Comments on: Cannot see .XviD avi files inside Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, am I missing a codec?

Question: Cannot see .XviD avi files inside Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, am I missing a codec?

cheero — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:24:41 -0800

Cannot preview .XviD avi files inside Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, am I missing a codec?

Hello all,

I'm trying to edit some video files I downloaded that are compressed with .Xvid. I basically try to load them inside Premiere Pro CS3 and its all black with no audio. Then I have to convert the file via TMPGEnc to windows media format which takes about an hour or so (for 25 mins worth of footage) and only then am I really able to see real footage. I am wondering if there is a faster way of doing this? Am I missing a codec for Premiere?

By: kbanas

kbanas — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:37:25 -0800

This may be a really stupid question, but have you installed the xvid codec from xvid.com?

By: kbanas

kbanas — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:37:56 -0800

Erm, I mean xvid.org.

By: cheero

cheero — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:39:47 -0800

Yes I have, I watch it inside VLC player just fine. It just won't preview in Premiere for some odd reaosn.

By: cheero

cheero — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:40:06 -0800

*reason.

(dammit).

By: majick

majick — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:51:20 -0800

"I watch it inside VLC player just fine."

VLC uses its own codecs, it doesn't use the codecs installed on the system. Playing something with VLC is not a valid test of what system codecs are or are not installed.

By: sharkfu

sharkfu — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:51:33 -0800

I could be mistaken, but I believe VLC brings its own built in codecs, so VLC isn't a good test if the codec is on your system. Can you play it through Windows Media Player? Or better yet have you run it through G Spot?

By: yeoz

yeoz — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:51:43 -0800

Being able to view it in VLC is not an actual indication that the xvid codec is actually installed, as the file could still be decoded via something like ffdshow, and not xvid.

By: sharkfu

sharkfu — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:52:27 -0800

you can download G Spot here.

By: zachlipton

zachlipton — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:02:25 -0800

If you can't get the codecs to work in Premiere, you could always try using VLC to convert the files to another format that Premiere can play, might be faster than TMPGEnc.

By: merocet

merocet — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:51:22 -0800

Try using this to change the codec info for the file from XVID to DIVX. I often get the same problem in Sony Vegas despite all codecs being installed.

By: dosterm

dosterm — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:55:25 -0800

Your best bet is to install the FFDShow filters. That should let you play any MPEG4 stream.

By: cheero

cheero — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:23:49 -0800

I've installed FFDShow filters, still all black in Premiere.

By: Pronoiac

Pronoiac — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:13:41 -0800

You might re-encode to mjpeg instead. Not DV, because that would probably introduce interlacing. Either of these is easier to decode & edit.

By: Clay201

Clay201 — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:24:52 -0800

My 'puter can't handle Premiere CS3. I'm stuck at Pro 1.5. But I can tell you that whenever I try to edit anything other than straight up-and-down DV, I usually run into problems. Some video will import just fine but shows up as solid black in the timeline. Some video plays, but with jerks and other random bugginess. Investigating, I was told by several supposedly knowledgeable folks that Premiere just wasn't designed to edit already compressed video and that I'd have to decompress (i.e. convert it to DV) first.

Though I haven't worked with it extensively, quicktime seems to be the exception that proves the rule From what I've seen, it behaves splendidly.

By: SageLeVoid

SageLeVoid — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:46:13 -0800

2nding the solution of converting your files in Motion Jpeg. I don't know Premiere that well but when you use a nle which ships with an intermediate codec such as Final Cut or Avid they will automatically convert your files into an editing friendly format.
Careful though this will take much more space on your hardrive and the process might be long depending on your hardware firepower.