Problem with importing files in Sony Vegas 7

[Sandra-chan]

I use the video editing program Sony Vegas 7, the problem is that when I import files in mp4 or mkv format they don't work. Either the program says that the media is offline, therefore I can't use it, or it won't be imported at all. I'm able to watch these files in my media players, thanks to the codec:es I've downloaded, but I can't edit them. Does anyone of you know what's causing this? Is there someway to fix it? I've tried on my own but it hasn't worked... I would be very grateful if you could help me with this.

[Kariudo]

Divx, Xvid, H.264 and the like are not meant to be edited with. It's got to do with how the video is encoded (I'll leave it at that unless you want more detail.)

this thread should go over everything you need.

[AikiNick]

Well, I actually suck at this kind of things, but I'll try to answer. I'll tell you what I do in this case. You'll need avisynth and VirtualDub. You can download both of this here: http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members/files.php, they're in AMVapp. Make sure to download this package, it's very useful. And you might also need, Haali Media Splitter(a.k.a. MatroskaSplitter. Download here: http://haali.su/mkv/). Install those programs and then here's what you need to do: create a new avisynth script, by pressing right button on the desktop and choosing New>avisynth script, open it and write this:
DSS2("put here the location of your file(e.g. C:), then this symbol "\"and then the name of your file")
ConvertToRGB24

So if I have an mkv file named anime, located on D disk, then I would write like this DSS2("D:\anime.mkv"). Then you can import this file to VirtualDub. The go to Video>Compression and choose any codec you like. I think Lagarith should do(you can find this codec in AMVapp), but if not use another one... Personally I use Premiere and After Effects and I cna import avisynth scripts directly into those programs, cause I installed PremiereAVSPlugin(Also from AMVapp). Then press F7 to export your file form VirtualDub and you can start editing. You cna also working a bit on your file inside of VirtualDub to get it ready for editing even better(adjusting frame size, frame rate, etc.), but I don't really know it well. I'm sure there are lots of tuts on this site about all of this.

I think that's it. Hope this will be helpful, if any questions, feel free to ask. But use PM. Thanks for attention, bye.

[Sandra-chan]

Thank you very much for your help, I didn't know that you had to encode the files to be able to use them. I'll try this out, I hope it will work out.

[Sandra-chan]

I have another question, if that's alright. My avi files doesn't work in Vegas either - is that normal?

[Kariudo]

Depends, if you encoded them with divx or xvid then yes that is normal.
However, if you encoded them with lagarith or huffyuv (or uncompressed) then it isn't normal.

If you don't know which codec your avi files were encoded with, get mediainfo (or gspot if you don't want to install a program. Gspot doesn't require installation, just run the .exe)

[Sandra-chan]

Thank you for your help so far. I'm really sorry to bother you again, but I've tried so many times to write a script and import it into VirtualDub but it just doesn't work for me. I've tried AikiNick102's way of writing a script, and I've also tried to follow the other guides you've linked to. It's very annoying since I don't know what I'm doing wrong, when I think I've made the script in the right way, and try to import it into VirtualDub, the program says there's an script error, syntax error for example. What should I do? Should I import an episode into the program or just write a script? I'm so confused right now.

[Haeresis]

Can you post your script so we can see what the problem is?

[Sandra-chan]

Thank you for wanting to help me, I appreciate it.
First I tried AikiNick102 method, and I wrote a script like this:
DSS2"C:\Documents and Settings\Ägaren\Mina dokument\Anime, serier och filmer\One piece\[VP-Raw]_One_Piece_Movie_8_(x264_720x480)")ConvertToRGB24

When I open one of my mp4 files into the program, it looks like this:
DirectShowSource("C:\Documents and Settings\Ägaren\Mina dokument\Anime, serier och filmer\One piece\ONE PIECE 377.mp4")

I downloaded ffmpegsource, since someone here recommended it. I put it in Avisynth's plugins folder, is that correct? When I tried to write a script again...:
ffmpegsource("[C:\Documents and Settings\Ägaren\Mina dokument\Anime, serier och filmer\One piece\377].mp4")
That didn't work either...VitualDub said: There's no function named "ffmpgsource"

I just want these files to work in VirtualDub, so that I can convert them. How should I write to make it work?

[Haeresis]

DirectShowSource should be able to open up the file. Do you have the Community Combined Codec Pack installed? If not you should install it. The script should be written like this:

DirectShowSource("location of file\filename.extension name")
but it will actually look like this
DirectShowSource("C:\Documents and Settings\Ägaren\Mina dokument\Anime, serier och filmer\One piece\377].mp4")

If you are using AvsP, then pressing F5 will make a preview for the video if you made the script correctly. Remember to add ConverttoRGB() at the end because most video editors use that colorspace instead of YV12. After making sure the script works, you should be able to open it in VirtualDub.