Troubles importing video

[OldNick]

I am trying to import a video to write music for it.

However, I am getting very patchy results. Sometimes (mp4) the video will import and yet the Video View is a black screen. The next time I try (mov), I am told the video will not import ...and yet I have imported a .mov file once and it seemed OK. I have imported mp4 videos and they worked...no..._it_ worked once.

I have no idea what works and what does not, or if it's the length of the video, the package, the CoDec used to render it, etc. I do know that M2TS (AVC and AVCHD) files are always rejected, but avoiding rendering to those has had no consistent results.

All of these movies play fine in VLC and Media Player Classic.

I am running around in circles. Can anyone start to guide me here, please? If I am limited to just one format of video, that I can rely on, that is fine: this is only for display while I make the noise required.

 

[msmcleod]

There's two things in play with video files: the audio codec, and the video codec.

VLC is pretty good at having most codecs included with it. Cakewalk on the other hand, uses Microsoft's API's to import the video, so the codecs must be available to WIndows in order for Cakewalk to use them.

In saying that, if Media Player plays the files, it should work with Cakewalk as these are using the same API's. Maybe Cakewalk may be limited as to what video formats it understands.

I'd recommend contacting support on this (support@cakewalk.com), providing them a link to your video file. They'll be able to tell you what's going on.

It may be the case however, that you'll have to invest in a video format converter application so you can convert whatever videos you have into a format you know will always work. Of course you can always use this converter to convert it back to the video format you were originally given once you've finished in Cakewalk.

[OldNick]

Thanks msmcleod...oookay. So it's not just me. Wow!

I have any number of converters from this to that format, some are renderers, some are "package changers". I have tried a few to get CW to work. IIRC this problem was not as bad years ago. I guess CW (BB or not) has not kept up.

Seems to me that CWBB needs to fix this. There has to be a market for adding sound to video!

If I can find a format that works, I do not need to convert it back: the video I use in CW would be a "time reference" only...the actual video would be simply matched up with the audio.

[Blogospherianman]

I've used WinFF (free) to convert the video files to a format that Sonar/Cakewalk could more easily use (AVI I think). Afterwards I would export the audio and replace the original videos audio with the newly exported audio via Quicktime (they were using MOV with their apple stuff)

[OldNick]

Thank for that info!

I do not have WinFF, but I have other FFMpeg front ends. I will however see if my video programme (Vegas) can put out something that Cakewalk can read. I would rather avoid the extra rendering process time.

I should not have to! I thought I was using Cakewalk to avoid all of this nonsense. Why can't they incorporate the capabilities of FFMpeg and get around this?

[OldNick]

Exporting from Vegas as AVI seems to have done the trick. By habit I tend to avoid AVI because of file sizes, but here I am using small frame, low frame rate, poor quality, so it is not critical.

Glad is was not just me!

Thanks for all of the input.

Edited July 26, 2019 by OldNick

[Klaus]

I have no problems with imported video files, .mp4 and .mov videos are running fine.

If a video doesn't work generally but only with some players, it's often because of a missing codec in Windows.

I've installed a couple of years ago the "K-Lite Codec Pack", since then all videos played well in SONAR, now CbB.

Maybe worth a try.

[OldNick]

Hi Klaus from....Klaus .

Ah yeah. K-Lite. I have successfully used that in the (dim and distant) past: I probably went through a process similar to this to learn about it, although maybe more protracted!  

There has been something of a hiatus in my music-making and video work.

I will certainly give it a go.

[OldNick]

K-Lite to the rescue! Thanks Klaus...a million.

[OldNick]

17 hours ago, msmcleod said:

"VLC is pretty good at having most codecs included with it. Cakewalk on the other hand, uses Microsoft's API's to import the video, so the codecs must be available to WIndows in order for Cakewalk to use them.

In saying that, if Media Player plays the files, it should work with Cakewalk as these are using the same API's. Maybe Cakewalk may be limited as to what video formats it understands."

HI. Actually MPC is bundled with the K-lite codec pack suggested by Klaus (kudos) and I wonder if it does not use a superior CoDec range to Windows'

Having installed the K-Lite pack, Cake now _appears_ to be a lot more understanding....

 

Edited July 26, 2019 by OldNick