Updates 9-22-09
a) When troubleshooting codec issues, beware of the blunderbuss approach of installing codec "packages," especially from unknown download services. Doing so may have unintended consequences for your applications from Sony or other vendors, or possible the security of your system. Uninstalling these "packages" does not restore your system to its original state. Only a system restore and / or reinstallation of the affected applications can do this. Think of codec "packages" as if a shotgun was fired into a darkened room -- it's going to hit something, but is it what was intended? Better to follow the suggestions below to find out specifically what is needed in your case. It's too bad that all the bad codec "packages" had to ruin it for the one or two good ones ;?)
b) Many users have reported loss of Vegas audio compatibility with .mov, .mp4, .m4a, .m4v files after upgrading Quicktime and iTunes to the latest versions (QT 7.6.4 and iTunes 9). There is a discussion and instructions for uninstalling and reinstalling previous versions in This Thread. Quicktime is needed to load certain file types into Vegas, so completely uninstalling it isn't going to help you much.
UPDATE: Sony has fixed the QT problem in Vegas Pro 9.0c and Vegas Movie Studio 10 versions. For Vegas Pro 8 and Movie Studio 9 users, using QT 7.6 or 7.6.2 seems to be the only reliable solution at this time.
Let's Get Started
Although usually not an issue, I am posting this for use with the Forum Search feature so you can understand the kind of information you need to provide in order to solve these kinds of problems.
1) File extensions -- these are the three or four alphanumeric characters following the "." in Windows files. They tell you what type of media file it is, but not the CoDecs used. See below.
2) A file extension, like .avi or.mpg or .mp4 or .mov or .whatever does not give much information about how your video file was "encoded." To do so, you must also provide a little more information. To do that, see below.
3) If the file opens in Vegas, or in Quicktime, or in Windows Media Player, or in Whatever Player, these programs will possibly provide some information about the CoDecs used to encode the file. Usually, this information is found in the "Media Properties" or "File Information" in these programs. Consult their respective "Help" files and functions for additional information.
4) A more thorough method to provide the file information needed is to download a free media file information utility. There are several, and a convenient one is called MediaInfo. GSpot provides even more complex information. Having installed such a utility, you can obtain lots of useful information about your media files that others here will find useful in assisting you to solve your issue.
5) A CODEC, or COmpressor-DECompressor, is a specific method that was used to encode (create) your media files. There is one codec for the video, and one for the audio (if present), both of which are "wrapped" in the file extension (see above). If you think that providing the file extension alone is enough information, think about that holiday when you were handed a wrapped package and asked to guess what was inside. Enough said about that!
6) The BITRATE is the amount of compressed data used to encode one second of video and audio into your finished movie. For media, it is usually expressed like 6Mbs or 6000Kbs (roughly the same thing). The higher the bitrate, the better the quality, and the larger the file. A lower bitrate will produce smaller file sizes, but the quality will suffer accordingly. An example would be trying to fit 4 hours of material onto a single DVD. It can be done, but most people would find the quality unacceptable. It's a fact of physics that can't be undone. Some video codecs do a better job of preserving quality at low bitrates than others. A good example is the MPEG-2 codec used for making DVDs. A better one is the AVC/h.264 codec used for everything from iPhones to Blu-Ray discs, although you can't use it to make standard DVDs. You cannot make a small video file look better by re-encoding (rendering) it at a higher bitrate.
7) The RESOLUTION of a video file is a reference to the dimensions (in pixels) of the video file, expressed in the order of Width X Height -- 720x480, 320x240, or 1440x1080 for example. This affects the size and shape of the video image you see on your player, assuming it is set to play back at 1:1 (100%) video size. 640x480 contains four times as much information as 320x240 (not twice as much, refer to 5th grade math). Within the physical limits of your original video and playback monitor or TV, the highest resolution results in the best quality. Once again, you cannot make a small video file look better by re-encoding (rendering) it at a higher resolution.
8) Once you have provided enough information to provide others here with a reasonable guess as to why the video, audio, or both didn't open in Vegas as you planned for, then you may receive a "suggestion" based on the information you provided to take one or more actions. These may include, but are not limited to:
a) Renaming the file extension to another one that Vegas will recognize with the video and audio codecs in your media file. You do this in Windows Explorer by right-clicking on the file icon, and not by using any "software";
b) Downloading and installing one or more video or audio codecs so that Vegas will recognize your files; or rarely,
c) Rendering your file in a third party utility to a new file that Vegas will recognize. Rendering is not the same as renaming a file extension. Rendering involves a bit-to-bit conversion of one file format to another using another codec, and sometimes takes a long time.
