VirtualDub can't read my files

[GTAce]

Hey guys,

i hope this is the right place for this.
I have a big problem with VirtualDub and cant find a solution for this. I want to make some GIFs out of a video, so i converted the .mov i had to an AVI file with SUPER2010 (the AVI works in Windows Media Player), but when i want to load this into VirtualDub, it tells me it needs a VFW codec. After a quick Google search i found the PANADV codec from Panasonic which, according to some forum posts i found, should solve my problem. But when i try to install it, Windows (XP SP3) tells me this could be dangerous and damage my system. Since i cant risk to "lose" my PC i wanted to ask if i should do this or not, or if there is even a better solution for this.

Thanks in advance.


P.S.: Yes, i am a noob.

 

[Bludd]

What format is the video stream in the AVI? Identify it, get ffdshow, enable the codec you identified in the VFW options of ffdshow and you're cooking with gas.

 

[GTAce]

I converted it to H.264.
Will download ffdshow now and try it out.

 

[GTAce]

Okay, sorry for the double post but i didnt knew you cant edit here.
I downloaded ffdshow and now can open the file in VirtualDub, but i get no video, the screen in VD stays black. I opened ffdshows VFW options and choosed H.264, but it still doesnt work. 8/

 

[Bludd]

I trust you went into the VFW options, selected the decoder tab and enabled libavcodec for H.264/AVC.

 

[GTAce]

When i go into the VFW options and go to the decoder tab, the libavcodec H.264/AVC is the first one in the list. I can only mark it with the mouse and click ok or cancel. I clicked ok, tried to load the video in VD but still nothing.

 

[pcchen]

Maybe you can try to re-encode with a simpler codec instead of H.264, such as motion JPEG? I believe that VirtualDub support motion JPEG by default.

 

[GTAce]

Will this hurt the quality, especially the framerate?
I made GIFs before, with the Windows Movie Maker and converted the WMVs to GIFs, but the quality from WMM is not really satisfying.

I will check out if i can convert the original .mov or my already converted AVI to a motion JPEG with SUPER.

 

[pcchen]

If you convert from the original mov file, and set a reasonable compression rate, there shouldn't be a loss of quality compared to H.264, since motion JPEG is essentially just JPEG compression for each frame. A reasonable JPEG compression rate is around 1:10 to 1:20.

If you don't want any quality loss, you may want to try a lossless codec, although that would require a huge amount of space (normal lossless codec achieves only around 1:2 compression rate). HuffYUV is probably the most commonly used lossless codec, but it's not updated for quite a few years. Lagarith is another lossless codec.

 

[Bludd]

If you have Quicktime and Photoshop, you can open the mov there.

 

[GTAce]

@pcchen: SUPER doesnt have MJPEG but it has something called "Sequence Of Images", is this the same?

@Bludd: I have both (QT free & Photoshop 7), but i dont know what you mean and what Photoshop has to do with that (Photoshop cant open videofiles).

 

[Bludd]

Yes it can, but it may have been a new feature of CS1.

Anyway, here are two different approaches you can try:

1) Using Avisynth and Virtualdub:

Install Avisynth http://sourceforge.net/projects/avisynth2/
Make sure your MOV-file can be watched in a DirectShow-based video player like Media Player Classic or WMP (since you're on XP)
Create a txt-file containing this (you must edit it to reflect your situation):

directshowsource ("filename.mov", audio=false)

Save the file (file-ending for avisynth scripts is .avs) and drag&drop the file into Vdub.

2) Convert your mov to something more usable using VLC http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html
Use the convert/save feature, remember to set the destination filename, and use AVI encapsulation and M-JPEG as videocodec.


Out of these two, I like Avisynth more, because it is much more powerful and you can do more neat stuff with it. Play with it!

 

[GTAce]

Ahh, it works in ImageReady, well, it is at least possible in some way.
I tried to load the .mov and the AVI complete, didnt work "Not enough memory", then i tried to load a selected scene and got a plug-in error, now it doesnt even load the preview window.

Why is it so complicated to make short animated GIFs out of a video?
I think i will give up, its too annoying.

 

[Bludd]

Try increasing the scratch-file for Imageready.

 

[GTAce]

Ha, i just restarted the programm (3 times), now it works. <8)
Thanks for the tip, i didnt knew that ImageReady can read .mov files.