Which Xvid codec for Sony Vegas Movie Studio 4 on XP?

Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 40 Location: Denver, CO

Hi folks,

Well, I hacked the camera, shot some video, and downloaded it all, but I'm at an impasse trying to edit it.

I'm running Sony Vegas Movie Studio 4 (the consumer version) on XP. When I opened Vegas and dropped the files onto the timeline, it would only give me video, no audio track.

I then shut down Vegas, installed the Xvid codec from www.xvid.com suggested elsewhere in this forum, and restarted Vegas. Now I don't get anything! The files appear in the explorer type window, but when I drag them to the timeline, it won't even let me drop them.

Uninstalling Xvid completely lets me at least drag the video portion of my files to the timeline. When right click file and check properties, I get:
Stream: Video 1
Attributes: 320x240x24, 30.000 fps, 00:00:11;09
Format: DivXÂ® 5.2.1 Codec
Field Order: None (progressive scan)
Pixel aspect ratio: 1.0000 (Multimedia)
Alpha Channel: None

When checking the audio I get:
Stream: Audio 2
Attributes: (Stream Offline)

VideoInspector says:
Video: Xvid MPEG-4 Codec
Audio: MPEG 1 or 2 Audio Layer 1

Anyone have a suggestion on how to make our videos work with Vegas Movie Studio?

Thanks!

Joined: 10 Sep 2005 Posts: 1118

Obviously... what goes in Vegas stays in Vegas...

Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 40 Location: Denver, CO

nice one!

Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 382 Location: somewhere

if you'd like to try the DivX codec you can get a FREE player and codec at

http://www.divx.com/

and choose the FREE package http://www.divx.com/divx/play/download/
with just the player, and codec

I hope you didn't download the BETA of the XviD codec ... the stable one is the 1.03 and is also available from Koepi's site at ...

http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/codecs_and_filters/xvid.cfm

I think the "official" site is just letting you get the BETA one, or you may also have to be a registered user... but I've heard the official one may have other problems. I didn't know this when I linked to it somewhere else here... I may have to search the threads to change it now.. Embarassed

I use the Koepi's XviD Codec. and all is fine in Vegas v6.0c (the full blown version)

Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 40 Location: Denver, CO

I've tried both the free Divx codec and the Pro version bundled with Divx Create. For video, those work fine and I can use the video in all my players (WM, MPC) and Vegas Movie Studio.

I also tried Koepi's 1.03 Xvid codec with the same results for players, but then Vegas Movie Studio shows the video stream as "offline".

But I still can't get Vegas Movie Studio to bring up any audio. Can I get you to check a few things for me in Vegas 6? When you're in the Media Pool and right click on a clip to check properties, what are the stream properties you're getting for Audio?

Using VideoInspector, does it show you have audio codecs installed explicity for "MPEG 1 or 2 Audio Layer 1"?

Thanks!

Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 40 Location: Denver, CO

Well, it seems I've been barking up the wrong tree. The Divx and Xvid codecs are fine - because they only deal with video.

My problem seems to be the audio codecs. It all seems very strange since I can play the videos with audio in various players, but seems Vegas doesn't use the same ones.

From GSpot, I query the vidoecam file and it says I have 3 compatible codecs:
MPEG Audio Decoder
Cyberlink Audio Decoder
MainConcept MPEG Audio Decoder

But when I run VirtualDub and try to convert the audio to something else, I get the error:
"No audio decompressor could be found to decompress the source audio format. (source format tag: 0050)"

VideoInspector gives a similar error tag but then just forwards me to the MS WM site.

Could it be that the players are using a DirectShow filter that Vegas can't use?

Thanks

In Vegas, no one can hear you scream.

Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 382 Location: somewhere

Captain Obvious,
I seem to be having the same issues with the CamCorder avi's as you ... I didn't try it with Vegas before, and didn't think it was a problem, since I've been using other sources for video, but,

I noticed if I left the XviD Codec installed in my system, the CamCorder avi, or other AVI files wouldn't load in Vegas, even though they play in the Media Player, PowerDVD or the DivX Player, and when I removed the XviD Codec, other avi's load, with sound, but the CamCorder avi's , loaded in Vegas, but without the sound track.