9) Vegas does not act at all like Windows Movie Maker. That is a consumer PHD (Push Here, Dummy) program designed to give you a quick capture and render with virtually no user options or cross-application compatibility. It will give you quick AVI files (often incompatible with Vegas) or compressed WMV files compatible mainly with Windows Media Player. That's about it.
FAQ (Frequently Answered Questions):
--Vegas will usually not open DV-AVI files captured in Window Movie Maker. They are broken, perhaps on purpose.
--Files captured as WMV in Windows Movie Maker are usually not of a quality sufficient to produce a nice DVD, for example.
--The solution to the previous two answers is to capture the file in Vegas using the built-in utility, or a stable third party application like Scenalyzer (for DV) or HDV-Split. There are others including the one that was packed with your camcorder. Beware of any options that convert your camcorder file to another format!
--MPEG-2 files with AAC/AC3 audio with the .mpg extension may open the video without the audio in Vegas. Often, simply renaming the file to .vob will solve this problem.
If you are just beginning with Windows, there are many tutorials on the internet to tell you how to rename file extensions in your version of Windows. Google is your friend.
--MOV files with AVC/h.264 video and AAC/AC3 audio and the .mov extension may open just the video, or not at all in Vegas. Often, simply renaming the file to .mp4 will solve the problem. This is often the solution for .mov files from the Kodak zi6 and zi8 point-and-shoot cameras.
--AVI files with AVC/h.264 video may open just the audio in Vegas. Downloading and installing the x264vfw codec from http://sourceforge.net/projects/x264vfw/ will usually open the video with audio in Vegas. This is the solution for Vado HD and AVI/H264 video files from some other pocket HD cameras.
--Other common causes of no audio are that it was not captured with the video, or was not rendered with the video if it came from a project. There are settings to include the audio in both the capture and render settings.
--AVI files encoded with the MJPEG (do not confuse with MPEG) codec may open the audio but not the video in Vegas. To do so, you need an MJPEG decoder. The trial version of MainConcept and several others provide this functionality. This is the solution to opening video files from many Nikon Coolpix or Canon Powershot point-and-shoot cameras. It also works for many of those inexpensive "keychain video" cameras such as found on eBay.
--Files of any extension encoded with DIVX or XVID codecs may not open in Vegas. In these cases, you should download and install the applicable codec from its home site only to avoid adware or other buggies.
--Vegas does not open Flash files with the .flv extension or .swf with audio. To do this, you need a third party application to convert (render) the file to a format Vegas understands. One of these is called Super by ErightSoft. There are others, including the easy-to-use Format Factory.
--Vegas may have problems with files created in other applications like Final Cut, Premiere, or Pinnacle. Your best solution here is to post your complete file details, and one of the gurus here will gladly assist you in getting it to work.
--Finally, you cannot rip and burn copyrighted DVDs and movies using Sony products, nor is this an appropriate venue to discuss such issues.
The collective base of knowledge and experience here is staggering. To take full advantage of those resources, you need to provide as much information as possible and be patient. No one here is being paid to help, so you can be sure that we do it for the love of the art. It is a good idea not to provide your personal email or contact information in a post, because this kind of information occasionally gets misused.
AGAIN, if you will post the relevant details about the file (not just "I captured it from my camcorder" or "I downloaded it from the internet"), USUALLY someone with a similar experience will be able to help you.
The other (and sometimes preferable) alternative is to contact Sony Technical Support through the links at the top of this page. Be aware though, that they will "probably" ask you for the same kind of information mentioned previously.
If you really want a PHD solution, and do not wish to provide the kind of information here necessary to lead you to that solution, then the best any of your peers can do is to guess around your problem, and maybe hit upon a lucky guess, and it has happened! Otherwise, despite our reputation, our clairvoyant powers here are no better than anywhere else, and decidedly not worth counting on if this is the first time you have tried the software, and also have a critical assignment or project due tomorrow morning.
Please help to keep this an informational thread. To post your questions either start a new thread or join in one of the many open discussions.
