Vegas Pro 12 - .mov files crashing comp & not playing video. Please help!

[jcarst85]

I know, you've heard this question a gazillion times. I can tell from the countless threads across all corners of the internet I have trawled through. I haven't been able to find the solution though, so I’m praying someone can help me here.

I am living an absolute nightmare with .mov files at the moment with Sony Vegas Pro 12 (build 770, 64 bit). They were taken from an iPhone 5 and when I press ctrl+I in Quicktime it tells me the format is H.264. Standard for iPhone I believe. The problem manifests itself in a few different ways, however it is essentially as follows:

If I import one .mov file at a time into SVP, each video will play perfectly. I can drag into the timeline, see the video and edit. Once I exceed a certain number of imported .mov files into the project however, the newer videos being added will play audio only and display as a green thumbnail (or just a video reel icon) in the project media tab. Dragged onto the timeline the video will either be green or black.

If I try to add a batch of .mov files at a time, SVP usually crashes (or at least I think it crashes – it doesn’t say not responding in SVP or the task manager and when I close from task manager, it closes instantly as if I was closing normally). I can get off with importing the first 15 or so .mov files, but when I start to import more after that initial batch the same problems happen. Bottom line -- whether adding videos individually or by batch, around 15 .mov files is about my limit before SVP gives up and crashes, or starts displaying the newer files without video.

There are no “bad clips”. Each .mov file will play perfectly if it is one of the first 15 or so imported into SVP. My computer is not the problem either. I’ve just come off a 65GB wedding project utilising three professional cameras. This video is 6GB with only 3GB taken from my iPhone. It’s amateur footage from our honeymoon. My computer has 16GB RAM, i7-4790CPU @3.60GH so this is definitely not the problem.

I’m just totally confused as to why all of the files will play perfectly on my computer - any of the files will play perfectly in Sony Vegas Pro if they’re one of the first .mov files imported into the project – yet these same files will either crash SVP or drop the video (i.e. display green or black in the timeline) if they’re added to a project with 15 or so .mov files already there.

I can’t remember if I’ve edited .mov files previously. I don’t think I ever have.

I am using iTunes version 12.0.1.26. QuickTime version 7.7.6. A similar problem also happens on my laptop, which runs iTunes version 11.2.2.3 and QuickTime version 7.7.5.

I would dearly appreciate any feedback on how I can overcome this hugely frustrating problem. VideoHelp has been a very useful platform for me in the past to solve problems so I'm hoping I can get lucky again.

Thanks a lot
Jamie

[smrpix]

iPhone movies are variable frame rate, so Vegas is doing a lot of processing simply to play them. Even with a powerful computer you may be overwhelming it's realtime playback capabilities. Vegas also takes a while to build the audio waveforms -- are you trying to play them immediately?

You can also try converting your files to an intermediate such as Cineform, or DNxHD. The files will be large, but they are temporary and editing will be smoother.

[jcarst85]

Hi smrpix,

Thanks for your reply. I did check the task manager throughout the problems occurring in Vegas and the computer was under no strain. I double checked again and everything externally to Vegas ran totally smoothly. I even worked in Photoshop while Vegas was "crashing" with absolutely no lag at all.

I contacted Sony Vegas support. Their reply was it is a bug and to buy Sony Vegas 13. I expected more than a year and a half out of software I paid hundreds of dollars for.

Is there a good media converter you know of that retains most of the video quality? I tried Freemake and it turned out very pixelated.

Thanks
Jamie