   finding out what codec an AVI uses
  I have a video that is split up into 8 AVI's.  I wanted to use Adobe Premiere to stitch them together and compress them with the divx codec.  When I import them into the project premiere tells me that they use an unsupported compression format.  How can I determine what compression format the file uses?I can then (hopefully) find a free program to convert from that format to standard AVI.These came directly off someoene's camera, so I didn't expect them to be compressed at all.  (I'll ask the guy who owns the camera too).   ___________________________________________________________Where to find the intensity (Updated Feb 10, 2004)[edited by - amish1234 on February 18, 2004 11:17:31 PM]
  The AVIs are already in "standard AVI" form. AVI is just a container format and does not specify the format of the data it contains (it does place certain restrictions on it, but that''s another matter).Since I''m kind-of lazy, I''d just open the file with a hex editor and look for the "FOURCC" that identifies the codec used (it''ll be early on in the file). A "FOURCC" is just four ASCII encoded letters stored consecutively in four bytes.   ;  open it up in virtualdub, go to "File->File Information", and the codec will be listed in the box "Video Stream->Decompressor" ;  Use Adobe Premiere 5.I used that to do a video; I just dragged in some MPEG4 w/ MP3 sountracks and some QuickTime files into the timeline; it opened them and edited them fine.WHY can''t Premiere 6 do this? ;  There''s a program called gSpot that will tell you what codec''s an avi file requires. It''s completely free and only a 213Kb download (less if you dont use the installer). I find it invaluable when watching videos from the internet as then i only have to install the codecs i need (too many codecs installed is bad)I''ll save you the hassle and embarasment from searching on google and give you the direct link :Dhttp://www.headbands.com/gspot/   Mrs Kensington http://www.mikeditum.co.uk;  If you have Xvid installed, there''s a small utility included that tells you what codec is used for video data.   [My Image Gallery (WIP)][Greatest Tetris clone evar!][Return your stolen MP3s] ;  The AVI may be encoded with a DirectShow codec (use VirtualDub to check or just see if it needs to buffer). DirectShow codecs are designed for playback to the user (rather then outputting a bitmap they output to a surface), and so almost no video editing software can read them. You would either need to get the developer version of the codec if it exists, or use something like Stoik to convert them to a regular Video For Windows codec. As a side note some codecs have DirectShow decoders (such as DivX), but are still Video For Windows codecs - they just have more then one decoder. ;  I talked to the guy who owns the camera.  He said it's 14 fps video and that premiere wants it to be 30 fps.  So I need to find a utility that will convert it from 14 fps to 30 fps.  But, ya, it is standard AVI as I thought it would be. ___________________________________________________________Where to find the intensity (Updated Feb 10, 2004)   [edited by - amish1234 on February 19, 2004 12:56:34 PM];quote:Original post by amish1234  I talked to the guy who owns the camera.  He said it''s 14 fps video and that premiere wants it to be 30 fps.  So I need to find a utility that will convert it from 14 fps to 30 fps.  But, ya, it is standard AVI as I thought it would be. ___________________________________________________________Where to find the intensity (Updated Feb 10, 2004)   [edited by - amish1234 on February 19, 2004 12:56:34 PM]Premiere should be able to do that, at least the most recent version of pro.  However, if the original was recorded at the lower rate, you''ll probably see the quality decrease. 