Avi files not importing into FCP
 

Hi,
I have a bunch of avi files that I would like to import into final cut pro.
The will not import. I get an error that says: File Error 1, Files recognized, 0 access denied ,1 unknown. I went into compressor to make the files a different format. Every batch failed.
These are all avi files that I copied from someone's hard drive onto my desktop. Sometimes when I try to open the files on my desktop it says "alias" _____.AVI could not be opened because the original item cannot be found. The term alias suggests to me that I simply cannot copy over the files and that I have to work from her hard drive.
Advice?

Aliases are not the real files but rather shortcuts pointing ("linking" in unix/linux terms) to the original. You need to copy the actual files to your computer or work of the her harddrive.

You will likely want/have to convert them to QuickTime .mov files first. AVI and MOV are just wrapper formats, so you just need to rewrap the files (using the same codec, therefor avoiding recompressing the video and loosing quality).

Check out SimpleMovieX.

What do you think I should do if I did move her files to my hard drive already (and they don't work) and I will not be able to take her hard drive?

Double check the file size to see if they really are the files or just alias.
If they are files you should be able to open them with quicktime.
Avi files work just fine with FCP as long as they use a codec that you have on your computer.

sorry to butt in here ... I'm trying to find out if the new FCS correctly reads AVI files now. They worked in the past, but assumed they were 8 bit files. As soon as you add any CC the image gets destroyed. In fact, I'm pretty sure that without doing anything, the image quality suffered.

Anyone know if the new FCS handles AVIs correctly?

Thanks!

To answer your question we would have to know the format of your particular AVIs. An AVI file is just a wrapper around a file using a particular CODEC which is the important information required. So how were these AVI files created & what CODEC is used.

Avi indeed is only a container. It could well be a DIVX or XVID encoded .avi file which Final Cut Pro cannot read. You need to provide more details in order for people to help you.