Open video in vegas pro 10

[Jon.G]

So, I have a project I'm working on, and I'm using 3 video files. 2 I recorded in myself with my capture card, the 3rd I obtained from an other source. I don't know what format this file is in, but Vegas Pro 10.0 is being a real pain in the neck, refusing to open the file. It is an .avi file, and plays fine in a VLC player, it isn't some unique or obscure format, just a standard download, yet the supposedly Pro version of vegas can't be bothered to open it.

Pro? Yeah, right.

Anyways, I've been running it through all kinds of converters, trying to convert it to mpgs and whatnot.....but no matter what I convert it to, Vegas Pro 10 just won't touch it.

Isn't this program compatible with most standard video formats? What gives? What in the heck do I have to do to get a video format that will open?

[smrpix]

yet the supposedly Pro version of vegas can't be bothered to open it.

Pro? Yeah, right.

Pro versions, as the name implies, aren't built to utilize amateur downloaded crap. They are geared toward professional formats. That being said, Vegas is still pretty forgiving.

What in the heck do I have to do to get a video format that will open?

Even the most rank amateur knows enough to use Mediainfo to find out what's in the file he's using.

[Jon.G]

I just want to know what format this "pro" software will read, since it can't be bothered to open the basics, and how to convert something basic to that format.

[smrpix]

Sonycreativesoftware.com has your answer. It's a long list.

Here:

Opens: AA3, AAF, AIF, ASF, AU, AVC, AVCHD, AVI, BMP, BWF, CDA, DIG, DLX, DPX, DV, EXR, FLAC, GIF, H.264, HDP, IVC, JPEG, M2T, M2TS, MVC, MOV, Sony MXF (XDCAM and HDCAM SR), MP3, MP4, M4A, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video, MPO, OGG, OMA, Panasonic MXF (DVCPRO, AVC-Intra) PCA, PNG, PSD, QT, R3D, SFA, SND, TIFF, TGA, VOX, W64, WAV, WDP, WMA, WMV


Saves: AA3, AC3, AIF, ATRAC, AVC, AVCHD, AVI, DPX, EXR, FLAC, H.264, HDP, MOV, MP3, MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video, MP4, M2T, Sony MXF (XDCAM and HDCAM SR), MVC, OGG, PCA, W64, WAV, WMA, WMV


DVD encoding
Video: NTSC 4:3, NTSC Widescreen, PAL 4:3, PAL Widescreen
Audio: AC-3 5.1 or stereo, PCM



Blu-ray Disc™ encoding
Video: MPEG-2 or AVC, 1080-60i, 1080-50i and 1080-24p
Audio: AC-3 5.1 or stereo, PCM

[sanlyn]

Well, now, wait a minute. A "Pro" software app (or any app) requires that you consult their user guide. The more "pro" it is (and that's an often misused term), the more reading you'll have to do. Sony's user guide will tell you the formats Vegas Pro 10 will accept, and the formats it will output. Why ask us about i/o formats when you have that info on hand yourself? Start the app and Press the F1 key.


It's understandable that you regard "AVI" as a format. It isn't. It's a container. Its video could be decoded lossless video, or encoded with DivX, Xvid, MPEG2, h264, QuickTime, a SONY codec, or any of a dozen encoder/compressors.

As smrpix suggests, download MediaInfo. Free. If the installer asks if you want to install extra bloatware, just say no. Then open your videos with MediaInfo and see what it tells you about format, frame size, frame rate, birates, aspect ratio, colorspace, encoder, and whatnot.

I don't especially care for Vegas, but it's not a simple toy. Don't waste your $$$ by using it like one.

[Jon.G]

Ok, using AVStoDVD allowed me to get this rip back to mpg, which vegas will read. Now for the fun part......I am working on taking a DVD of an animated program and replacing the audio. This animated movie has 2 different English dubbings that exist, one for England, one for America. It seems all DVD copies that float around are the England dubbing, which also happens to be awful. So, I have a VHS taped off of TV with the American dubbing. But, I want to keep the nice picture from the DVD version. But.....the dvd rip, well, when I converted it back to mpg2 for dvd, it alerted me that it is 25fps, and it would be best for me to format it to PAL. Well....ok....may as well keep the framerate of the original for now. So, vegas does let me lay out the different frame rated videos in the same session, and I can zoom in and see the frames not line up since they're at different rates, and it appears that the frames are the same, just running in different speeds. Which would make it difficult to sync my audio up. Since the frames are the same, just the rate different.....if it would treat the 25fps file as if it were a 29.970, everything should line up. How can I do this, change a 25fps file to a 29.970 without changing any frames so it just plays at a different rate?

