mov-files turn black, but not from the beginning

[Rick Shorrock]

This is an old problem, but can be fixed. I used to have this problem with Newtek’s Video Toaster system, and the fix seems to work with Vegas, as well. The way it was described to me, I will repeat: this has to do with the pre-render files that are in the app data folder for your Vegas program. Go to C:UsersPreferred UserApp DataLocalSonyVegas Pro11.0 (or whatever version you have). You’ll have to delete the Vegas Pre-render files in this folder. You might also want to delete the autosave.veg and the restored.veg file in this folder, as well. If this doesn’t completely solve the problem, delete the pre-rendered files in where every you told the program to save the pre-rendered files in (you can find this under your project properties). Then make sure you re-start the computer. Hope this helps, because it has for me!

[Marcel Steuermann]

Thanks Rick, for the help,info and hopes – but unfortunately it didn´t help.

I looked up some other forums as well, and it seems that vegas pro 12 (my version) still shows problems importing movs, even though it got better in Version 12, in particular with Canon movs.

Now what I want to import are DNxHD-movs originally filmed with a Pana GH2. I tried a couple of times and the result always looks the same: when the file I/O surrogates process shows ca. 820.000 k when importing these movs, Vegas freezes ultimately.

As above – this seems to be an “old” problem for other users as well. But no one really offered a solution. Any new ideas?

Since I would like to use these files for vegas-Resolve-Roundtripping, I would really like to use the DNxHD movs.

Thanks is advance

[Rick Shorrock]

Do you have the proper DNxHD codec on your computer? I’ve heard this was particularly problematic some times, as this is an Avid codec. Here’s where you can download the codec: https://www.avid.com/US/industries/workflow/DNxHD-Codec
Hope this helps you out.

[Mike Kujbida]

The link Rick posted is for version 2.3.7 but the latest one is 2.3.8
Avid Codec 2.3.8

[Marcel Steuermann]

Thanks again, but unfortunately the codec was right. I also produced the DNxHD movs by two different programmes, it did not make any difference. All movs also work in Resolve.

It´s not about the codec, nor QT-versions, nor prerendered files. It must be something about the files I/O surrogates 32bit that vegas uses for importing files that are not Canon-movs. I am still hoping that someone made progress solving this problem that seems to occur regularly for some people. Really strange.

Any recommandations for formats that provide a high quality roundtripping with Resolve? Any experiences with mxf?

Thanks again so much

[Brent Wagner]

I believe I have a solution. I had this issue too and I lost days of editing time troubleshooting. 99% of the data out there suggests an issue with the quicktime video plugins, but after trying to replace them and/or clear out any caches with reboots, re-installs, different OSes and Vegas versions, I finally stumbled upon the solution.

I noticed the same problematic MOV files worked in a new project, but I didn’t want to start all over. I suspected my project file, so I opened a second instance of Vegas in a new window, then I used Ctrl+A to select everything on the timeline and I copied it to the new window. However, this triggered the issue in the new, Untitled project as well!

When pasting the full contents of my broken project, I noticed the last couple of clips had green thumbnails in the new window, indicating some kind of video corruption. I started another new project and this time I copied everything except those last few clips (Ctrl+A then Ctrl+left click to de-select) and worked!!

I hope this solution works for you too. In hindsight I should have suspected the clips I had added just prior to hitting this problem, but it was so widespread (even MOV files from File Explorer opened in the trimmer would go dark after a few frames) that I didn’t think of it until after I discovered the solution.

Good luck!

[Gordon Cole]

Hi, I just registered here to tell you that I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU SOOOOOO MUCH FOR THIS TIP. I’ve been trying to figure out how to fix it for 2-3 hours already when I found your post and it worked like a charm :). Thank you again, my savior.

And yeah, this relates to Rick Shorrock’s first post.

[Demetris Christodoulides]

Ok, chimed-in to post my solution after a whole day of reading all the relevant topics i could find and struggling with re-installing vegas, quicktime, codecs, etc.

Here’s what finally worked for me, and it was very simple.

1. don’t have shitty codec packs in your computer. Install all the regular, ‘pro’ codecs you want with no problem, but no shitty codec packs. Remove them all with iobitunistaller and search for leftovers.

Just only leave legit stuff like:

(some of those are purchases, but all very well known and needed)

AvidCodecsLESetup.exe
cinemartin Cinec 2.7.5 Gold CE.msi
DNGCodec_2_0_Installer.exe
DNxHDProResQTSetup_CE.exe
LagarithSetup_1327.exe
m3jpegv3.exe
Xvid-1.3.2-20110601.exe
Adobe DNG Codec 2.0 (especially if you’re working canon dlsr’s and magic lantern) , get it from here: https://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/thankyou.jsp?ftpID=5495&fileID=5491)

2. Install latest itunes (x64 or x86 depending on your system) and quicktime (x86 only at the time of writing this).
Open those two software programmes afterwards and make sure they open and work ok.

3.MAKE SURE THAT QUICKTIME PRO ALWAYS RUNS AS ADMIN. It’s very important. Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime
right click on QuickTimePlayer.exe, go to ‘compatibility’, ‘change settings for all users’, tick/check: “run this program as administrator”, ok

4. MAKE SURE THAT SONY VEGAS.EXE DOES ALWAYS NOT (AND I REPEAT NOT!!) RUN AS ADMININSTRATOR AND DOES NOT (NOT!!) RUN IN ANY COMPATIBILITY MODE

5. Open the problematic project in vegas and go to:

tools
clean up pre-rendered video -> all prerendered video
clean project media
rebuild offline nested audio

– Go to program’s preferences and restore all defaults, especially video tab
– check your sony vegas project settings, that it matches the media properties in it
– make sure you don’t have any corrupt video files in the project (i.e. green thumbnails)
– disable and enable again your VFX in the corresponding video channel that has the black previews to
check whether one of your effects causes the black previews

6. download ccleaner and install it from here https://filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/download/3344dcbbf178985fed4ce8b94003a161/
and run everything in it, i.e. RUN CLEANER – yes to all
and REGISTRY, SCAN FOR ISSUES, FIX SELECTED ISSUES

Restart computer, open vegas again, you should be ok

cheers