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Why does Sony Vegas compatability suck so bad?
I have this big, waste of money, sony vegas pro 9. And while I like it when it works, usually it absolutely gives me constant headaches with its horrible lack of compatibility with different videos. I’m constantly having to spend hours upon hours, messing around with other software programs trying to convert formats, reencode, etc to something that will work.
For example, today I’ve wasted 5 hours trying to get a simple xvid to load in vegas. It gives sound but no video. Converting with avidemux and huffuv codec, which I usually use didn’t work, I downloaded virtualdub, fourcc code changer, gspot, and have been spending hours messing around with failed conversions and still haven’t got it to work. The video plays just fine with windows media player (with just the normal codecs that windows came with, never added any more), and also vlc media player. But not sony vegas.
Or having to install a separate program like quicktime (which I do not want), just to be able to edit .mov files.
Why does compatibility suck so bad? When a completely free piece of software like VLC media player simply plays any sort of file you can ever throw at it. I would expect this $500 piece of software to do the same, and not require all these ridiculous headaches. What is the deal?
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19 Replies
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Try FFDshow codec, ffdshow is a DirectShow decoding filter for decompressing AVI, DivX, XviD, MKV, MP4, WMV, MPG, MPEG2(SVCD, DVD), AVC/H264, AC3, DTS, AAC with image postprocessing like video noise removing filters and audio postprocessing. This is not a codec pack but it can still decode many video formats.
https://www.ffdshow.info/It’s covers all the bases except for quicktime, for that use quick alternative
https://www.videohelp.com/tools/QuickTime_Alternative -
Thanks for the tips, they are appreciated. But does quicktime alternative actually work for importing .mov’s to sony vegas? I know it works for simply playing .mov files, but when I spent hours researching it in the past, everything I found indicated that the only thing that would work for sony vegas was the official version of quicktime authoring tools.
Also, while I am interested in finding the solution. I’m still interested if anyone knows the actual answer to my question of why the comparability sucks so bad? I mean, for a ridiculously expensive $500+ program, I don’t think I should have to be downloading ffdshow, extra codecs, quicktime alternative, etc. It should already come with every codec it needs, and only ever need an update if a new codec comes out. I mean look at VLC media player, it is completely free, under 20mb for the whole works, and it plays absolutely everything. I have never personally had any video file that would not play with VLC. So why is the $500+ sony vegas such a failure at compatability, even with such common formats?
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Vegas is a professional NLE that handles most, if not all, professional video codecs very easily.
xvid and divx are not professional video codecs which is why it sucks at handling them.
A search of xvid on this forum will show that almost every xvid user has issues with this codec and Vegas.
Try giving those formats to an Avid or FCP suite and see what happens. -
Mike pretty much nailed it on the head there. With over 200 video formats and all the variants floating around the ether, Vegas Pro does a superb job at handling ‘Professional’ formats. You could have spent $2800 on an Adobe Suite only to find that you still can’t load that xvid video. AT least Vegas permits you to install additional codecs.
Besides that, unless you’re trying to edit an illegally ripped DVD, why would you want to use XVID?
Jeff
http://www.narrowroadmedia.com
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I suppose thats a good point, that its supposed to be aimed at professinals, and thus they figure professionals wouldn’t use some of those formats. I still find it very disappointing though. Afterall, VLC plays ALL formats whether they are arbitrarily considered professional formats or not. If VLC can do all that for free in a small simple package, than it seems like the creators of sony vegas must just be lazy.
Afterall, even professionals need to be able to deal with all formats they are given. it wouldn’t be very professional if someone gives you some video to work on, perhaps with a deadline, and you have to spend all day just trying to sort through codecs and conversions before even beginning work.
Also, I’m sure .mov is not considered a professional format. However it is extremely common, there are so many video cameras out there, even HD 1080P ones, that record in that format. It just seems absurd that vegas does not have built in support from the get go, without having to install seperate 3rd party programs.
PS: Does anyone know if installing quicktime alternative does indeed allow you to edit .mov files in quicktime, or do you have to install the official quicktime with authoring tools? I’ve just been doing lossless reencodes on all the .mov files, since I don’t want to install garbage from apple. I would however be willing to install quicktime alternative. I just haven’t because I heard it didn’t work.
