Why are my AVI files in Premiere coming out black?

DriftRoot · Post by **DriftRoot** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 9:58 am

I'm using some raws in Premiere, and have run into an annoying situation that someone around here probably knows how to solve very easily.

The AVI files were run through VDM with Hyffyuv and should be all set to go. It imports fine, it comes up on the monitor fine, but any clip I place on the timeline and attempt to preview shows up completely black. I've also tried exporting some still frames and they are black. It's worth mentioning that the original raw files also can be imported, but also come out black.
Also - VDM is having a really horrible time with the raw files, it can barely play them back. The resulting recoded files (post job) are unacceptably huge, to boot.

Someone's going to scream xvid/divx warnings at me, I know, but it's not my fault that's how the raws were originally encoded! I wouldn't be using the wretched things if I could get my hands on DVDs instead, trust me.

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 11:15 am

Are all the video tracks on the timeline enabled?

DriftRoot · Post by **DriftRoot** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 11:55 am

Of course.

DriftRoot · Post by **DriftRoot** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 11:55 am

whoa, how the heck did my sig get that big??!! *rushes to fix*

DriftRoot · Post by **DriftRoot** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 8:33 pm

I decided to experiment with the same files in AE, which throws a fit and won't play them at all, provoking the following message:

"After Effects error: retrieving frame from video stream. (3) (53 :: 34)"

This look familiar to anyone? There's something weird with these files, it's not just me![/img]

Moonie · Post by **Moonie** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 8:37 pm

Maybe it has something to do with the frame rate.
I had a raw anime episode before that was 120fps! >_<
and it didn't play smooth through VDM

Gox777 · Post by **Gox777** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 9:50 pm

So you converted xvid/divx avi's to huffy in vdub but they still don't show up in the timeline?
Do you have ffdshow installed by chance?
If you do, try changing the settings in it so that huffyuv is set to decode huffy files instead of libavcodec. (Or vice-versa)

madbunny · Post by **madbunny** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 10:37 pm

moonie211 wrote:Maybe it has something to do with the frame rate.
I had a raw anime episode before that was 120fps! >_<
and it didn't play smooth through VDM

That would actually account for the huffy being godawful huge. There is a complex and annoying reason why fansubbers do it that way for HD raws, but either way...

Try making a small clip and changing the frame rate to what you want. I had a similar problem with my .Hack Gu and Haruhi HD stuff. See if your clip does what you need and is the right size.

madbunny · Post by **madbunny** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 10:38 pm

sorry for double.

I meant, use VDM to make some new clips at the desired frame rate.

Willen · Post by **Willen** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 2:56 am

Check the raw video properties with AVIcodec or GSpot. If it says 119.88 fps for the video framerate then that is your problem for the ungodly huge files. A simple SelectEvery(4) for 29.97fps or SelectEvery(5) for 23.976fps in AviSynth should suffice. FDecimate(29.97) or (23.976) would also work.