Cannot import some AVI files
 

Are there certain AVI files Vegas will not import? I'm trying to bring in an avi file but it's not working. It's a straight up avi file (might be an x-vid or something like that). Is there a way to get Vegas to import these so they can be edited?

Thanks
Kit

You need the codec used by those files. You must find a Video for Windows codec for that type of file. Remember, "AVI" is not the file type - it's just the wrapper for many different codecs.

I have successfully used a little utility called, charmingly, G-Spot which helps you determine all sorts of useful things about the codec in use by a video file.

You can find it here: http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

With the information it gives you should be able to locate the right codec for any given file.

It will also give you a clue if the file is broken in some way, in which case you will want to look at an avi repair utililty (a quick google will reveal billions of such tools but here's the one I've used in the past http://www.fixvideo.com/products/avi...ixjoiner.html). They're all pretty basic in my opinion and I've had probably not much better than 50% success.

In your case, Kit, it sounds like you need a codec from here: http://www.xvid.org/

Hope that's of use.

Ian . . .

Thanks guys. That makes sense. I have all the codecs on another computer, but the computers we use to edit with are not hooked up to the internet for virus/adware purposes. I used one of the computers with the codecs to burn a dvd of the stuff we needed, then imported it straight to Vegas. I guess I always assumed those codecs were for Windows Media Player only. Good call guys.
Kt

I've been having some problems as well with .avi files.

Example: I watch a YouTube video I like. I download the video from YouTube using one of those applications that turns it into a .flv file. I then use a converter that converts the .flv into .avi. These .avi files seem to play fine with most of my players - Winamp, VLC, Windows Media Classic, etc.

The problem is when I try to import them into Vegas. They will import, but when I drag them onto the timeline, the video portion is completely missing, leaving only the audio track. In the project media section, it shows that it is audio only as well. Why is this?

Sorry Alex but that one beat me too I'm afraid.

I was looking for (and found) a clip of a long defunct UK tv show to add to a 70th birthday retrospective for a family member (who worked on the long defunct tv show). I must have spent a whole day trying to work out how to get it into Vegas. In the end I was forced to use Camtasia to capture it from Windows Media Player. The results were OK for my purpose as I was 'distressing' the video anyway to look like it was being shown on an old b&w tv set. That's assuming video from YouTube needs distressing further!

Having thought about this for a further ten seconds, can you import flv's to the Vegas timeline directly?

No, you cannot import FLV's, but you can import SWF.
If your video came from YouTube, it's not an AVI, it's a SWF file.
You play Youtube videos in your windows Media player?

Ah, OK.

Think you must have missed this bit:

The app I use captures videos from YouTube as .flv. I don't see anywhere that says it is a .swf file. I use a .flv player such as Wimpy FLV player to play these .flv files I've captured from YouTube. Then I use a .flv to .avi converter, which turns the .flv file into an .avi file, but that .avi file does not import correctly into Vegas (only the audio imports, the video track is missing completely), yet these converted .avi files play fine on my other players (Winamp, VLC, etc.).

Any ideas?

FLV=Flash video
SWF=ShockWave Video

SWF is predominantly for vector/graphics, and FLV is for video. However, SWF can carry video.
I could be wrong, but I thought Youtube delivers FLV in an SWF skin, so I'd have thought they were SWF's. Sounds like they're stripped as FLV's. I've never attempted to catch a video from YouTube. Copyright would prevent us from doing anything with it.

The words "copyright" and YouTube" just don't sound right together!!

You could always upload your own original video to YouTube and try downloading that. That would avoid any copyright problems, right?

I'm just confused because upon conversion into .avi that play fine on many players, Vegas can't import the video portion.

That would indicate that the codec your converter uses on output isn't compatible with Vegas. Convert to DV, and you should be fine.

Hi Alex. When you view a youtube video, the flv file is held in the Temp Internet Files folder and you can copy it to a more permanent folder if you want to keep it (it's advisable to rename it too).

There is a converter called Super (free download) that handles many formats, and will convert the flv file to something that Vegas can edit. The odd time I've had to convert flv and take it into Vegas, Super has worked very well.

Richard