Have correct codecs installed but cannot import them into video editors

[misterm]

Hi, hoping someone can help.

I have the codecs to play H264 / AVC1 videos no problem but when I try and import these in avi format to any of the well known video editors (Sony Movie Studio Platinum for example or Magix Movie Edit Pro 2013 or even anything by TmpgEnc) they say it cannot be loaded.

I can load files in the exact same format in mov format just not in avi format and my files are in avi format as I take my cameras mov files and use VirtualDubMod to cut out the bits I want and save them as avi files.

Gspot tells me all the codecsI need are installed and that the files are AVC1 video files with aac audio, but only a few programs, mainly Virtualdubmod and AviDemux, will read them. Is there something obvious I am missing or maybe a way to get virtualdubmod to save mov files, or to transcode the avi files to mov ones quickly without converting?

I have xvid codec, plus ffdshow (32 bit version) installed. Could it be because some of the programs are 64 bit and ffdshow is 32 bit perhaps? I use the 32 bit version as I swap between the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of virtualdubmod and as far as I know you can't have both versions (32 bit and 64 bit) of ffdshow installed at the same time.

Computer is 3.2 ghz i5 4460 with 8 GB ram and 2 TB HDD running Windows 8.1.

I have trials of some software and I can't input my files into them to try them and I am rapidly getting nowhere with a solution so any suggestions would be very helpful, thanks.

Dave

[poisondeathray]

Yes, it can be because of 32bit vs. 64bit. You normally need to them to match, if the program even uses system installed codecs (many editors don't) ; (or the program needs a special way of handling it the 32bit/64bit handoff)

But the other option is to rewrap them quickly as mp4 or mov e.g using mymp4boxgui, yamb . Or ffmpeg can do either mp4 or mov . Rewrapping is fast, no quality lost

Or use avidemux to cut them and save as MP4 in the first place instead of vdubmod. Or the "best" simple MOV editor for cuts is quicktime pro, but mpegstreamclip can do it too with quicktime alternative

[DB83]

Virtualdubmod will only export as avi.

Since avidemux reads the files, try exporting from that as mp4 rather than as avi. Old versions of certain editors would not load mp4 but that is hardly try of up-to-date versions.

BTW xVID has nowt to do with h264. That is h263.

[misterm]

Thanks for the quick replies. I should have explained when I said about xvid and ffdshow that I meant that is all I have installed, codec wise, on my pc, I didn't mean I thought xvid would decode avc1 just that I didn't have any un needed codecs or packs installed that may cause a problem, in case some one had suggested that as a solution.

Mymp4boxgui doesn't help unfortunately, it demuxes into avc and audio files but then does not accept those files as input to remux them in mp4 format, and using avidemux to remux as mp4 produces files that still aren't accepted by the video editors, unfortunately, as I tried that yesterday.

Mpegstreamclip doiesn't transcode for some reason, it takes the files and re encodes them which is not helpful as the avi files are already using the right video format, so it seems I can't use video editors unless I use them on my old i3 laptop, I tried several ffmeg gui's and they too would not transcode from avi to mov and avidemuxes mp4 exports will not load so I am puzzled why even Sony and TmpegEnc's software will not read videos which Windows media player, VirtualDub, MovAvi Video Suie and VLC read without problem. However Movavi is awful and does not export without stuttering so cannot use that.

Thank you for the ideas, unfortunately none seem to work for me but will keep trying.

Dave

[poisondeathray]

Quicktime pro is probably the "best" option for making quick cuts if your editor accepts the native MOV files

For your current AVI files, you probably didn't set the parameters up correctly with the ffmpeg GUI's, or use ffmbc (ffmpeg variant, geared for professional usage). Test it out, if it works, you can create a batch for your current AVI's

ffmbc -i input.avi -vcodec copy -acodec copy -f mov output.mov

[misterm]

I figured out a way around it, turns out it is the audio that is the issue. Although it is the same audio virtualdub somehow seems to change something even though set to direct copy, if I reconvert using AviDemux's second aac audio option and resample the audio it works fine as an mpeg4. I still have no idea why Sony Movie Studio and Magix Movie EditPro will not save an mpeg4 using Intel quicksync but that's not something I thought to ask, am just very happy to have a working solution and will try using avidemux from now on, but I have a lot of video files done on my laptop with virtualdub so need this way to make them work, so thank you for the suggestions as it was trying all your suggestions and reading the pages they were on, etcetera, that helped narrow down the issue and resolve it.

Thank you.

Dave

[DarrellS]

poisondeathray's last post with using ffmbc (or ffmpeg) to convert is best except I would convert to .mp4 instead of .mov

Not sure why people still insist on using an old outdated version of Virtualdubmod instead of the latest version of Virtualdub. Virtualdub with the right input plugins can open just about any file type.

For mp4, I would use fcchandler's quicktime plugin and aacacm codec (I would download all of his plugins and acm codecs) to open mp4 in Virtualdub. You could use direct stream copy or better yet smart render to save as avi and then use ffmpeg or ffmbc to remux into mp4 container. You'll need to set ffdshow to open H264/AVC with libavcodec under vfw configuration in Virtualdub.

I use a bat file to convert folders full of files. For avc/aac avi to mp4...

for %%a in ("*.avi") do ffmpeg -i "%%a" -vcodec copy -acodec copy "%%~na.mp4"

If this is too complicated, you could use Free Video Editor to cut out commercials. You need to be careful installing it or it will install adware. The newest version works pretty well.

The best option, IMO is to use VideoReDo TV Suite but it is not freeware. Least likely to have sync issues. MP4 is not meant to be an editing format but a finished format so editing can be tricky in any editor. I try to avoid aac audio and mp4 and use ac3 mkv instead. Less problems editing original ac3 audio than converting to a troublesome aac.

[LigH.de]

There are also ffmpeg (libav) based input plugins for VirtualDub 1.10.+:

ffinputdriver on Google Code – obsolete, new version: virtualdubffmpeginputplugin on SourceForge

Apart from that: To open AVI files into AVI editors without installing special plugins (like VirtualDub in any earlier version), you would have to install VfW codecs which are able to decode. It doesn't matter if you have already installed DirectShow decoders for usual Media Players; VirtualDub doesn't support DirectShow. The x264vfw codec won't help you, it can only encode, but not decode. The ffvfw part of ffdshow may help if the required formats are enabled in its "VFW Codec Configuration" for decoding.

[misterm]

Thanks for the replies, I use virtualdub and virtualdubmod with ffdshows vfw decoder so I can add a replacement audio track on some videos.

I have found a brilliant portable program that with just a couple of clicks converts any video file I have to a fully compliant mpeg 4 that the video editors do accept, it's called TEncoder and is I think an FFMpeg and MEncoder gui. The replies here have helped me sort the problem and I can now use the video files in various video editors, though I think I shall stick with Sony Movie Studio Platinum as I like that the best of the ones I have tried.

Thank you for all the replies, I was not expecting such a quick reply so having so many and being able to resolve the problem was a very nice surprise.

Dave