Vegas 7.0 will not let me view Avi files

[Jeff_NJ]

I had ripped a bunch of my favorite scenes from some of my dvds to .avi files. When I go to import them into Vegas to do some further editing, they do not show up. It only has an audio stream. I know the files were there as I had been able to view them earlier. But ever since I did a reinstall of Windows XP, no luck. Any ideas? Thanks.

Jeff

[Marvingj]

It should do I have compiled a movie with it that has .avi .wmv. and .mpeg formats altogether

unless its some codec issue or some bizzarre thing

a simple trick if the file is large etc i often use windows movie maker to convert a large avi or mpeg to a wmv movie file

this reduces things from like 70 meg clips right down to under a meg

not much quality loss etc - but again depends on what its being used for etc

but in general an avi should be ok for vegas

[BJ_M]

it would help to know what type of avi file it is as there are some 50 types

[guns1inger]

it would help to know what type of avi file it is as there are some 50 types

And around half of these (the most common ones) are completely inappropriate for editing.

[Jeff_NJ]

I'll have to see what type of .avi they are. I'm thinking they were Divx.

When ripping a dvd for further editing, what is the best format to rip to then? Thanks.

Jeff

[vegasarian]

You didn't say which version of Vegas you're using. If its 7 (or maybe even 6??, can't remember).. you can just put your DVD in your tray and then File>Import>DVD Camcorder Disc.

[guns1inger]

Unless you must use particular effects in Vegas, you should consider a dedicated mpeg2 editor such as Womble Mpeg Wizard. Vegas will import mpeg2 and work with it, however it expands the video to the timeline. This means you must re-encode all of it, even if the changes are minor. Dedicated mpeg editors will only re-encode what has changed, preserving the quality of the original where ever possible, and are also a lot faster because they have less work to do.

I love Vegas, but I don't use it to cut the ads out of my digital streams because it simply isn't the best tool for the job. The same goes for DVD editing.

[Jeff_NJ]

Gunslinger, thanks for the advice. I will consider that for sure.

That brings up a question. So when I import video from my Sony HC1 to my pc using firewire, I believe it automatically makes it an mpeg 2. So does that mean whenever I import that into Vegas for editing, then render, I am losing quality?

Jeff

[edDV]

Gunslinger, thanks for the advice. I will consider that for sure.

That brings up a question. So when I import video from my Sony HC1 to my pc using firewire, I believe it automatically makes it an mpeg 2. So does that mean whenever I import that into Vegas for editing, then render, I am losing quality?

Jeff

The HC1 is HDV format which is MPeg2 based. Vegas will edit HDV format directly or convert it to a digital intermediate format (Cineform) for better handling while editing.

[Jeff_NJ]

Thanks Ed. But as Gunslinger mentioned, I have noticed that even if I make very minor edits, it still takes a very long time to render. I suppose there is no workaround to that is there?

[edDV]

Thanks Ed. But as Gunslinger mentioned, I have noticed that even if I make very minor edits, it still takes a very long time to render. I suppose there is no workaround to that is there?

Simple cuts editing shouldn't take a great deal of time if you are going back to HDV. The longest delay in Vegas is waiting for the audio analysis on import.

HDV has 15 frame GOPS. Those frames need construction unless you edit only on I frames.

[Jeff_NJ]

Ed, to be honest, I usually don't go back to HDV. Not yet at least. I usually render as DV widescreen. I usually will shoot in HD, but am not able to burn HD projects yet. But sometimes I will shoot in DV mode, and even then it still takes a fairly long time to render a video. Although I suppose that is dependent on my bit rate settings.

Jeff

[edDV]

Ed, to be honest, I usually don't go back to HDV. Not yet at least. I usually render as DV widescreen. I usually will shoot in HD, but am not able to burn HD projects yet. But sometimes I will shoot in DV mode, and even then it still takes a fairly long time to render a video. Although I suppose that is dependent on my bit rate settings.

Jeff

Expalin clearly what you are doing. Every detail makes a difference. First you said you were editing AVI, then Divx, then HDV now DV?

HDV can be cuts edited in Vegas without huge recodes. Output to DV format is a completely different story. The output must be downsized from 1440x1080i to 720x480i and converted from MPeg to DV. That takes a lot of processing.

[Jeff_NJ]

Ed, yeah sorry the thread has gotten a bit off track. My original problem was not being able to view .avi files in Vegas 7. I will try GSpot and see if I can identify what codecs might be missing.

Someone then brought up that I should try womble for mpeg editing saying that it is faster than a program such as Vegas. So I was just wondering about that.

I was wondering why is it that I can import an mpeg 2 into vegas, make some basic edits, export as an mpeg 2, but it still takes a long time to render.

You answered my question though.. occasionally I have gone from HD and rendered as DV and that is where the processing comes in. Now I usually just shoot in DV if its going to be a DV project. I had thought the HD would prove to be higher quality even when rendering to DV.

Confused? LOL.. I know I am. Thanks for your help.

Jeff

[edDV]

I was wondering why is it that I can import an mpeg 2 into vegas, make some basic edits, export as an mpeg 2, but it still takes a long time to render.

Unless the project and output format exactly match the input format and preferences are properly set, Vegas will recode. If you go DV to DV or HDV to HDV the input to output is managed in such a way that video is not recoded.

DV to DV works flawlessly. HDV to HDV seems to recode audio every time for me. It must be a setting in preferences.

Womble MPeg editing takes one file in fixed format and cuts on that. It isn't a general multi-format tool like Vegas so can be more streamlined.

[Jeff_NJ]

Thanks for explaining that Ed. Makes sense. So I guess my problem had been going from HD to DV.

Now I just need to sort out my .avi problem. Codecs.

Jeff