[smrpix]

First choice would be to leave the "good" video alone and stretch/shrink the good audio to match. Very easy to do in Vegas.

[Jon.G]

I'd rather not, the audio is at the rate it should be at.

[smrpix]

Then change your project to 29.97 or 23.976 (depending on your source,) stretch /shrink the good video to match the good audio, tell Vegas how to resample the clip (under properties), and hope it doesn't look too stuttery or too blendy.

[Jon.G]

Well, nothing needs to look stuttery.....I just want it to play the 25fps clip at 29.97.....is there a way I can change the mpg to 29.97 so that it just plays it at that rate, same frames intact?

[aedipuss]

you don't seem to understand video or math at all. you can't magically change a set number of frames to a different one without deleting or duplicating frames.

[Jon.G]

You don't seem to understand what I'm trying to do. Think of it as a variable speed projector.....sure the film may be 25fps, and a standard projector may play it at 25fps, but if I thread it on a variable speed projector, and set the speed to 29.97 fps, I will then be playing the 25fps file at 29.7 fps. This is what I wish to do. No math involved at all, just taking a video in one frame rate, and changing it to play at another.

[smrpix]

Think of it as a variable speed projector.....sure the film may be 25fps, and a standard projector may play it at 25fps, but if I thread it on a variable speed projector, and set the speed to 29.97 fps, I will then be playing the 25fps file at 29.7 fps. This is what I wish to do. No math involved at all, just taking a video in one frame rate, and changing it to play at another.

It doesn't work that way in digital. Please reread aedipuss' post (#11). I've already given you two suggestions to approximate what you are looking for. (Changing the audio is generally less annoying.)

You don't seem to understand what I'm trying to do.

Sure we do. We've all confronted this issue hundreds of times.

[Jon.G]

But I have the frames. The frames are there. I just want them to play at a different speed. How can this not be possible? Changing the audio is not acceptable. I just need it to take those frames, and play them a little faster. That's it. Should be simple.

[poisondeathray]

It's possible, but 99.9999999% likely you're doing the wrong thing

To answer your question : You right click the clip and change playback speed. Change resample to "disable"


But If it's animation, it's probably really supposed to be running at 23.976 with telecine to 29.97 . The math is 23.976 vs. 25 , not 29.97 vs. 25. Likely you have duplicate fields , normally you would decimate (IVTC) back to the original 23.976 film frames . Read up on PAL vs NTSC film if you want more info .

PAL normally runs faster than NTSC film . The duration for PAL version should be shorter, not longer. Check the duration lengths and the ratios . To do the reverse PAL speed up, you normally slow it down , not speed it up again. I seriously doubt your source is that screwed up that it needs a 20% speedup (29.97 / 25 = 1.1988 ) .


If you downloaded the AVI from "somewhere" , likely it used something like XviD, install Xvid and you should be able to open it directly in vegas without this mess of converting and losing quality, wasting time. You need 64bit xvid for 64bit vegas, 32bit for 32bit. Again, use mediainfo and install the codec identified and vegas should be able to open it

You would have saved yourself a lot of trouble and wasted time, if you answered the questions asked earlier instead of ignoring them.

[aedipuss]

But I have the frames. The frames are there. I just want them to play at a different speed. How can this not be possible? Changing the audio is not acceptable. I just need it to take those frames, and play them a little faster. That's it. Should be simple.

math - do it.

example you have a 1 minute pal video and want a 1 minute ntsc video

pal - 60 seconds at 25/fps equals 1500 frames. now you play those 1500 frames at 29.97fps and what do you have for running time? 50 seconds. just how are you going to play your 50 seconds of video with 60 seconds of audio and get them to sync???

[Jon.G]

Yes, yes, that's absolutely true, playing the video at a different speed will result in a different length. Thanks, Einstein. Being that the 2 video sources I have have different soundtracks, and they play at different speeds, they are different lengths. I am hoping that by adjusting the 25fps video to play at the same speed as the 29.97 video, I will then have matching lengths. If it still isn't exact, it will be closer, and then my adjustments to the audio will be less, which will result in them being less audible.

Now, please, stop assuming that I don't know what I'm doing.


Thanks poisondearthray for your detailed and informed response, this is the type of info I'm looking for, I will play around with this info and see what I come up with.

