Help with mpg to avi conversion

[wbcarey]

I have a bunch of mpg clips that I need to convert to avi so that I can edit in Premiere. I tried Winavi, which seems to covert, but when I try to import into Premiere I get a message that says "premiere doesn't recognize the codec". The codec in Winavi is DivX 5.+. If someone can help me with this I would appreciate it.

Incidentally, I used AimOne to try to convert (DivX codec also) and Premiere imported it but no audio came through. If anybody knows about this problem I would also be most appreciative for your guidance.
wbcarey@cox.net

[daamon]

Hi wbcarey,

You don't say which version of Premiere. I use Premiere 6.0 so I'll base my reply on that.

Premiere 6.0 uses DV AVI as it's standard AVI format - I believe that anything else will need rendering (not neccesarily a bad thing, but just takes longer). So, as your source is MPEG, DV AVI would be best.

Follow these steps:

1. Download and install the Panasonic DV Codec.
2. Download and install VirtualDubMod.
3. Open your MPG clip in VDubMod.
4. In VDubMod: Video -> Compression -> Panasonic DV Codec
5. Also, check Video -> Full Processing Mode is selected.
6. File -> Save As... -> filename.avi

I've not used this, so not sure how it works, but there's a "don't run now, add to batch list" option in the "Save As" window - might be useful if you've got a lot of clips.

Hope that helps. Good luck...

[redwudz]

What's the end destination of the files? As DIVX? If not, I would try a different AVI codec, such as HuffyUV for best quality. Or you could use the DV codec.

Just my opinion, but any of these would be easier to edit than a highly compressed codec like DIVX. As far as Converting to DIVX, you might try Virtualdub. It has the advantage of some simple editing and filtering capabilities.

[daamon]

@ redwudz - The AVI will be used in Premiere so (I believe) that DV AVI will be the best codec for the reasons stated above.

Also, VirtualDub (different to the Mod version) doesn't open MPEGs.