Editing .264 video from mini-cam in Vegas: Vegas won't read video

[bigass]

I picked up a RCA EZC209HD mini HD camcorder for a decent price, and now want to edit the video. The software bundled with the gadget is, as expected, entirely useless.

As usual, I'm editing with Sony Vegas Pro 9.0c 64-bit.

The recordings come up with this profile in MediaInfo:

General
Complete name                    : I:\video-RCA cam raw\VID00002.AVI
Format                           : AVI
Format/Info                      : Audio Video Interleave
File size                        : 18.8 MiB
Duration                         : 35s 536ms
Overall bit rate                 : 4 429 Kbps
Movie name                       : EZ209
Recorded date                    : 2008-01-08
Writing application              : 2126
Writing library                  : AMBA
ICRT                             : 03:00:15

Video
ID                               : 0
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : Main@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 4 frames
Format settings, GOP             : M=3, N=15
Codec ID                         : H264
Duration                         : 35s 536ms
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Bit rate                         : 4 033 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                 : 4 001 Kbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate                       : 29.970 fps
Color space                      : YUV
Chroma subsampling               : 4:2:0
Bit depth                        : 8 bits
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.146
Stream size                      : 17.1 MiB (91%)

Audio
ID                               : 1
Format                           : ADPCM
Codec ID                         : 11
Codec ID/Hint                    : Intel
Duration                         : 34s 872ms
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 384 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                        : 4 bits
Stream size                      : 1.63 MiB (9%)
Interleave, duration             : 43 ms (1.28 video frame)

When I drag the clips into Vegas, only the audio comes onto the timeline. Preview also plays just the audio. The explorer in Vegas says "Stream attributes could not be determined. H264."

The videos play fine in WMP, MPC-HC, etc.

So, I guess my options are:
- do something to make the clips workable as-is within Vegas, or,
- convert them to something Vegas can digest.

Recommendations?

[poisondeathray]

Try re-wrapping with tsmuxer into .m2ts container

Try installing ffdshow, and enable h.264 in the VFW configuration

Otherwise you can convert to a lossless intermediate for import (e.g. lagarith, huffyuv)

[bigass]

Thanks for the tips... here's my results:

- TSMuxer doesn't take AVI as an input format, so that's a no-go. My clips are AVI.
- FFDShow installed, but didn't make a difference in Vegas.

Looks like converting to Lagarith might be my best option. I'm so far using Super for that, unless someone has a better suggestion. Lagarith for video, MP3 for audio I guess?

I see someone with a similar problem on this thread: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/302604-Creative-Vado-HD-AVI-%28H-264%29-Editing

And similar thread around the net seem to end with "I installed the k-lite mega x64 codec pack and it works now!"

Okay, I've been brought up to think codec packs are the devil. I don't think I want to go there.

Any more ideas?

[bigass]

Success, tentatively!

After learning that Vegas 9.0c uses VFW exclusively, and not having luck with ffdshow, I installed the 64-bit x264 vfw codec found at http://komisar.gin.by/ via the videohelp page at https://www.videohelp.com/tools/x264_Encoder

Now showing video *and* audio on the timeline.

Still have a hunch that this may not be the *best* solution, so any further ideas are welcome, of course.