Can't import any video into PPCs3 or imovie?

I've been trying for the last couple days to import videos into both premiere pro cs3 and imovie, and nothing works. I tried avi, and that didn't work. I converted it into mp4, and now it'll play in quicktime with no audio at all, but still won't import into either program. Then I tried a totally different video file that is mp4 video and aac audio (both apple formats) and it STILL doesn't work. Not only does the file not import to either program, but when i try to play it in quicktime, i just get audio with a black screen. I'm getting really frustrated with this, because I just bought a new macbook pro and it can't do anything with video, even when the video format is from APPLE. (note: I can watch everything fine in VLC - watching isn't the problem; i can't import them into anything to edit)

Try the first sample movie from this Apple link. I just imported and used it in iMovie 08. If this works, then I'd guess there is something odd about the format you are working with.

You may be interested in this other thread regarding import problems into iMovie 08.

Have you installed any third party codecs, such as Perian or some Divx stuff? Try removing them if you have.

I know zero about PPcs3, so I'd have to stick to some iMovie variant for this discussion.

I'll try that and see how it works. I finally got one video to work after converting it with isquint. The problem with the video i actually wanted is that isquint doesn't support the file format or some encoding in it (even though it's mp4) and so it won't convert any of the video, just audio. Now the only issue is that PPcs3 doesn't support mp4 apparently, and nothing else is working because apple doesn't support pretty much anything. So what I think I'm going to have to do is use PPcs3 on my windows machine, convert it to a .mov file (which should work on the mac...although with the way things are going, I guess I wouldn't be entirely surprised if it didn't either) and do all of the detailed editing on the mac. It's just a lot of hassle for something really simple. Kind of disappointing.

You didn't say where the video came from or what format is is originally in. That may be the key to someone helping out.

The acronym MP4 could be misleading as there are some messed up versions out there.

it's a video with the .mp4 file type, says it is h.264 with aac audio. opens in quicktime, plays audio but with blank screen.

Sounds to me that either the file is messed up, perhaps by the originating encoder software or by other means. But of course perhaps the QuickTime components don't understand that file format at some low level difference.

Perhaps the info window in VLC can give some more hints regarding the file attributes.

Since it sounds like you don't have it, try installing Perian.

Codecs are a messy issue. If you get that file to work in PPcs3 on your Windows box, then perhaps it is one of those messed up mp4 files I referred to earlier. You likely need to know the encoding software used and on what platform.

One converting application I've had luck with is ffmpegX. This is a GUI wrapper around some powerful command line tools. It is a bit of a hassle to set up but can be worth the time.