These are just my reflections as a satisfied user of Vegas Pro for more than a decade; hope they are of some benefit to someone, and they are also subject to editing after the fact . . .
a) When troubleshooting codec issues, beware of the blunderbuss approach of installing codec "packages," especially from unknown download services. Doing so may have unintended consequences for your applications from Sony or other vendors, or possible the security of your system. Uninstalling these "packages" does not restore your system to its original state. Only a system restore and / or reinstallation of the affected applications can do this. Think of codec "packages" as if a shotgun was fired into a darkened room -- it's going to hit something, but is it what was intended? Better to follow the suggestions below to find out specifically what is needed in your case. It's too bad that all the bad codec "packages" had to ruin it for the one or two good ones ;?)
b) Many users have reported loss of Vegas audio compatibility with .mov, .mp4, .m4a, .m4v files after upgrading Quicktime and iTunes to the latest versions (QT 7.6.4 and iTunes 9). There is a discussion and instructions for uninstalling and reinstalling previous versions in This Thread. Quicktime is needed to load certain file types into Vegas, so completely uninstalling it isn't going to help you much.
UPDATE: Sony has fixed the QT problem in Vegas Pro 9.0c and Vegas Movie Studio 10 versions. For Vegas Pro 8 and Movie Studio 9 users, using QT 7.6 or 7.6.2 seems to be the only reliable solution at this time.
Let's Get Started
Although usually not an issue, I am posting this for use with the Forum Search feature so you can understand the kind of information you need to provide in order to solve these kinds of problems.
1) File extensions -- these are the three or four alphanumeric characters following the "." in Windows files. They tell you what type of media file it is, but not the CoDecs used. See below.
2) A file extension, like .avi or.mpg or .mp4 or .mov or .whatever does not give much information about how your video file was "encoded." To do so, you must also provide a little more information. To do that, see below.
3) If the file opens in Vegas, or in Quicktime, or in Windows Media Player, or in Whatever Player, these programs will possibly provide some information about the CoDecs used to encode the file. Usually, this information is found in the "Media Properties" or "File Information" in these programs. Consult their respective "Help" files and functions for additional information.
4) A more thorough method to provide the file information needed is to download a free media file information utility. There are several, and a convenient one is called MediaInfo. GSpot provides even more complex information. Having installed such a utility, you can obtain lots of useful information about your media files that others here will find useful in assisting you to solve your issue.
5) A CODEC, or COmpressor-DECompressor, is a specific method that was used to encode (create) your media files. There is one codec for the video, and one for the audio (if present), both of which are "wrapped" in the file extension (see above). If you think that providing the file extension alone is enough information, think about that holiday when you were handed a wrapped package and asked to guess what was inside. Enough said about that!
6) The BITRATE is the amount of compressed data used to encode one second of video and audio into your finished movie. For media, it is usually expressed like 6Mbs or 6000Kbs (roughly the same thing). The higher the bitrate, the better the quality, and the larger the file. A lower bitrate will produce smaller file sizes, but the quality will suffer accordingly. An example would be trying to fit 4 hours of material onto a single DVD. It can be done, but most people would find the quality unacceptable. It's a fact of physics that can't be undone. Some video codecs do a better job of preserving quality at low bitrates than others. A good example is the MPEG-2 codec used for making DVDs. A better one is the AVC/h.264 codec used for everything from iPhones to Blu-Ray discs, although you can't use it to make standard DVDs. You cannot make a small video file look better by re-encoding (rendering) it at a higher bitrate.
7) The RESOLUTION of a video file is a reference to the dimensions (in pixels) of the video file, expressed in the order of Width X Height -- 720x480, 320x240, or 1440x1080 for example. This affects the size and shape of the video image you see on your player, assuming it is set to play back at 1:1 (100%) video size. 640x480 contains four times as much information as 320x240 (not twice as much, refer to 5th grade math). Within the physical limits of your original video and playback monitor or TV, the highest resolution results in the best quality. Once again, you cannot make a small video file look better by re-encoding (rendering) it at a higher resolution.
8) Once you have provided enough information to provide others here with a reasonable guess as to why the video, audio, or both didn't open in Vegas as you planned for, then you may receive a "suggestion" based on the information you provided to take one or more actions. These may include, but are not limited to:
a) Renaming the file extension to another one that Vegas will recognize with the video and audio codecs in your media file. You do this in Windows Explorer by right-clicking on the file icon, and not by using any "software";
b) Downloading and installing one or more video or audio codecs so that Vegas will recognize your files; or rarely,
c) Rendering your file in a third party utility to a new file that Vegas will recognize. Rendering is not the same as renaming a file extension. Rendering involves a bit-to-bit conversion of one file format to another using another codec, and sometimes takes a long time.
