Brando
That being said, as a user of SONAR, I suggest that SONAR could be better in this respect out of the box.

The bottom line is priorities. When a free/simple solution already exists - format conversion applications - there's much less incentive to spend what could be significant development time on creating another solution that although more elegant, would benefit only a limited percentage of the user base. Personally, I would prefer that Cakewalk spend their resources on issues where solutions don't already exist. For example given a choice between 30 bug fixes or not needing to convert formats if I want to import an MP4 file and move its start time, I'd take the bug fixes but of course, YMMV.

Here is the thing.  We live in a computer world of Apple vs Microsoft.  Picture is edited overwhelmingly in Apple's world.  Apple wants you to use their products, so they make it inconvenient to playback or do things outside of their world.
 
Quicktime and MP4's are no "walk in the park" to deal with either even in a total Apple environment .  AVID (the people who own ProTools along with the most used video editing software) and Apple are not always working in perfect harmony.
 
So if you are going to score to picture in any DAW, you better have some picture tools also.  Trust me, even if Sonar played back every picture format perfectly, you would still be posting here asking questions on how to fix some kind of situation a video editor or producer created.
 
So you can complain about what Sonar can do, or use it for what it does best and get the correct tools to do the job. Having Sonar concentrate on being a DAW feels best to me.  Let the video editing happen in video programs.  There is a very simple way to work sound and music for picture in Sonar.  And it works very well.  You just have to find your way there...
 
Just my 2 cents. 
 

Jimbo 88
Here is the thing.  We live in a computer world of Apple vs Microsoft.  Picture is edited overwhelmingly in Apple's world.  Apple wants you to use their products, so they make it inconvenient to playback or do things outside of their world.
 
Quicktime and MP4's are no "walk in the park" to deal with either even in a total Apple environment .  AVID (the people who own ProTools along with the most used video editing software) and Apple are not always working in perfect harmony.
 
So if you are going to score to picture in any DAW, you better have some picture tools also.  Trust me, even if Sonar played back every picture format perfectly, you would still be posting here asking questions on how to fix some kind of situation a video editor or producer created.
 
So you can complain about what Sonar can do, or use it for what it does best and get the correct tools to do the job. Having Sonar concentrate on being a DAW feels best to me.  Let the video editing happen in video programs.  There is a very simple way to work sound and music for picture in Sonar.  And it works very well.  You just have to find your way there...
 
Just my 2 cents. 
 

My point (this is also in reply to Craig) was that I think Cakewalk needs to (as a minimum) be more clear on what the realities of what they intend for video in Sonar are and are going to be ( same for notation). Just like Apple did for Logic - "you can use QuickTime, or you can use QuickTime". In Cake's case maybe it's "anything but QuickTime or MP4.
In Cakewalk's case there seems to be an expectation that it can play anything, until users like yourself clear the smoke. Even then, it's a confusing array of which codecs work, etc, depending on who offers the advice. From following your posts I know you know your stuff and have some cred but don't know if I could say the same about everyone who offers similar (or different) advice. if Cakewalk communicated openly about the realities of what is and is not possible, or planned I think a lot of this type of post would go away, and the discussion becomes more about "how can I?" Instead of "why can't I?"
Just my opinion and I can see the hackles starting to rise so I will back away from this post.
Best regards

Brando

My point (this is also in reply to Craig) was that I think Cakewalk needs to (as a minimum) be more clear on what the realities of what they intend for video in Sonar are and are going to be ( same for notation). Just like Apple did for Logic - "you can use QuickTime, or you can use QuickTime". In Cake's case maybe it's "anything but QuickTime or MP4.

But that's not true, you can play back MP4 files. The issue is you can't move the start time on the time line. However, I agree this should be spelled out in the documentation along with the other QuickTime-based limitations. Simply graying out the start time, while it gets the point across, can lead to the confusion you're seeing in this thread.

Ultimately, there is something to be said for a single solution that always works. I support the OP there. Just saying in the documentation "Sonar works (best) with AVI, get this free converter here" would solve a lot of issues.

+1 The part about recommending a specific solution is important from a couple perspectives. It acknowledges the gap and steers the user while not "feeding them to the wolves." There is a lot of "free" software out there with not only bloatware but straight up viruses in them. I would never tell anyone "Oh, go get a converter. Problem solved."

Anderton
... you can play back MP4 files. The issue is you can't move the start time on the time line. 

This is the exact point of this issue.
While I'm following all the opinions, I have found a simple way to live with MP4 inside Sonar:
 
Basically it's like I said on the topic #8, ie work with Measures and Tempos.
 
It's faster, easier and less laborious.
With this, I do not need Vegas or converters. So I use the Sonar's gear itself.
Well, that was my choice and it's working.
 
Of course, this does not exempt the Cakewalk to correct the problem or at least give a good warning about its limitations.

Jimbo 88
 
I did a video years ago.  It is out of date 'cause Sonar's video playback has changed.  I only generate AVI files now.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh9Ico1HgC0
 
Hope it helps....
 
Also check this out...
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShFEvnOKOio
 

Excellent Jimbo 88....thx
 
Rafone