Video help needed [RESOLVED - THANKS ALL!]

We're putting together a slideshow for my wife's memorial this Sunday. When I say "we" I mean my daughter and her graphic designer friend in Denver. My job was merely to supply the music.
 
But I got a preview of the slideshow this morning and the music isn't long enough for the running time, the musical transitions are too abrupt, the music tracks are not equal in volume, and the songs are just randomly sequenced. My daughter is frantic and there is only today and tomorrow to get this fixed up before she leaves for Seattle.
 
No problem, I said. SONAR can do this. I can stick the music in myself and all will be good.
 
So I opened a new project, went to Import -> Video, only to be informed thusly:
        Unable to import video - Unrecognized file format or invalid file.
        Cannot play back the file. The format is not supported.
 
It's a QuickTime .mov file. I have no problem playing this file in Windows Media Player, so I assume that means I have the necessary codec installed.
 
 
I first tried converting the file to AVI, but I still get the same message: the format is not supported. I made sure I could import other AVI files, and had no problem. It's just this file that SONAR chokes on.
 
Any advice is welcome. I've got to resolve this today.

You may want to check out the entry level version of Sony Vegas.  It makes all these chores easier than Sonar, imo.

I bought Adobe Premier Elements for just this sort of task.  Of course I do all of my audio work in Sonar but I simply convert the finished song/track to 48/16 and import it as a "soundtrack" in Premier Elements.  I think it's $69 and actually has some great video editing capability. 

In my video program which is cheap Magix ($50) if I convert to *.wmv I use lossless 44.1kHz - 16 bit which is the best. Although *.AVI should have no problem in Sonar, I can not attest to that, because I use the video program which has a mixer to adjust the volume when I import the output tracks from Sonar, and I can input them at 48kHz - 24bit to the video program and can make a *.AVI file (which is way bigger) with 48kHz-24bit video output. *.wmv can only be made 44.1kHz-16bit and lossless does not mean that it is true stereo, because it is a variable rate which is lossless, which sounds like stereo but really is not true stereo at a constant bitrate and sample rate. If you use that kind of output - constant intead of variable, then the video will be like an *.mp3 which is what it will be.
 
*.mp4 is not all that good for sound, and unless you have way better equipment perhaps taking the original movie and a way better video editing program, then that is about all you will get. *.AVI files are not compressed usually but if it is, maybe that is the problem, because in the video program I have no problem importing *.mov files either, so if you have a video editing program I would first see if you can change the video format and output it in a format Sonar will recognize and then import it into Sonar, and also just the audio can be made into a separate track in my program (where in a *.mov file it is listed video and audio as one track, then it can be separated into 2 tracks.
 
Export just the audio then perhaps and work on it in Sonar, and then input it back into movie editing program and with the mixer in the program, down (0) the original audio and by inputting the audio into Track 3 then of course raise the volume on that track to the level you want it at in the video, then export the video in the format you wish to view it in - but for youtube I have found out, usually *.avi files run better but way bigger than a *.wmv file but that is because utube to me sucks. I never can - oh well.
 
That's about it.
Of course the video part can be added stuff also if you know what you are doing (fade ins such as, etc.).
 

I'd call Craig with his generous offer even if you have to upload the video to youtube to share. I've used the free compression tool "handbrake" which is very good btw and convert to h.264 format which sonar will recognize. It's a format like 320 rate is for mp3 as h.264 is for video. Good luck

Thanks for the offer, Craig.
 
Unfortunately, the video is still undergoing edits over in Denver. She'd deleted a bunch of photos in order to shorten the movie to fit the music.
 
After boldly assuring her that I could put the audio in later, I told her to go ahead and add those photos back in and send me the file at the last minute. I figure that once I've done a successful test here it'll be a quick process. Always the optimist.
 

bitflipper
I figure that once I've done a successful test here it'll be a quick process. Always the optimist.
 

 
Yes you are, sir! Good luck with it. But I assume with Anderton on the case you'll get it solved. Sheesh worst case scenario you can just ring us all up and we'll do it live! :-)

ALMOST SUCCESS!
 
I just had to select the right WMV export options to get the necessary video quality.
 
Only one problem remains: the video is truncated. The last half of the video is a black screen - but with music. When I look at the preview frame in SONAR, I see the whole thing.
 
I don't think it's a file-size limit; the exported video is only 479MB.
 

One big plus with Vegas is it comes with a decent time stretching plugin that helps make things fit without exporting to external editor. I think it's  only available in the pro version. I wouldn't  call Vegas undiscovered. It is hugely popular among the pirate crowd because of its easy to get around security and musicians tend to like it. Even among pros, most non-Mac users know of it even if they choose otherwise. Great program overall. 

That *.wmv file seems rather large, and WMP will play an *.AVI file. There are two types of *.AVI files - compressed and not compressed. Of course the uncompressed *.avi file will be even larger probably but it is frame by frame and the audio is the same. But WMP should play an *.AVI file if not compressed, not sure about a compressed *.avi file.
 
Sometimes you just have to muck around with that stuff to see what gives with any format, but even with a *.wmv file, the video quality should be well like 100 not 90, or 85, or the usual not high quality that can be done even in Windows Movie Maker. Just the sound in Windows Movie Maker can not be as good as with another program that allows lossless *.wmv files and any of that. There is, if I remember correctly no option for that in WMM, just some making a file with a certain bitrate to stream sort of. Pick the highest setting, because actually if not streaming over the Internet (and utube changes it anyway) than on a normal computer and playing back on the computer, the fastest bitrate whether variable bit rate or constant *.AVI type file with uncompression should still play fine in WMP. Mine always did, although the file is much larger that way in the end.
 
Oh, well, it takes a little time to make the file, and that is the longest usual part of making a video for consumption.
Well, good luck!