Dashcam AVI files in Vegas 10

[Gabor Heeres]

Hi All,

This week I did receive my new dashcam, the advanced FINEVu CR-500HD. This carcam records AVI files in full HD (1920x1080) at 30p. I can play these files in both, VLC and Windows Mediaplayer but can't import them in Vegas 10. I have tried converting them in different formats using VLC but without a result.

Does someone maybe have a good idea to use these AVI files in Vegas 10?

Thanks.

Gabor

[Juris Lielpeteris]

What video codec do you use? AVI container is not fully compatible with h.264/AVC/mpeg-4 rev.10 codecs.

[Gabor Heeres]

Thanks for your reply Juris. I really have no idea what kind of codec the cam natively uses. Though I am able to convert it to a .mp4 or ..mov file with a mpeg4, mpeg2 or H.264 codec using VLC. In some cases it than again plays fine in VLC and Windows Mediaplayer but Vegas 10 doesn't load these files.

[Mike Kujbida]

Run a file through MediaInfo and let us know what it says about the file.
MediaInfo | Free software downloads at SourceForge.net

[Gabor Heeres]

Mike,

Thanks for your help. This is what Mediainfo says about the originl AVI file:

General
Complete name : D:\112 Brabant\augustus\2013aug23_eindhoven_dashcam\2013-08-23-18h56m58s_normal.avi
Format : AVI
Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave
File size : 216 MiB
Duration : 3mn 0s
Overall bit rate mode : Constant
Overall bit rate : 10.1 Mbps
Movie name : CR-500HD
Writing application : Lavf52.50.0
Comment : 1.00.116

Video
ID : 0
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP : M=1, N=30
Codec ID : H264
Duration : 3mn 0s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 10 000 Kbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 30.000 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.161
Stream size : 215 MiB (99%)

Audio
ID : 1
Format : ADPCM
Format profile : U-Law
Codec ID : 7
Codec ID/Hint : CCITT
Duration : 2mn 59s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 64.0 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Sampling rate : 8 000 Hz
Bit depth : 8 bits
Stream size : 1.37 MiB (1%)
Interleave, duration : 128 ms (3.84 video frames)

[Juris Lielpeteris]

Frame rate mode : Variable

also is not usable for video editing.
Keep it on mind when converting to the other format.

[Gabor Heeres]

You probably don't wanna hear this. I kept trying VLC and Mpeg Streamclip to conver but both didn't work out. Finally a friend who has the same dashcam but is not a pro videoproducer said "Oh well I Always just use Windows Moviemaker". So OK, loaded the AVI into WMM, exported it in standard H.264 HD setting and there we go. Even Mediainfo says I have a nice 10 Mbps MP4 file that Vegas accepts. This dashcam also records in 10 Mbps so regardless of the H.264 codec no compression there. Looks fine anyway. As said, you probably don't wanna hear it but Windows Movie Maker made my day.... ;-)

[Karl Smith]

I have often thought about fitting a camera system fitted to the buses I used to drive.
One facing forward, one facing rearward and one either side mounted high at the rear looking forward to cover the sides. These side cameras came in handy when a car came through the red light from the left one day. Driver swore black and blue his lights were green. The cameras on the bus proved that my lights were green at the time as I went through (back of bus was still behind the line)