9) Vegas does not act at all like Windows Movie Maker. That is a consumer PHD (Push Here, Dummy) program designed to give you a quick capture and render with virtually no user options or cross-application compatibility. It will give you quick AVI files (often incompatible with Vegas) or compressed WMV files compatible mainly with Windows Media Player. That's about it.
FAQ (Frequently Answered Questions):
--Vegas will usually not open DV-AVI files captured in Window Movie Maker. They are broken, perhaps on purpose.
--Files captured as WMV in Windows Movie Maker are usually not of a quality sufficient to produce a nice DVD, for example.
--The solution to the previous two answers is to capture the file in Vegas using the built-in utility, or a stable third party application like Scenalyzer (for DV) or HDV-Split. There are others including the one that was packed with your camcorder. Beware of any options that convert your camcorder file to another format!
--MPEG-2 files with AAC/AC3 audio with the .mpg extension may open the video without the audio in Vegas. Often, simply renaming the file to .vob will solve this problem.
If you are just beginning with Windows, there are many tutorials on the internet to tell you how to rename file extensions in your version of Windows. Google is your friend.
--MOV files with AVC/h.264 video and AAC/AC3 audio and the .mov extension may open just the video, or not at all in Vegas. Often, simply renaming the file to .mp4 will solve the problem. This is often the solution for .mov files from the Kodak zi6 and zi8 point-and-shoot cameras.
--AVI files with AVC/h.264 video may open just the audio in Vegas. Downloading and installing the x264vfw codec from http://sourceforge.net/projects/x264vfw/ will usually open the video with audio in Vegas. This is the solution for Vado HD and AVI/H264 video files from some other pocket HD cameras.
--Other common causes of no audio are that it was not captured with the video, or was not rendered with the video if it came from a project. There are settings to include the audio in both the capture and render settings.
--AVI files encoded with the MJPEG (do not confuse with MPEG) codec may open the audio but not the video in Vegas. To do so, you need an MJPEG decoder. The trial version of MainConcept and several others provide this functionality. This is the solution to opening video files from many Nikon Coolpix or Canon Powershot point-and-shoot cameras. It also works for many of those inexpensive "keychain video" cameras such as found on eBay.
--Files of any extension encoded with DIVX or XVID codecs may not open in Vegas. In these cases, you should download and install the applicable codec from its home site only to avoid adware or other buggies.
--Vegas does not open Flash files with the .flv extension or .swf with audio. To do this, you need a third party application to convert (render) the file to a format Vegas understands. One of these is called Super by ErightSoft. There are others, including the easy-to-use Format Factory.
--Vegas may have problems with files created in other applications like Final Cut, Premiere, or Pinnacle. Your best solution here is to post your complete file details, and one of the gurus here will gladly assist you in getting it to work.
--Finally, you cannot rip and burn copyrighted DVDs and movies using Sony products, nor is this an appropriate venue to discuss such issues.
The collective base of knowledge and experience here is staggering. To take full advantage of those resources, you need to provide as much information as possible and be patient. No one here is being paid to help, so you can be sure that we do it for the love of the art. It is a good idea not to provide your personal email or contact information in a post, because this kind of information occasionally gets misused.
AGAIN, if you will post the relevant details about the file (not just "I captured it from my camcorder" or "I downloaded it from the internet"), USUALLY someone with a similar experience will be able to help you.
The other (and sometimes preferable) alternative is to contact Sony Technical Support through the links at the top of this page. Be aware though, that they will "probably" ask you for the same kind of information mentioned previously.
If you really want a PHD solution, and do not wish to provide the kind of information here necessary to lead you to that solution, then the best any of your peers can do is to guess around your problem, and maybe hit upon a lucky guess, and it has happened! Otherwise, despite our reputation, our clairvoyant powers here are no better than anywhere else, and decidedly not worth counting on if this is the first time you have tried the software, and also have a critical assignment or project due tomorrow morning.
Please help to keep this an informational thread. To post your questions either start a new thread or join in one of the many open discussions.
These are just my reflections as a satisfied user of Vegas Pro for more than a decade; hope they are of some benefit to someone, and they are also subject to editing after the fact . . .