Video from Canon A710IS not accepted by VMA

Charles1 wrote on 7/8/2007, 4:30 PM

I use a Canon A710IS to shoot my video clips. I can't get VMS to accept the video portion of the clip on the the timeline. It places only the audio portion on the timeline. The message at the bottom states that "video: stream attributes could not be determined." I tried all the various combinations for NTSC in Project Properties for Video, but nothing seems to work. I haven't been able to place one clip on the time line. The settings I use on the Canon A710IS are the standard settings used on that camera for movies. What's wrong with this program? Windows Movie Maker accepts the clips, and so does Adobe Premiere Elements.

Comments

Eugenia wrote on 7/9/2007, 2:56 PM

It is simply a silly limitation of Vegas not supporting that exact version of the codec. They should have tested with Canon digital cameras -- they are so successful after all.

If you have tried VMS8 trial version and it still doesn't work, buy another NLE. I would not use another app to re-encode your video to another accepted codec because quality will go down to the floor.

Sure, you could use a lossless free codec, like Lagarith, and free encoding utilities like MediaCoder, but no offense, you don't strike me like a guy who would go through all these time-consuming hoops just to get Vegas to recognize your videos. I mean, if you would, you would probably be shooting with a camcorder, not a digicam.

So, if you are serious about it, get a camcorder. If not, get another NLE. I think that would be the best time/money ratio solution, rather trying to make things working through hoops.

Eugenia wrote on 7/9/2007, 3:56 PM

I find it poor that someone has to export MJPEG to something else before he/she can edit. You see, MJPEG is already *ideal* for editing. It's just that Vegas does not support the specific version of the codec (I am pretty sure it supports other MJPEG versions from other digicam brands).

My opinion stands: either get a camcorder, or get another app. It doesn't worth your time to re-encode. This is the main reason I don't use 24f with my HV20. Because if I use the free tools, I will have to re-encode the 24f m2t to 24p Lagarith and that's not acceptable from a time point of view.

jimmyz wrote on 7/9/2007, 6:07 PM

This from the Sony knowledgebase

really not a problem.....

Problems importing AVI files recorded onto a digital still image camera.
Question
Your still camera can shoot small AVI videos, but they don't open in VideoFactory, Movie Studio, or Vegas, or they just show the audio, not the video.
Answer

The video that most current still image cameras shoot actually is what is called Motion JPEG video. It is a series of still frames added together to create a moving picture. In order for these AVI or MPEG files to open correctly in Vegas, Movie Studio, or VideoFactory, you'll need a third party codec installed.

Request an M-JPEG codec from Matrox here:

http://www.matrox.com/video/support/ds/software/codec/home.cfm[/link

Here are two such third party codecs:

morgan multimedia

Pegasus Imaging Corporation

cmcdonald wrote on 7/10/2007, 12:26 PM

Thanks 4EYES and Jimmyz. I was about to ask a very similar question since I have been having trouble using video clips from my Fuji camera.

Eugenia - I do have a video camera that I use and it works great with VMS. It is likely that Charles1 does too. However, there are many times when I either do not have my video camera with me, or don't want to use it, but I still have a short video that I want to capture.

Chris

SEW wrote on 7/10/2007, 3:46 PM

I wish Sony would add a mjpeg codec to VMS. This question keeps coming up with video from Canon cameras. This old thread has information on how to install the free FFDSHOW codec.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?Forum=12&MessageID=484644

After the codec is installed importing videos should work fine.

Jasper Bluto wrote on 12/9/2007, 10:28 PM

I have tried all three of these methods and none of them get my Vegas 6.0 to recognize the video portion of my Casio EX-Z750 movie clips.

Hey Eugenia... "no offense", but you sure seem to have a pretty singular view of what people should or should not use for video projects. When I go on a trip, I bring my camcorder and my Casio still camera (which takes amazingly good video, BTW) but I am not gonna carry that damn camcorder around EVERYWHERE. My TRV19 is very compact, as far as camcorders go, but it is still 6 - 7 times the size of my Casio, which will fit in a shirt pocket.

You are right... Sony should fix the damn software so it will import anything, but I think you should not criticize other people for wanting to use what they want to use. We all have our reasons for doing what we do.
JB

Eugenia wrote on 12/10/2007, 1:23 AM

Jasper, you are replying to a thread that was written in July. Sony HAS added support for more MJPEG container formats since then on the subsequent updates of Movie Studio 8. So if you want support for it, you gotta upgrade and update.

As for the cameras, the ZR800 from Canon is an extremely small camcorder and fits on a pocket.
http://tuxtops.com/node/2489
If you don't want both a digicam and a camcoder, go for this one then: http://tuxtops.com/node/2455
I have tried its video stream, it's compatible with Vegas. And it shoots HD, and 12 MP pictures. Problem is, editing h.264 video is a really slow affair because the format was not designed for editing, but for viewing.