MP4

[toffey]

I can not open any MP4 file (let alone move to a track). So, I did things I read here in these post. I installed the latest version of QuickTime and changed the file type to MOV. Was then able to open and select to the time line. Now, when I play the clip in the time line it looks good. However, when I play the project the playback is very slow. Other file types work fine including clips that I mix with the MOV clip. The MOV part is slow and the WMD part is fine. Tried converting the MP4 to other formats but the quality suffers greatly. All this conversion really takes time. Will VS ever be able to read a MP4 file like other similar routines? Thanks much!

[DVDDoug]

Converting to another format*, perhaps with a 3rd-party conversion tool is probably the best option. What final format do you want? If you want MP4, you may need to convert it back to MP4 after editing...

Tried converting the MP4 to other formats but the quality suffers greatly.

There is always some quality loss, but for example you should be able to convert to MPEG-2 without too much quality loss if you use the same resolution & same framerate, but use 3 or 4 times the bitrate (for a file 3 or 4 times the size). Or if the file is not high-definition, you should be able to convert to DV/AVI with no noticeable quality loss.

All this conversion really takes time.

True! But sometimes we don't have a choice.

Will VS ever be able to read a MP4 file like other similar routines? Thanks much!

We don't have any inside information. I don't use MPEG-4, but I believe that Video Studio can handle some MP4 format variations better than others. There many different A/V formats, and each format has many different variations. Most of these formats (especially the highly compressed formats like MPEG-4 or WMV, etc.) were originally designed as final distribution formats and never designed to be edited. (I'm not trying to make excuses for Video Studio's poor handling of various formats... I do wish Video Studio would handle them better or at least give a warning that it can't handle the format properly!)

* The less-compressed formats (MPEG-2 or better-yet DV) tend to be less trouble-prone than the more-compressed more-advanced formats.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

What version of Video Studio are you using?
If your MP4 files are HD, make sure you are using Smart Proxy and that the proxy files have been created, these also take some time rendering.

[toffey]

Way too many conversions. I'm giving up on VS until I get some patch to fix reading MP4 HD files. BTW: Windows Live Movie Maker can read such files; but, the routine itself is not quite as robust as VS could be. It's hard to believe that VS can't do this. I've been a user of Paintshop for years so I know Corel can fix VS if they so desire. In any case, thanks for your responses.

[Black Lab]

I installed the latest version of QuickTime

Others can correct me if I am wrong (I don't use MOV files), but isn't it recommended those with problems roll back their QT to an earlier version?

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi Jeff

I would say you are correct and is indeed its worth doing.
Saying that from my own experience it seems to cure crash problems rather than Mov play problems,
and yes I could be corrected on that.

The OP has changed the file extension to Mov and is able to insert to video studio.
From the last post it appears that the video is HD and as such should use Smart Proxy.

I asked what version, if its X2 then Smart Proxy is not enabled, this would certainly cause the playback to be slow.