Video import fail - newbie question

Longtime Sonar user - 1st time with video though...
 
I used my video camera to record a performance today and want to get in and do some touch-up on the audio.  Trouble is, though, that I can't get the video to import into Sonar (X1d Producer Expanded).
 
I checked my camera documentation and it says this:
Video Compression - MPEG-2
Audio Compression - Dolby Digital 2ch (AC-3)
 
The file extension is .mpg.
 
The Sonar error is:
Unable to import video - Unrecognized file format or invalid file.  An invalid media type was specified.
 
I have a program called FVD suite that has a video converter.  I've tried converting to a couple of other video file formats:
.avi - crashes Sonar every time; .mpg - just on the off chance that reconverting to the same format might fix something - also crashes Sonar
 
Importing the original file doesn't crash Sonar, just generates the error message.  Another factor that might be useful - I also can't open the video in Windows Media Player, which is why I thought converting it might be useful.  The FVD player opens the video with no problems.
 
Any thoughts?
 

Hmm...checked it here on an .mpg file and it gave me the same result. I doubt it's a codec issue, since I had no problem making it. 

I also tried opening a couple of .movs I made lying around - it won't load those either. Sorry to say, but video isn't Sonar's forte, currently. However, I did mange to see that .wmv files work fine.
Here's my suggestion. Use your video editor and make a proxy file. Rather, make a low-res rendering in .wmv format of your video. Open that .wmv video in Sonar and you can score to that. 

When finished - have Sonar create a .wav file of your completed music track.

Go back to your video editor, open your original project and then import the music .wav file you created earlier to a new audio track. Now, you can render your finished video to any format your video editor supports and you require.

The Dolby AC-3 seems like an outlier.

Many computers can play it but it's a licensed distribution codec rather than a edit codec.

Perhaps you can try to convert the audio codec as well as the video?


This explains what I think may be the issue:


http://www.cakewalk.com/D...Mixing.20.html#1101648



best regards,
mike

Here's current status on this project:
Changing extension to .mp4 - now nothing will play it.  Sonar still doesn't import, even FVD won't open it.

Converting to .wmv - windows media player plays it now, but the aspect ratio got screwed up by the conversion.  Sonar starts to import it, but gets a new error and I still can't get it loaded

AC-3 encoder - windows media player will now open the original file, but plays it with sound only - no picture; Sonar still gives the same error.

The FVD converter has a .wav option, so I've ripped the audio off of the video to a wav file and that's in Sonar just fine.  I can certainly do what I want to with the audio now.  I just have no idea how to get back to this video and replace the original audio with the noise reduced/equalized/etc audio that I want.

Any suggestions for a free video editor that will do this?  I don't work with video much and can't invest in software for it right now.  I'm still using Windows XP.

sethmopod


Here's current status on this project:
Changing extension to .mp4 - now nothing will play it.  Sonar still doesn't import, even FVD won't open it.

Converting to .wmv - windows media player plays it now, but the aspect ratio got screwed up by the conversion.  Sonar starts to import it, but gets a new error and I still can't get it loaded

AC-3 encoder - windows media player will now open the original file, but plays it with sound only - no picture; Sonar still gives the same error.

The FVD converter has a .wav option, so I've ripped the audio off of the video to a wav file and that's in Sonar just fine.  I can certainly do what I want to with the audio now.  I just have no idea how to get back to this video and replace the original audio with the noise reduced/equalized/etc audio that I want.

Any suggestions for a free video editor that will do this?  I don't work with video much and can't invest in software for it right now.  I'm still using Windows XP.

Don't worry about the aspect ratio too much for the proxy .wmv file, you're only using that to score to. You won't use that video anyway, for the final output.


There are a few free editors out there, but I can't really comment on them as I haven't looked at them in ages. The only one that I know of that is free and also has a decent pedigree would be Lightworks, but as I mentioned, I haven't tried it.




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I can, though, recommend a commercial product, Sony Vegas, as I use it. It does have a home that version sells for under $50. It's reputed to be easier to learn than competing products, and a free 30-day trial is available.

well, this is weird. i imported an mpeg2 video file into sonar and the audio worked correctly but the keyframes were all blocky and the video wouldn't play. i right-clicked on the video track and selected video properties then clicked the decoder properties button and sonar only has a mpeg1 decoder installed. i converted the video to mpeg1 format and re-imported and it works fine now.

@beepster - i've had no problems using avi files.  pretty stable here.

i've been doing a handful of screencasts. it is fun!!! totally!! :D

And I gotta ask... what the heck is that thingie in front of the Marshall in your profile pic, sethmopod? It almost looks like a stick guitar but it seems far too short and misshapen.