[smrpix]

Poisondeathray beat me to it, but in a slightly abbreviated version:

Assuming you have a feature film, what you have started as a 24fps movie. Your downloaded file has been sped up to 25fps and your VHS has been slowed down to 23.976fps and converted to 29.97fps.

So set up a 24fps project in Vegas, slow down the video to 0.96% speed, then speed up the audio by 1.043% and you're good to go.

[Jon.G]

To answer your question : You right click the clip and change playback speed. Change resample to "disable"

I've not found an option to change playback speed by right clicking anywhere. Please be more specific where I can find this change playback speed option. Thanks, I appreciate your help.

[poisondeathray]

right click the clip on the timeline, select properties, select change playback speed

[Jon.G]

Yes! Yes! This is it. Thanks for the framerate knowledge there to the rescue.

One small correction to make, although the version that aired on tv, the American dub, needed to be sped up, to go from 23.976 (recorded at 29.97, but still, running at the speed of 23.976) to 24 means adjusting the speed by 1.001.

[Jon.G]

Ok, one more little follow up question, and i should be all set. Once I've set my videos in vegas pro to play at different speeds like instructed above, how do I set the accompanying audio to stay in sync with the video?

[smrpix]

Assuming it matched in the first place, ctrl-drag the end of the audio until it matches the length of the video.

[Jon.G]

Um....what if I did editing, which means that I trimmed the end off of the clip in the session, so the end of the audio already matches? Is there a way I can tell it to just keep the audio in sync, or a setting I can plug in the same number for the audio so that it will then in theory sync it?

[smrpix]

Your audio comes from a different source at a different frame rate. The adjustment number will be different.

You're going to have to figure out, probably by trial and error, a running time, a speed adjustment, and an offset.

[Jon.G]

You know, the option to keep the audio in sync with the video when adjusting the video rate, especially when the tracks are tied to one another (you can't move one without moving the other), would be a useful option in a program that calls itself a professional program. The lack of useful features in vegas pro really confuses me, I have several ways it could work so much better, I could make a list. I'll have to use a pro audio program to make an alternate soundtrack adjusted by the same factor, and sync it up manually, since the programmers at sony couldn't be bothered to keep synced tracks in sync, which you would think would be a no brainer.

[smrpix]

You know, the option to keep the audio in sync with the video when adjusting the video rate, especially when the tracks are tied to one another (you can't move one without moving the other), would be a useful option in a program that calls itself a professional program. The lack of useful features in vegas pro really confuses me, I have several ways it could work so much better, I could make a list. I'll have to use a pro audio program to make an alternate soundtrack adjusted by the same factor, and sync it up manually, since the programmers at sony couldn't be bothered to keep synced tracks in sync, which you would think would be a no brainer.

Of course you can. Sync up the clips, group them together, make your adjustment and stop complaining. Vegas is quite versatile.

You're trying to combine a sped-up picture with a slowed down track and then slow the whole thing down again. How is Vegas supposed to know it's in sync unless you tell it where and how?

If you had taken my initial recommendation and adjusted the track to match the picture, you would be locked by now and could make whatever further adjustments you wish.

If you're going to go sony bashing, at least have a clue.

[Cornucopia]

Sounds like you are encountering Vegas' dreaded PEBKAC error.
Brings it to its knees every time.

Scott

[Jon.G]

It's the fault of the person using the program that the program, which locks the video and audio together when dragged in, didn't automatically keep the audio in sync with the video, when they are locked together? How is vegas supposed to know it's in sync? Uh....because it locks them together. I figured it would be common sense that a video and audio that are locked together should be programmed to stay in sync, such that if you adjust one, the other is automatically adjusted. There's a problem between the chair and the keyboard, but it's not my chair and keyboard, it's the chair and keyboard of the sony programmers.

[_Al_]

You know, the option to keep the audio in sync with the video when adjusting the video rate, especially when the tracks are tied to one another (you can't move one without moving the other), would be a useful option in a program that calls itself a professional program. The lack of useful features in vegas pro really confuses me, I have several ways it could work so much better, I could make a list. I'll have to use a pro audio program to make an alternate soundtrack adjusted by the same factor, and sync it up manually, since the programmers at sony couldn't be bothered to keep synced tracks in sync, which you would think would be a no brainer.

I did not read the whole thread. You change video length in any way, then you match audio length by pressing Ctrl and dragging the end of audio. Smrpix already mentioned that.