I suspect Sony made a change, cause I don't remember this happening with past versions of Vegas... most likely there's a missing Audio Codec for the CamCorder AVI files, as you say, cause other AVI's load in Vegas WITH the Audio track intact.

I wonder if Vegas kicked out one of the installed audio codecs when it installed one of the Vegas updates ... I'm going to see if I can find out more info about this... maybe on the Vegas forum or from Sony... or I may just try installing some of my past Audio Codecs, even though they say their loaded when looking in the properties of the "Sound, Video and Game controllers" ... "Audio Codecs" line of the Device manager.

BTW... I tried re-installing the older Koepi's XviD v1.03 after uninstalling it, and it doesn't want to install fully again, into my XP with SP2 OS, so, I wonder now... I have to see if I'll even need it at all... I'm going to dig out an XviD movie, and see if the video and audio plays without the codec in there... maybe it's built into the OS or DivX newer versions... Hmmmm ... strange.

The newer XviD codec installs though... the newer BETA one ... but screw it, if it's not needed, I'll leave it out... cause it stops AVI's from loading into Vegas.

It seems DivX plays the CamCorder video's AVI, without the sound, so I may just see if there's a codec for it on the DivX site.

PowerDVD v6 doesn't even want to start it, .. same for Windows Media Player.

This is bugging the S**t out of me now. Rolling Eyes

Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 382 Location: somewhere

I was able to extract audio from a CamCorder file I downloaded from a link on this bbs from some thread on here ... using EO Video, but there's another file on a thread here... that's 118 Megs and said to be around 2Mb/s sampled video, that I can't get the audio from using EO Video ...

I'm wondering why it's not putting the audio track with Vegas, from the direct files of the CamCorder, unless these files were already processed with some other program to create an AVI.

Evil or Very Mad

There's also a thread on this bbs somewhere, that mentions what has to be done to change the RAW CamCorder file into a usable AVI, I'm wondering if that process makes the audio show as "OFF LINE" in Vegas, or if NOT processing it with that Method make the audio off line in vegas.

Crap ... just when I wanted to get one of the CamCorders, I find out Vegas may not work with the files I download from it .. as is.. !!!

Rolling Eyes

Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 40 Location: Denver, CO

I think the issue is that all the players use DirectShow filters to convert the ACM audio to a usable format.

Vegas and VirtualDub can't use DirectShow filters, just raw ACM codecs. That's why they show audio tracks as "offline".

It's a totally separate issue as to why Divx works with Vegas and Xvid doesn't. That's only the video side, and as long as the free Divx codec works, I have no need for the various Xvid betas.

But I'm just as frustrated as you with not being able to use my fine editing software. I'm going to keep hunting for an audio codec, but I'm running out of resources. Anyone else have ideas about where to get a "pure" ACM codec?

UPDATE: here's a quote I got from another forum from 2004 from the maker of VirtualDub:
"For various reasons, VirtualDub cannot use DirectShow filters to decode audio; it only uses audio compression manager (ACM) drivers. The InterVideo decoders in question are all DirectShow filters. I have an MPEG-1 audio decoder within my application, but it is not yet accessible from the AVI side. I will look into adding this support for the next version."

So it does seem to be the DirectShow filters are the culprit as opposed to having a real MPEG 1 or 2 Audio Layer 1 codec (0x0050).

Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 40 Location: Denver, CO

Ok, here's what I found out (from Gspot):

Codec Tag 0x0050(MPEG (MP1/MP2), ISO/IEC)

When played, it goes:
AVI Splitter -> MPEG Audio Decoder -> AC3Filter -> Default DirectSound Device.

Problem is that Vegas can't use DirectSound Filters. I found 1 solution, and 1 workaround:

Solution) Through all my searching, I found only a single MPEG 1/2 Audio Layer 1 codec - for $150.

