Zarx264 No Longer Working On New Computer

[samthegreek]

My old computer died, and so I bought a new one.
But now when I create the script for encoding, the Zarx264 says "couldn't locate a decompressor for fourcc dvsd (J:blah\blah.avs, line 1)

I assure you, the path is correct.
It isn't only the Zarx! When I saved the notepad with the path name, the notepad even warned me that:
cannot create J:blah\blah\blah file
make sure path and file name are correct

The path and file name are correct (believe me).

So, what's up with my new computer?
It's a windows; my old computer was XP, this new one is Vista.

Is there a way to fix this?
(NOTE: I re-downloaded Zarx264, and it still has the same issue.)

[Qyot27]

A) You don't need to specify full paths if the script is in the same directory as the file you want to open - J: isn't correct addressing, J:\ is, which could be part of this. Using relative paths eliminates this problem.

B) Are you trying to save the file in a place you don't have write access to? XP defaults user accounts to Administrator rights, Vista doesn't (IIRC).

C) You need a decoder for DV, such as ffdshow (get one of the generic SVN builds from May of this year, not the stable release from December - there's one nasty problem with that one which could rear its head if you're not careful, but it was solved in January). You need to make sure you install the VFW interface - AVISource relies on VFW.

[samthegreek]

A) I triple check, and this is not a problem (thanks, though)
B) I don't understand
C) I did as you said (thank you), but I'm still getting an error

AviSynth Error

AVISource: couldn't locate a decompressor for fourcc dvsd
(J:\blah\blah\blah.avs, line 1)

If the issue is B, could you please explain? I'm dumb when it comes to these technical things.
*If it is an account user "Administration" thing, I am logged on as Administrator with full rights... as far as I know.

[Qyot27]

A) I triple check, and this is not a problem (thanks, though)
B) I don't understand
C) I did as you said (thank you), but I'm still getting an error

AviSynth Error

AVISource: couldn't locate a decompressor for fourcc dvsd
(J:\blah\blah\blah.avs, line 1)

If the issue is B, could you please explain? I'm dumb when it comes to these technical things.
*If it is an account user "Administration" thing, I am logged on as Administrator with full rights... as far as I know.

When you installed ffdshow, did you tell it to handle DV? You need to go into both the VFW configuration and the Video decoder configuration dialogs and set the drop-down next to DV from 'disabled' to 'libavcodec'. The 'couldn't locate decompressor' message is telling you that you don't have a decoder installed (or set up correctly so it can recognize it - if ffdshow has DV set to 'disabled' then that would be why).

Also realize there are two slightly different forms of DV, and only one is fully compatible with traditional AVIs - I never export in DV, so I don't mess with this at all. If you can play the file in Windows Media Player, though, and ffdshow is set to use libavcodec for DV (but you still get the errors), then you'll need to use DirectShowSource or possibly FFmpegSource instead. Note: FFmpegSource is a separate plugin that you have to install on your own.

As far as B) is concerned, if you're logged in as Administrator with full rights then it shouldn't matter. Notepad refusing to save the file can mean that you aren't authorized to save the file (which would occur if you were not Administrator and tried to save in a protected area), or possibly that the drive has run out of free space - or merely thinks it's run out of free space. Characters in the filename might cause it on occasion, or if it's that you want to overwrite another script with the same name, that one may be read-only, or be getting used already by another process.

[samthegreek]

Ok. A and B aren't problems, as the script is saving fine.
The AVI video plays fine in WMP (it always has).

I reinstalled ffdshow and now checked the little box that says "DV" (it did not give me an option of "disabled" or "libavcodec" though).
Now I have a new error:
External component has thrown an exception.

*sigh*

I don't know if I did something wrong

I use Sony Vegas 8.0 Pro.
Is there another way I can export these things that might make things work easier?
(Keep in mind, I'm trying to maintain quality here.)

[Qyot27]

I reinstalled ffdshow and now checked the little box that says "DV" (it did not give me an option of "disabled" or "libavcodec" though).

The configuration dialogs (which is where those are) are available through Windows' Programs menu (Start->Programs->ffdshow or whatever it is on Vista), there was no need to reinstall.

Now I have a new error:
External component has thrown an exception.

Never seen that error before. From a cursory Google search I think it might have to do with .NET, though. Does Vista come with the proper .NET stuff? I would assume it does, but you can never tell sometimes.

I use Sony Vegas 8.0 Pro.
Is there another way I can export these things that might make things work easier?
(Keep in mind, I'm trying to maintain quality here.)

When you export, choose an option other than DV. I use Premiere, so I don't know what Vegas' export options look like, but you should be able to choose something like 'Microsoft AVI' or something along those lines, and from there you can choose to export with a lossless solution like Uncompressed, HuffYUV, Lagarith, etc. Then you can give the video to VirtualDub or AVISource and they should work fine.

[Zarxrax]

This is simply a problem of not having a correct VFW DV codec to view the video. Export from vegas either uncompressed or with something like Lagarith. DV is troublesome because there are many different implementations of it.

[samthegreek]

Hmm.

I followed your advice and I'm still having problems:
Couldn't locate a decompressor for fourcc dvsd

So, I figured I should start over from scratch.

I uninstalled my AMVapp and reinstalled it.
But during the installation, this error came up:

mplayer2.exe
The procedure entry point RunDIIW could not be located in the dynamic link library msdxm.ocx.

Is this the heart of the problem?

[Zarxrax]

No, it's just as I said. It's telling you that you don't have a VFW dv decompressor installed. So you need to export as uncompressed or Lagarith.

[samthegreek]

OK!
It's all working fine now.

Thank you guys very much.
I must say, everyone on this sight are so smart and helpful.
And you all work for free!
It really builds my optimism toward humanity.

You guys all rock, and I appreciate what you do very much!!!