-standard header, it's regular old 'dvsd' which any installed DV codec (or the default Microsoft DV codec) can decode and encode.
///d@
BrianStanding wrote on 4/23/2003, 4:42 PM
Satish's frameserver works great from Vegas to AE, but not from AE back to Vegas. I'm more likely to create an animation sequence in AE and want to incorporate it a Vegas edit than I am to go the other way around.
BrianStanding wrote on 4/23/2003, 4:50 PM
Dennis,

Does this mean the only way to convert from a non-Vegas file to a Vegas-compatible codec is to re-encode? I've experienced some nasty pixellation errors when I try to do this from the Canopus codec to the Sonic Foundry codec.

I thought raw DV data was always the same, just the "wrapper" differed from codec to codec. My understanding is that it's only when you manipulate the DV file (like adding an effect) that the codec used makes a difference. If the SoFo codec uses the same header as MSDV, why can't something like After Effects read Vegas-created DV files?

I'm confused....
roger_74 wrote on 4/23/2003, 5:00 PM
After Effects should have no problems reading DV files created in Vegas. It works for me.
BrianStanding wrote on 4/23/2003, 5:04 PM
OK, I'll try it again... maybe I'm wrong about Vegas to AE.

As I explained above, though, what I really want is to go from After Effects to Vegas with a minimum of fuss, disk space and error. Any reliable options other than going to uncompressed?
SonyEPM wrote on 4/24/2003, 8:45 AM
Uncompressed (or still image sequences) is the best way to go back and forth to AE- you get some degradation with every compression pass, plus DV doesn't carry and alpha channel. Yes, the files sizes can get pretty big.
Briody wrote on 4/24/2003, 9:11 AM
Supposably Microcosm will do all of this. It's a lossless codec that makes some very small file sizes with no reduction in quality (so they say).

I post earlier to see if anyone is using it with Vegas.

MArk