Can import .avi files into Sony Vegas ?

[brownleaf]

Your file is not DIVX, it is mpeg-4 (h.264) packed into an avi container instead of a mpeg container. Did your camera create the avi file? From what I've been able to find, the H20 only records to mov files. If your camera didn't create the avi file, how did you get the avi?

VLC doesn't depend on external codecs and will play strange non-standard mixes of container formats and codecs that other players will not. Do you have the current Quicktime player and does it play in that?

Hi Bob and thanks for replying.

The .avi file was created by the Toshiba H20 camera. If you think that's useful, I can upload somewhere the original file to have a look into this.
I will check with Ouicktime as soon as possible and let you know!

[Paul LS]

It would be useful if you could upload a sample... you can in the gallery here. I can try it in Sony Vegas Pro, should accept the same formats as the Studio version.

[brownleaf]

It would be useful if you could upload a sample... you can in the gallery here. I can try it in Sony Vegas Pro, should accept the same formats as the Studio version.

Paul, the file is about 130MB, the Gallery accept up to 60MB. I will upload it to a private FTP and post the link here.
Or maybe you can tell me how to cut a part of the file preserving the original settings?

UPDATE:
The video can be downloaded here
It's about 130MB and with original settings from Toshiba H20.

Thanks!

[Paul LS]

Thanks, I am downloading and will try it. I will report back later.

[Paul LS]

OK, I tried it in Vegas Pro and no luck. Like you I can play it in CyberLink PowerDVD. I can import it into Vegas, it appears in the media bin but I can not even drag it to the timeline. Probably Vegas does not have access to the codec which it needs to be able to work with it. I even downloaded the latest version of Quicktime and no luck. Have you installed the software that came with the camcorder? This should install the codec on your system... but it still does not mean Vegas would be able to edit it.

You may need to convert it to another format to work in Vegas. How about importing it into PowerDirector and exporting it as a high definition MPEG2 file. Then use this in Vegas... if you want to final export as standard definition convert it to DV-AVI in PowerDirector and then import into Vegas.

[brownleaf]

Hi Paul and thanks for the efforts.

Look what I discovered a few minutes ago.
I have checked the file with VideoInspector (some free tool):
[Video]
Resolution : 1920x1080
Codec : Intel ITU H.264
FPS : 105.20
BitRate : 28685 Kbps
Quality Factor : 0.13 b/px

[Audio]
Codec : AAC
Number of channels : 2
Sample Rate : 48000 Hz
BitRate : 128 Kbps

Then I uninstalled all codecs that I had on Windows. I installed ffdshow MPEG-4 and now it recognize the file in Vegas, but only the Video segment. I can drag it to the timeline and now I do export it to some test movie. It's working, but I believe that the final result will be without sound
So, after all everything is about codecs...but there are sooooo many on the market, that I don't know which is the best.

Thanks again and I will keep it update if I find a solution for this.
If you have any more tips for me, regarding the audio part, please be so kind and share them.

[Paul LS]

Glad to hear you got the video sorted out. You could try to install an AAC codec to see if you can get the audio working. There is a free one here you could try:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Cor ... filter.htm

[brownleaf]

Back with some updates, maybe it's useful for others.
What I achieve until now:
-with ffdshow codec I can open the raw video files from Toshiba H20 on all products (Cyberlink PowerDirector 7, Vegas Movie Studio Platinum, Corel Video Studio) but,
1. Vegas, the preview screen for the movie is showing the movie as it should be on 3/4 parts on the window, and the last 1/4 is somehow again from the beginning of the initial image; I hope you understand what I mean to say; if not just ask me to put here a screenshot. The sound is not recognized, and I hear nothing during preview playback. I still have to render a movie to see if something correct comes out.
2. Corel Video Studio, the preview screen shows the movie in correct form, the sound appear as not recognized codec, but during the preview playback I can hear the sound. While rendering, it stuck at 1% and stay there for a while. After 15 min, I got bored and I close the rendering. I think that in 15 minutes it should progress at least until 5%...I have some quite powerful machine. I'll try some more to see.
3. PowerDirector, works perfect from importing the movie to render. The only thing that I don't like is that I have to stick with MPEG-2 encoding. If I choose MPEG-4 AVC, then the output is something called MPEG transport stream (hope that I write it correctly) and the final production looks very bad (image distortion, unclear parts...). Maybe I have to upgrade to another version to have MPEG-4 support for encoding.
You can see here a video produced with PowerDirector, 720p, MPEG-2.

What I don't understand, and maybe you can help, is that the raw video (used above) from the camera with H.264 codec at 1920x1080 has about 130MB, and after encoding like specified before has 325MB.
This is normal?!

I still want to test Pinnacle and Magix Movie.

Btw Paul , the codec that you suggest didn't helps too much

Other ideas, opinions regarding this experience?

Thanks!

[Paul LS]

The larger file size on the encoded video is because the format you have exported to, MPEG2 is less compressed than H.264, therefore the file size is larger.

So it appears that only PowerDirector handles the format correctly, I imagine Magix MovieEdit Pro might be able to edit it as it supports a wide range of formats. Some useful feedback, thanks.

EDIT: I tried it in Magix Movie Edit Pro and the video works OK, but no audio. It is a matter of installing the correct codec for the audio.

EDIT: OK, I installed the AAC codec I mentioned in the post above and now I also have the audio in Magix Movie Edit Pro. The playback from the timeline is slow... but that is due to the highly compressed nature of the format.

[brownleaf]

Hi Paul!

Thanks for the news. I will also try with Magix MovieEdit with AAC codec and let you know if it's working.
In the meantime I read something about AVCHD format, and I can recommend this document on Wikipedia to others that are beginners and have problems understanding the video format.

Thanks

[Paul LS]

Oops, spoke too soon. Infact the video is squished horizontally. I only really noticed this when I exported the clip... so it looks like Magix has an issue with it also.