Pete, look at OldSmoke's post of 4/4/2014 6:16:33 AM on this thread. Grab that VP11 version of mc_dec_avc.dll while the link is still live and try replacing your VP12 version. Obviously back up the VP12 one first.

That reportedly worked well for Hero 3 footage. I don't know if it works well for Hero 4 footage so please let us know how it goes. Also look out for other formats of avc potentially misbehaving after you've done this, although I didn't read any reports of any problems.

Here is a link for a VP11 AVC decoder in case the other is dead.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/51868591/mc_dec_avc_vp11.zip

The file in the ZIP is named mc_dec_avc_vp11 so you can copy it to the compoundplug folder safely. The decoder name being mc_dec_avc. This way you can keep both the vp13 and vp11 decoders around and just rename.

To use the vp11 one, rename the existing one to _vp13 and rename the _vp11 one to mc_dec_avc.

Hi guys, thanks for the help.
I did a search for Hero 4 Black but only the link that you shared Nick, was the only thing that came up & that is for a Hero 3, not a 4.
I can't even ingest the 4 Black footage into Vegas 12 at all.
I did download the trial version of Vegas 13 & now I can atleast open the files in Vegas 13 but playing them back is virtually impossible.
So I guess I am upgrading to 13 sooner rather than later.

Because I am so computer illiterate, would any of you kind folk explain to me in VERY simple terms what I have to do with that link as I don't even know what it is, let alone know what to do with it.
On a scale of 1 to 10 for computer literacy, I am way down around a 3 :(
I love editing in Vegas, especially now that I have Magic Bullet Looks but I need to be able to play these GoPro files back at some sort of normal speed to be able to run my timeline in realtime.
I don't necessarily need it to run at 4K 32bit colour.
A step by step tutorial would be greatly appreciated :)

Cheers Pete.

Open File Explorer or Windows Explorer or whatever it's called.

Change folder to C:\Program Files\Sony\Vegas Pro 12.0\FileIO Plug-Ins\compoundplug

Rename mc_dec_avc.dll to mc_dec_avc_vp12.dll

Copy OldSmoke or Norman's file to that folder and make sure it's named mc_dec_avc.dll (i.e. delete _vp11 from Norman's file if you downloaded that one).

Reboot, restart Vegas and test. And please let us know the result.

If things go wrong then rename the new file to mc_dec_avc_vp11.dll and rename mc_dec_avc_vp12.dll back to mc_dec_avc.dll

By the way I wouldn't be in a great hurry to upgrade from VP12 to VP13 unless you really need the new features, of which there are few. VP12 is still more reliable for me than VP13.

Pete:

if you reduce your preview quality in Vegas Pro you can often improve your playback on the timeline. Instead of Full/Best try Half, etc., and see if your files play smoothly.

Regards,

Kimberly

Hi Kimberly, Vegas 12 will not even recognise the Hero 4 Black files. Either 1080p or 4K.
You simply can not ingest them.
I sometimes drop the preview quality depending on what camera I have shot with.

So thanks to Nick Hope, he walked me through the process as described above & now my Vegas 12 not only ingests both 1080p & 4K Hero 4 files, it plays them relatively easily.
My laptop struggles with the 4K but once I drop it back to 8bit colour & reduce the preview quality it plays ok.

So a massive thanks to OldSmoke for finding a solution & a massive thanks to Nick Hope for walking me through the setup & getting me going.
I would have never been able to figure it out without Nicks help.
One very happy chappy now :)

Not sure if it is something with V12, but I have V13 and the Gopro Hero 4 Black files import just fine. I just drag them form the folder right onto the timeline( 1080 60P)


Ted

@CorTed

How is the playback of those files? Is it smooth at Best/Full?

I just tried importing a Hero4 file at 2.7k 24 fps into Vegas 13, and it imported with no trouble whatsoever. It will not playback smoothly at Best/Full though, you have to back off your expectations a bit in that respect.

Playback 1080 60P at best full is bad, flips between 2 & 10 fps, but I set it to Preview full, and I get 29.97 fps which for me works just fine.

This is my first Gopro, and I am quite impressed with that little camera.

And this is where my little "trick" comes in. By exchanging the dll with an earlier version you get much better playback.

[I]This is my first Gopro, and I am quite impressed with that little camera.[/I]

Agreed, it is my third one, but by far the best pictures. I am shooting 2.7K 24 fps in Medium FOV and have finally managed to get Mercalli V4 SAL to stabilise it nicely. The results are very good, especially after I put it thru Resolve 11 Lite and tweak it further.

OldSmoke, I looked back over this thread and did not see any reference to your little 'trick'. Where is it?

It's in the link Nick Hope referes to quite a couple of posts earlier.

Thank you, I was looking for a post with your name on it :-(

Last time I checked, the GoPro studio encoder worked just fine in Vegas' pipeline.
Life's so short, why complicate things if only for the sake of complication?

Wouldn't that mean transcoding it?

Yes, to Cineform 10 bit 422 2.2 gamma.
The native Protune itself is packed in an 8 bit 420 1.0 gamma container.
Vegas has no native ability to unpack Protune, but does so brilliantly with Cineform in a 32 bit float project.
Thought we covered this two or three times already?

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=856071

When I tried GoPro Studio, it cropped the image, so I was less than impressed by it.

[I]Life's so short, why complicate things if only for the sake of complication?[/I]

What exactly does that mean?

As I said originally, Vegas 12 simply would NOT even register the GoPro 4 Black files.
There was no way at all my version of Vegas 12 could even ingest the files.
However I downloaded the trial version of Vegas 13 & yes the Files imported fine, even 4K clips with ProTune on.
However the playback was terrible.
After Nick helped me to install the above mention folder, Vegas 12 now not only plays the files but ingests them natively which makes me very happy.
So again, a massive thankyou to OldSmoke & Nick Hope :)
I would be lost without you guys :)
Cheers Pete.

Geebax, it means that several people believe they can unpack flatline gamma to delivery status in Vegas by hand with no reference, guides, or presets, and achieve consistent results. Not only am I skeptical, I tried it myself, and got what I wanted visually, after hours of tinkering.

Correcting native Protune in Vegas is nothing close to a production workflow, but rather the realm of hobbyists and tinkerers who have surplus of time on their hands. Gopro Cineform gets the job done quickly and consistently, leaving us far more latitude (and time) for editing and fine grading.

I have a couple of students who always choose the ocd solution and the most complicated possible workflow, regardless of any possible effect on the outcome. I am convinced they are enamored by the complexity of the process, not the results. That's because they forget to turn their masterpiece in once it's completed.
That's what I meant.

If everyone would read and learn from the great posts at cineform.blogspot.com first, starting Oct. 2012, these threads would be much shorter. Native Protune is more of a storage than an editing container.

Until David Newman and Sony put their heads together and give us some G-log presets (just made that up) for Vegas 12 and up, native Protune in Vegas does not present a viable production workflow.

I always look for your posts and refreshing point of view. Best for the holidays.

But if you don't use Protune? Wouldn't it then make it more complicated to go the GoPro Studio route?