Work Around) The DivX 6 Create Bundle has the DivX Converter. Just drag AVI file onto Converter, select profile, an let'r rip. Outputs a .divx file that I can then use in Vegas with audio (converts to MP3 format).

Only problem is that it seems to downsample by one step:
640x480 AVI becomes 512x384 DIVX
512x384 AVI becomes 480x368 DIVX
320x240 AVI becomes 288x224 DIVX
Not sure why it does that.

Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Posts: 382 Location: somewhere

I have an even better solution... use EO Video to extract the audio, and convert it to a WAV file, then take that WAV (uncompressed format) and place it into a Vegas Audio Track... without any concern of messing up the Video size or video sample rate. (EO-Video can also JUST work with the Audio portion of the AVI)

www.eo-video.com (soon to be released v2.0, I have v1.36)

I think Vegas was originally made to "CREATE Original content" and only support the Codecs used to MAKE different formats of Video and Audio OUTPUT files ... yeah I know, this sucks for working with existing files already, but, when you think about it, it makes sense. Vegas is an EDITING software package for making original media, not taking already existing stuff and ripping tracks from it. Rolling Eyes

With EO Video, though, you can take almost any file, as long as you have the Codec involved, installed into your system, and EO Video will convert the audio and or video track into another formats codec.

There's one file, listed in a thread on this site, from CVSFan (i think) of a 118-Meg file he made, using the CVS Digital CamCorder, that has a 2-Mega bit/s sample rate at 640 * 480 @30 fps , of his Model Helicopter flying, but I don't know if there's any sound track in it... the DivX Converter says it can't convert cause it's missing an Unknown Codec, and EO Video comes up with a load error for it, so, it seems THAT's the only AVI file I can't work with using EO-Video, or for that matter the DivX Converter... and I don't hear any audio when played in the DivX Player..
But the properties info for the file (advanced listing) says it has an audio track of 32kb/s... maybe you've seen it... the file is called headcam2.avi

8)

The strange thing with all this is ... I'm sure I was able to JUST plop the AVI file into one of the older versions of Vegas (v2.0 &/or v3.0, & v4.0) and have both Audio and Video without any of this converting mess.

Seems all hell broke loose with the newer Vegas v5.x and up when it needed the Microsoft .NET Framework v1.1 Evil or Very Mad

... Hmmm ... I must be getting OLD ... I just can't remember for sure... but it does seem so. ... as long as the proper codec was installed in the OS, Vegas never had a problem working with, and displaying, both the audio and video portion of the AVI file. Exclamation

BTW-what Audio Codec does the CVS CamCorders use...? MPEG Layer-3? ... or something else.

What was the name and link of the Audio codec you found ... MPEG 1/2 Audio Layer 1 codec - for $150
I'd like to see what they talk about.

Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 40 Location: Denver, CO

I FOUND IT!! I FOUND IT!!!

Finally, after scouring the internet in all the most remote corners, I found an MP2 ACM (MPEG 1 or 2 Layer 2 codec) that will allow audio to be imported into Sony VEGAS editing software.

http://www.geocities.com/wilbertdijkhof/qmpeg_mp2.zip

Originally referenced in this post:
http://www.avisynth.org/Section+2%3A+AviSynth+and+frameserving#q2.9

Simply extract the zip to a temp location, right click on the .INF file and select "Install".

Next time you drag a movie file from your CVS Cam into VEGAS, it will have audio too.

Whew.

Joined: 29 Oct 2005 Posts: 7

Captain Obvious wrote:

I FOUND IT!! I FOUND IT!!!

Finally, after scouring the internet in all the most remote corners, I found an MP2 ACM (MPEG 1 or 2 Layer 2 codec) that will allow audio to be imported into Sony VEGAS editing software.

This codec fixes VirtualDub as well! Very, very well done!

Joined: 26 Aug 2005 Posts: 193

...adding the "k-lite mega codec pack" to your windows installation CD is always good.....Ill just add this one to the pack (note that Im not the one who did the pack...and I will not publish my MORE than not legal pack.. Very Happy

)