Avi

AVI is a container, not a video codec. I guess though I was right, that was XViD AVI. Vegas Platinum does not support those. You will have to transcode to another format that vegas supports, like mpeg2.

Do you accidentally have one of the video tracks "solo"d? Or have all the gray tracks disabled?

In the track header at the left side of each track, the "!" icon (solo) means "turn only this video track on and turn all others off". See if you might have one of these "!" icons activated.

Also in the track header, the "circle with a line through it" icon means "turn this track off". But you would need to have turned each track off individually for this to be the problem.

Tim L

I don't have the "!" or the circle marks activated.

Umm... It's still grey

As also Eugenia answers when you put a video on the timeline and do not see the video but only hear the sound it is a codec-problem.

Many users see this using i.e. AVI containing MJpeg from some video cameras.

Often you can see the video in WMplayer, WMM or other programs - but VMS can not use that codec (maybe it is not open to all programs) and needs another.

Check which codec is needed for your videos with i.e. Gspot and then download and install the codec.

Platinum won't work with DiVX/XViD, no matter if you install the codec or not. The latest versions have support for Mjpeg avi and mov btw, so this particular problem is fixed atm.

OK. Just so you know, I'm not using Platinum, it's standard. So where can I go to make the videos compatible. And which format should I put them at?

Download the "SUPER" utility and export in mpeg2, like this or on a similar configuration:
http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/images/proxy2.png

Downloaded! OK, what do I do? I have no clue how to make it work?

You did the hard work, you found the download!!
Stat the program, set the parameters of what you want to end up with. I would suggest starting at the top and work down.
Then drag and drop your media file in the box at the bottom.
Then hit encode.

parameters?

Yes, parameters in that application. If you really have no clue what to do, you shouldn't be doing these videos in the first place. You obviously don't have the experience to transcode and we can't help you more because we don't know the exact attributes of your original videos, so we can't suggest anything more than "use SUPER".

Download another video editor if Vegas doesn't work for you out of the box. Go with Ulead. I guess there is a market for everything.

Quit? I don't think so. The reason I bought Vegas is because I want to make AMVs without subtitles. The problem is that I couldn't get the Raw episodes I need fast. A friend told me that Vegas can cover the subs with widescreen. I just got the Vegas last week. "Shouldn't be doing videos in the first place"? You probably don't know me very well. I did 4 AMVs using WMM. After helping me with this problem, I can get it done in a week. If there's any AMV experts with Vegas experience here, then I need a website where I can get anime episodes with the format that works on Vegas. Any for Bleach and Naruto: Shippuuden?

My problem is that we did help you. We told you to use SUPER to re-encode these videos in mpeg2 so Vegas can recognize. But then, you require more info, like how to use Super. Problem is, we can not help you with exact details (or even a screenshot that has all the right checkboxes checked), because we do not know anything about the SOURCE video clips. We know nothing about the resolution, frame rate, audio, if they are interlaced or not, aspect ratio etc.

Unless you either provide us with all this information, OR, you UPLOAD a SMALL sample of one of these videos online (like, no bigger than 15 MBs) so we can test it, then we can't help you further and you will have to figure the next steps out yourself.

Do you have bittorrent? I'll give you a site where I got all the subs of the anime I've mentioned.
http://www.dattebayo.com/t/
Test both one episode and two episode torrents and test them. When you found the answer for me, give me instructions on the SUPER and specific information.

You don't have to answer today. The torrents downloaded usually take 2 hours or more. If you don't have bittorrent, google and download. Like SUPER, it's free.

Sorry, I can't download illegal Bittorrent seeds. Comcast, my ISP, works with the movie industry and so all that stuff are tracked. If you don't have a normal, small, video that has the same properties as these anime videos, that you can upload somewhere that's not trackable, I can't help you.

That sucks! What about Youtube?

Youtube does not carry the same video format as the video format that doesn't work on vegas. So *watching* an episode of anime or ripping Youtube's flash video, tells me nothing about its original format.

But as I said above, if these anime episodes are pirated, then 95% chance is that they are XViD AVI files, and Vegas Platinum doesn't support those.

If you want to try something else: Download the TRIAL version of Vegas Pro, and install this XViD codec: http://www.free-codecs.com/download_soft.php?d=1570&s=337
Then, you will have 15 days to use Vegas Pro to do your job. Vegas Pro does a better using third party codecs than Platinum you see, so there are chances that you will get these videos loaded on the Pro version of Vegas. Some files might be recognized without sound though, you should expect that (known bug of XViD files on Vegas Pro).

OK. Besides the format compatibility, what is the difference between the standard and Pro.