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.

I don't do video but I do know 8.5 was very picky about the format. AVI is just a container which is why one would work and another will not. Check the video stream in a working video and use that format. IIRC, SONAR always worked with wmv too.
 
Hopefully someone with more video experience will stop by soon.

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

I'm going to try converting to WMV next...
 
Yes, I've been meaning to give Vegas a try ever since I watched Ethan Winer's little demo on it some years ago. It looks to be very easy to use (much better than Adobe Premier that broke my computer and got uninstalled!). I've just never been all that into video. I'd rather spend my scarce dollars on music stuff.

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. 

I assume you have a 64-bit system, and Apple never released a 64-bit codec for QuickTime. I believe SONAR would require that regardless of whether Media Player can cope or not.
 
I would be happy to help in any way I can. If you can provide a place for me to download/upload the video, I have a variety of conversion tools and can convert AND test with SONAR X3 to make sure it imports. 
 
I'll send you a PM with my secret Gibson direct cell phone line if you want to take me up on this.

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.).
 

All you need Dave is a codec that will allow you to load the video. One place you can get one for this is Shark007 I have use them for many years and they work. http://shark007.net

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

Problem (almost) solved.
 
I downloaded Microsoft Movie Maker, which was able to convert the .mov file to .wmv, which SONAR had no trouble loading. Then I imported the music files and exported the project as an AVI. The file was created, but when I attempted to play it in WMP there was no sound. I then re-exported it as a WMV and success! Sound!
 
Unfortunately, the picture quality is unacceptably grainy and low-resolution after exporting from SONAR. The file that Movie Maker had produced looks OK, so I assume the issue is with the export options in SONAR. There are a boatload of options, and I'm running down the list but each export takes a long time - anybody have a suggestion as to what export options I should choose?