Import MPG After Effects

[Flying Doctor]

I've converted some .VOB files to .MPG files.
When I try to import them into After Effects CS3, I get this error message:

After Effects error: format module cannot parse the file


Can someone please help me?

[filmboss80]

You are using a highly-compressed video format that is designed for playback, not editing or special effects. Read about the video formats compatible with After Effects here:

http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/AfterEffects/8.0/WSB108BC99-A69B-46c4-86D3-2192805C2AF8.html

[Flying Doctor]

What do you suggest I do?

[guns1inger]

Convert it to DV, or better yet, a lossless compression like Huffyuv or Lagarith, then work on it.

[filmboss80]

After Effects does handle DV-AVI just fine, and it also should with HuffYUV or Lagarith.

The usual way that I do mpg-to-DV-avi conversions is through VirtualDub-MPEG2 with the Cedocida DV Codec and AC3ACM loaded.

[guns1inger]

I am only wary of DV AVI in effects packages because of the way colour is compressed and the artifacts that it tends to produce. This can be a major issue when doing anything that involved keying, colour replacement, and some titling work.

[Flying Doctor]

I opened the movieclip in VirtualDub and added the HuffYUV compression time. The second time I added the Lagarith compression. Both times I saved the movieclip as an .AVI.
The output it not great, first I got a choppy movie and then only audio.

What am I doing wrong?

IAnd I'm not planning to use the movieclips for keying etc.)

[filmboss80]

If you are using After Effects, my assumption was that you were making a layered visual effect that probably involved keying. For most applications, I don't see a problem going with DV-AVI, especially since your source material is VOB. Yes, DV is a compressed format, but if you don't go too many generations (re-encodes), it might end up looking just fine, and After Effects handles it well. Cedodica has the best DV codec, but just make sure you suppress any other DV codecs on your system with VCSwap.

It can't hurt to try DV.