Can't edit video file converted from DVD to AVI in Adobe Premier

[GalMed]

Hi,
I have little knowledge on this matter.
have an old movie in DVD format, wanted to edit it, converted it to .avi (used converter from http://www.allfreevideoconverter.com/freedvdtoaviconverter/index.html). Tried to import file into Premiere project, get error message "Unsupported compression in file".
Please, advise me what to do?
I did something wrong? need to use other converter, or what?

Thanks,

[Baldrick]

What video compression did you choose in that converter? Just avi doesn't say much. If you can't select compression then use something else.

Try for example dv-avi as video codec. Huge file size but not so big quality loss compared to divx,xvid, h264 video compression.

[filmboss80]

Yup, the types of .avi files that are good for downloading and streaming tend to be a real mess when trying to edit. I do not believe the converter you used will do DV AVI or any of the less lossy .avi formats. Try a different converter.

Also, you don't mention what version of Premiere you're using. You may be able to just pull the MPEG-2 streams out of the DVD's .vob files and edit them. (Plus, there are other tools besides Premiere that will edit videos from DVDs.)

[GalMed]

There are some preset options to choose from, all called .avi and there is no specification on what type of .avi (like dv-avi)
I chose :

HD Video 1080p: H.264/AVC, 4200kbps

(sorry, I don't know what that means)

[GalMed]

Yup, the types of .avi files that are good for downloading and streaming tend to be a real mess when trying to edit. I do not believe the converter you used will do DV AVI or any of the less lossy .avi formats. Try a different converter.

Also, you don't mention what version of Premiere you're using. You may be able to just pull the MPEG-2 streams out of the DVD's .vob files and edit them. (Plus, there are other tools besides Premiere that will edit videos from DVDs.)

Thanks for your advise!
Can you recommend any converter which will do the trick?

I have Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5. Most of my old movies are in perfectly editable .avi format, so I've already learned quite a bit about Premiere and would prefer not to start all over with some other software (I do not plan to work with movies in future, it's just one time thing)

[aedipuss]

did you try what filmboss said? first see if you can edit using the native mpeg-2 from the vobs. use a converter like vob2mpg.

[GalMed]

did you try what filmboss said? first see if you can edit using the native mpeg-2 from the vobs. use a converter like vob2mpg.

In his post he said: " It does NOT reconvert the video and audio". It more like extracting titles, etc. and I need to convert video.
Am I missing something?

[filmboss80]

Yes, you are missing something. If your version of Premiere edits Mpeg-2, then why do you need to convert to .avi before editing? What is your goal for the final output after editing? That is, what are you planning to watch the finished product on? DVD? Portable device?

[GalMed]

Yes, you are missing something. If your version of Premiere edits Mpeg-2, then why do you need to convert to .avi before editing? What is your goal for the final output after editing? That is, what are you planning to watch the finished product on? DVD? Portable device?

My video is in . vob not Mpeg-2

[filmboss80]

The mpeg-2 stream is inside the .vob file. This is why we told you to EXTRACT the mpeg-2 from the .vob (see earlier posts). Use vob2mpg or a demuxer like PgcDemux.

Sheesh!

[netmask56]

In some instances just changing the suffix from vob to mpg will work - vob files are a form of mpeg files so it is not hard to convert VOBs to pure mpeg2 files as suggested

[GalMed]

Yes, you are missing something. If your version of Premiere edits Mpeg-2, then why do you need to convert to .avi before editing? What is your goal for the final output after editing? That is, what are you planning to watch the finished product on? DVD? Portable device?

Premiere Pro 1.5 does not edit Mpeg-2, Adobe people say Mpeg is bad for PP. I plan to edit this video together with the rest I have (about 3-4 hours) which are all in AVI. So I learned what I need in Premiere, bought plug-ins I need. Then I plan to save it in both AVI format (to allow further possible editing) and as DVD to be able to play it on regular DVD player.

[poisondeathray]

Newer versions of PP can edit mpeg2 natively

For that older version, I would would convert it to DV-AVI which is very compatible in all NLEs

On way to do this: you might install cedocida, and open the vobs in virtualdubmod to convert it to DV-AVI

Other types of compression in AVI might cause you trouble, e.g. h.264 in AVI, xvid in AVI . DV-AVI is all intra frame compression, and very stable