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[Cameron Watkins] ” Afterall, VLC plays ALL formats whether they are arbitrarily considered professional formats or not. If VLC can do all that for free in a small simple package, than it seems like the creators of sony vegas must just be lazy.”
Playing back a format is entirely different than having to support editing it. I for one, would not want the Sony Vegas developers to spend a single second on adding support for DivX or Xvid or any other crazy format. No professional would edit these low bitrate highly compressed formats. I need Vegas to to support the professional formats that my cameras produce.
[Cameron Watkins] “Afterall, even professionals need to be able to deal with all formats they are given.”
Yes, and that’s why professionals transcode those highly compressed interframe delivery formats into lightly compressed intraframe editing formats. In fact… Final Cut Pro transcodes EVERYTHING into it’s own editing format! AVID has done the same for years. Every clip is ingested into it’s own format.
[Cameron Watkins] “Also, I’m sure .mov is not considered a professional format.”
Quicktime MOV is the native format for Apple and is the ONLY format that most post houses will accept for printing to HDCAM tape for broadcast! Editors who work on PC’s have no end to the headaches of getting our footage into MOV format because it is the only format most post houses accept (and people who own mac’s are generally clueless on how to work with anything but MOV files, but that’s another rant…)
[Cameron Watkins] ” there are so many video cameras out there, even HD 1080P ones, that record in that format.”
Quicktime is a proprietary Apple format. It is illegal to reverse engineer it and decode it. Sony is at the mercy of Apple for support of Quicktime. This is a legal challenge not a technical one.
[Cameron Watkins] “I would however be willing to install quicktime alternative. I just haven’t because I heard it didn’t work.”
Quicktime alternative is a hack… an illegal hack. I don’t use it so I don’t know. I purchased Quicktime Pro for my Quicktime encoding.
[Cameron Watkins] “Converting with avidemux and huffuv codec, which I usually use didn’t work”
Try using MJPEG instead. Here are the parameters:
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Well, I guess that all makes sence. Although there is one thing I’ve always wondered for a long time, after having so many headaches with the .mov format. Since .mov is an apple format, and also such a pc nightmare, why do so many HD cameras/camcorders use it? Cameras that are not targeted towards the mac audience, or in any way affiliated with apple. Why don’t they just use h.264 MP4 instead?
I have 2 1080P cameras and one uses the h.264 mp4 and playback/editing is a breeze, and the other (which was newer and more expensive) uses h.264 .mov and it is a pain.
The reason I never wanted to install quicktime is primarily apple’s poor and dirty business practices. If anyone doesn’t know, a little google searching should bring up a lot. They constantly try to sabotage pc users. They have even been caught including viruses in the PC version of itunes to sabotage pc’s. Or they intentionally write poor, slow, shoddy software for pc’s, making it run poorly intentionally for the sole reason of saying “look the software runs fine on our macs, pc’s aren’t very good”. And the way apple software seems to just like to completely leech itself into all sorts of parts of your system.
That’s why I never wanted to have anything to do with apple, but for some bizarre reason all these cameras want to use .mov format, why?
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I’ve been able to skip the quicktime convert just by renaming the files from *.MOV to *.mp4…
Files coming from cheap consumer cams.Just my 2 cent…
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[Cameron Watkins] “Since .mov is an apple format, and also such a pc nightmare, why do so many HD cameras/camcorders use it? Cameras that are not targeted towards the mac audience, or in any way affiliated with apple. Why don’t they just use h.264 MP4 instead?”
[Cameron Watkins] “The reason I never wanted to install quicktime is primarily apple’s poor and dirty business practices”
Well these two statements go hand in hand. Apple likes their users to live in a bubble where they never go outside of apple products for their needs. Editing mov files on PC can be achieved by getting apple quicktime. Since it’s insanely easy for us pc users to use Canon’s h264 mov files, but mac users wouldn’t have a clue what to do if the files their cameras made didn’t end in .mov, then Canon probably figures why not make them mov files? Either that or they’re paid off by Apple.
If you want to edit Quicktime files I suggest installing Quicktime. Compared to it’s competition Vegas has been amazing in it’s acceptance of a variety of formats mixed into a single timeline. Xvid is nice for bootlegs but it’s a delivery format, not an editing one.
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Perhaps you can get VLC to enter the NLE business. While your waiting for that shoe to drop, chill-out and use Vegas:-)
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
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