Capturing VHS via Dazzle-Vegas rejects avi

imaginACTION_films wrote on 2/2/2016, 6:02 PM

I'm capturing some old but important VHS tapes using the Dazzle DVC 100. This unit is not recognised in Vegas Pro 13 so I have used Pinnacle Studio Pro 18 to capture to an AVI.

The original VHS is PAL DV 4:3 25 fps.

Once captured, the AVI is not recognised in Vegas so I can't add it to the timeline either from Explorer or import media.

I tried rendering to WMV from Pinnacle and this file is recognised in Vegas. It does however display in stretched mode so I have to crop it back to a 4:3 video in Vegas.

QUESTION: Why can't Vegas play the captured AVI on the timeline?

Thanks
David

Comments

john_dennis wrote on 2/2/2016, 6:33 PM

Does Windows Media Player play the .avi from the Dazzle?

musicvid10 wrote on 2/2/2016, 7:15 PM

Forget Dazzle.
I order to open Pinnacle AVI files in Vegas, you need the Mainconcept MJPEG codec.
The trial decodes without a watermark, and doesn't expire, so you're set.

The answer to your question is that the files were captured using a Zoran hardware codec that Vegas doesn't recognize with its default MJPEG decoder.

You would get much better results with an old Canon ZR series camcorder from Goodwill, with the A->D passthrough connected to firewire on your computer.

imaginACTION_films wrote on 2/3/2016, 9:44 PM

Thanks Guys,
The video does open in Windows Media Player, although the 4:3 is stretched to widescreen.

I still have - and use - my Sony Z1 so I'll use the A->D converter on that and see how it goes.

xberk wrote on 2/3/2016, 11:27 PM

Recently I used my old Panasonic DV camcorder, GS250 to transfer a bunch of old VHS tapes. I went from the VCR to the GS250 via the A/V port and out the Firewire to the IEEE 1394 port on my old laptop with Vegas 8.0 handling the import. Worked great. If your VHS tapes are a bit ragged, you may need a better VCR with TCB, otherwise, decent tapes should do fine.

Here's my VHS transfer test:

.. at about 1:22 into this test the VCR with TCB shows what it can do.