I downloaded this program a while ago. I have Vista. I have got to the point that I can open Avid DV Free, but nothing works. I have used Avid Express at school, and it's obvious that these two programs are different. I know that at school, we have a little avid drive for all the footage and stuff. I was wondering if I have to have a drive to be able to use footage.

Also, My friend uses a DVD Camcorder. I was wondering if I could get the footage from the discs into Avid without having to use a deck or anything.

I just need help in general with the beggining. Any help would be appreciated.

Free DV has been discontinued for quite some time. It was never qualified to run on Vista, an OS that appeared long after Free DV was available.

Hi,

As Job says, FreeDV was killed off nearly 2 years ago, and never ran under Vista.  That said, you might try running it in XP mode and see if you can get anywhere.  You don't absolutely need a separate drive for media, it's just a good idea, and as for the camcorder, if you can hook it up via firewire, you might be able to capture from it.  Failing that you could try converting the DVD footage to Quicktime and importing it.

good luck,
Carl 

Well I have it installed and such. I have it running in the XP mode. I have had it all proper. It is really just an issue of getting something into the bins and such. I have tried to put JPEG images in, I have tried MP3 files, M4A, Quicktime videos, and I always get an error. It always has just a general error, or it will say something like, it may be unusable. That's why I left the details that I have vista and that I have no drive to see of that was a possible problem. But I guess it isn't. I would just like to put something in the bins and be able to work with it. Without errors.

lucasino:

I have tried to put JPEG images in, I have tried MP3 files, M4A, Quicktime videos, and I always get an error.

lucasino:

would just like to put something in the bins and be able to work with it. Without errors.

This is awfully vague..."putting something in the bins" without describing your workflow to do so doesn't give us much to go on to troubleshoot. Are you using the import tool to bring these files into the avid domain, or are you trying to copy a raw file from the desktop into a bin? Please give us your workflow and post whatever specific error messages you are getting and also post anything reported by the console tool that relates to this. Sorry if this is very basic, but we have no idea what your skill level is and we're trying to help you.

I am sorry for being so vague. Pretty much, I would open up Avid Free DV, and open my new project, and try and drag and drop these different media types (seperately of coarse) into my blank bin. Now that I have tried the second method. I have opened it up in the same way, and then I go to my bin and right-click and click import. Then I tried all the different media types again. The videos (AVI, MP4) both said "Not enough free space on this drive." Then I tried the MP3 audios and M4A for that matter, and they say "Imported audio tracks may be unusable" Lastly, I tried the same method with JPEG images. That came with an error "DISK_ACCESS_DENIED." I am sorry, but I would really love this to work. Tell me if you need any more.

lucasino:

The videos (AVI, MP4) both said "Not enough free space on this drive."

Try another drive with more free space.

lucasino:

I tried the MP3 audios and M4A for that matter, and they say "Imported audio tracks may be unusable"

The codecs in those files may not be supported.

lucasino:

I tried the same method with JPEG images. That came with an error "DISK_ACCESS_DENIED."

That's likely a drive permissions issue.

These three scenarios are not necessarily related to each other at all, it just seems that you have 3 seperate issues all of which seem to result in not getting media imported to a bin.

Access denied is a permissions issue. Check this procedure.

I don't care so much about the JPEGs so I just won't worry right now. For the video files, how would I change the drive?  Also, I don't see why. It was just set up to default, so I am guessing it will just be based on my C drive and I still have 100 or so gigs. Any way, for the audio, what codecs would be proper? And again, when I used to be on Avid Express at school, I would just bring my songs in on a flash drive in the same format they are in now, and I would have no problem. Unless it's just a free thing. But I don't know. I hate being naggy, but I still need some more, please. (At least we have identified the problem(s).)

In the Avid world, it's standard procedure to write captured and imported media files to a separate drive, either internal, external, or a RAID array, and not on the system C: drive. You would change what drive your media file goes to by selecting the proper drive in the destination tab which will always be a part of the pop-up dialogs anytime you capture, import, render an effect, create a title, or perform an audio and/or video mixdown. The reason for separate drives is that the system drive has enough work to do just managing and running a very demanding program, let alone be tasked with storing, retrieving, accurate cueing and playback of media stream fragments seamlessly in real time. For audio importing, your best bets are AIFF and WAVE files - I don't know if Free DV had mp3 compatibility. Remember, you're working with a very stripped down version of the full software, so a lot a features are missing.

So is it possible to run that part off the C: Drive? I mean, it's obviously not recommended and I am sure it's not a good thing to do, but I don't have many other options. I hope not to be doing to much. I will try and get an external drive as soon as possible, but for now, just for playing around and testing it out, I want to try my C: Drive. If it is possible, how would I do it?

I sort of got that impresstion that it was just because it was the free version. That's okay though. I will convert those files. Thank you for that.

While it is not recommended, you can load some media files on the C: drive, but after a certain point you'll probably start having performance issues and get video and audio underrun errors. But, if this is your only option now, just choose C: drive in the pop-up dialogs when the drive destination tab is there.