Codec mess!

[PirateChris]

I wasnt sure which forum this should be post in and this seems general enough not to tick anyone off :D

I'm in the process of trying to edit together vacation footage that some friends took recently. They had 5 different cameras, 4 were digital still cameras, 1 digital camcorder. I'm trying to edit in premiere.

At first I had the problem where Premiere wouldnt accept any of the still camera footage but I did some research and found that they were encoded with MJPEG so I converted them using Mp4cam2avi and they work fine now.

Then next problem I had was that the camcorder footage was ripped from a DVD (using AutoGK/VirtualDub) and though it played and I could edit in premiere, the file was too big and played so slowly that it was hard to work with. I wanted to cut it into smaller pieces of the parts I wanted.

I installed a couple different programs to try out before realizing VirtualDub could do it. So that's done and I tried importing them into premiere again and now the audio and video wont play on those clips or the original avi which used to work.

I uninstalled the new programs I had tried (Im not sure I remember their names) and noticed that one of them must've installed another copy of the XVID codec software which I already had through the K-lite pack. So I uninstalled it. Now the the video played fine in Premiere but there was no audio.

I assumed there was another codec conflict somewhere so I uninstalled K-lite and then reinstalled it hoping this would do something and now Im back to the video and audio not working on the camcorder files in Premiere and am at a loss for what to try next besides uninstalling and reinstalling Premiere.

I can preview the file fine, it just doesnt work when I move it to the timeline.

Using GSpot on the camcorder footage it tells me that the video codec is XVID (Name: XviD ISO MPEG-4) and the audio is 0x2000 (Dolby AC3) AC3.

If you read this, thanks for your time. Sorry for the long write up but I wanted to include my every step.

[Dark Shikari]

For editing, you should avoid codecs like Xvid; not only is Premiere's support for them iffy, but most importantly editing is much less painful with keyframe-only codecs, whether lossless like HuffYUV/Lagarith or lossy like MJPEG/DV or Xvid/H.264 with keyframes only (min keyframe interval 1).

[Adub]

Completely get rid of your codec pack, and just install ffdshow, as it supports pretty much every codec you will ever need.

Dark Shikari is right about using Huffyuv for editing. The encode is fast, totally lossless and pretty much guaranteed to be excepted by any editing program. The only problem is that the file sizes can be quite large, so make sure you have enough space.

[PirateChris]

Thanks for the help!

Ok, I've uninstalled K-lite and installed huffyuv. I could not find a place to download ffshow so I'm hoping thats the same as ffdshow which I also have downloaded and installed.

But now the camcorder files wont import into Premiere at all. I'm getting an "unsupported compression format" message. They play fine outside of the program.

Also, could you tell me what program I would use to convert the files to huffyuv or did you just mean that I should use it as the compressor in Premiere?

[PirateChris]

I figured out how to convert to huffyuv in virtualdubmod but even so they still wont import into Premiere. I get the same unsupported compression message.

Also if it matters, I'm using Premiere 6.5

[Adub]

I meant ffdshow, so you did the right thing.

The thing about getting files to play with ffdshow is to enable compression. The reason why you can't open files with premiere is because it can't find a decompressor. All you need to do is enable the specific decompressor in ffdshow and you are golden.

If you are getting a unsupported compression format error, try enabling huffyuv decompression in ffdshow. I think it likes VFW, so enable huffyuv decompression in the ffdshow VFW menu.

Huffyuv will work in premiere we just have to figure it out.

[PirateChris]

Thanks for the reply. Im still a bit confused on how exactly to enable the compression in ffdshow.

I opened the VFW configuration and tried selecting Huffyuv as the encoder on the Encoder tab and but the files still didnt import. Also when I looked at the the decoder tab, under codecs, Huffyuv was set to disabled so I changed it to "libavcodec" (the only other option) but the files still wouldn't import. I tried both the XVID and the Huffyuv compressed files.

So Im not sure if Im just confused or if the problem is something else.

[Dark Shikari]

Thanks for the reply. Im still a bit confused on how exactly to enable the compression in ffdshow.

I opened the VFW configuration and tried selecting Huffyuv as the encoder on the Encoder tab and but the files still didnt import. Also when I looked at the the decoder tab, under codecs, Huffyuv was set to disabled so I changed it to "libavcodec" (the only other option) but the files still wouldn't import. I tried both the XVID and the Huffyuv compressed files.

So Im not sure if Im just confused or if the problem is something else.Go to the FFDShow Decoding settings (not VFW) and enable HuffYUV there.

[Adub]

Huh, looks like I was wrong about premiere using VFW. I thought it uses it because that is what Vegas uses.

Well, then do as Dark Shikari says and see if that fixes it.

[joseph5]

Then next problem I had was that the camcorder footage was ripped from a DVD (using AutoGK/VirtualDub) and though it played and I could edit in premiere, the file was too big and played so slowly that it was hard to work with. I wanted to cut it into smaller pieces of the parts I wanted.Use Cuttermaran or MPEG2Cut for that.

[PirateChris]

I opened the video decoder and Huffyuv was already set to libavcodec so that might not be the problem.

Also, shouldnt I be able to import the XVID clips regardless of using Huffyuv?

Here's a screenshot of my ffdshow settings just in case Im still in the wrong area.

http://picasaweb.google.com/chrislaun/Misc/photo?authkey=aRPtvrKL_1k#5131755396834443842

[Dark Shikari]

It could be the age of your Premiere version; I've never had issues with Pro 1.5-2 but 6.5 is a bit old.

[PirateChris]

Hmm... If thats the case I may have to see what other options I have. Maybe I'll have to work with Movie Maker this time around.

[Dark Shikari]

Hmm... If thats the case I may have to see what other options I have. Maybe I'll have to work with Movie Maker this time around.Movie Maker is terrible, avoid it like the plague.

Why not just use the Premiere Avisynth Import Plugin?

[Adub]

Premiere has alwasy been kind of finicky with XVID but if you are lucky, and enable xvid decoding in ffdshow, then it should work.

Oh, and I second Dark Shikari. Movie maker is demon spawn incarnate.

[clsid]

Do those files still contain AC3 audio? Because you also need a decompressor for the audio. AC3ACM is what you need.

[PirateChris]

The files are AC3 audio. I will have to look at my ffdshow settings when Im home from work but I thought that AC3 was enabled already.

I will also look into the Avisynth Premiere Import Plugin but I havent used Avisynth before so Im not sure what it does exactly or how to use it.

joseph5, I missed your post earlier. Are you saying using those programs instead might solve the problem or are you just suggesting them in general over VirtualDubMod? The original file from the DVD won't import either so I think the problem probably lies there.

[clsid]

ffdshow can only decode AC3 audio in DirectShow applications. So unless Premiere supports DirectShow filters, you will need an ACM codec.

[PirateChris]

All right, I'm almost there!

I installed AC3ACM and now the clips import but when I play them on the timeline in Premiere I can't hear the audio. The video looks fine though!

[PirateChris]

Sorry to keep bugging you guys but I'm real close. Am I missing a step that would enable me to hear the audio in Premiere now that I can import the clips?

By the way, I borrowed a copy of Premiere Pro 2.0 from a friend to see if that would make a difference and it says I can't run it on my processor so I cant go that route either.

[Adub]

The weird thing is that the AC3ACM codec should have been the very thing that would have allowed you to hear the sound in the first place.