During the Fall of 2017, I spoke with some of you asking about a fix for video engine failures in Pro Tools running on a PC with the new Windows 10 (Creators release). No one knew of any solutions at the time…. I had also combed the internet looking for postings related to the issue; again, to no avail. Our resident AVID Tech in our department at CSUN tried everything suggested on the AVID site; and even our Pro Tools master instructor & textbook author could not solve it.
Video files that used to run under QuickTime no longer worked. Codecs were up to date, QuickTime was up to date. But Pro Tools kept indicating «video engine failure» and inability to recognize codecs — even though these same exact files used to run flawlessly prior to Windows 10 (Creators upgrade). I tried using different programs to convert older files to DNxHD, which should have fixed things, But even they did not play.
During December 2017, I needed to renew my annual academic Pro Tools subscription, and was speaking with Sweetwater Sound. After completing the transaction, they transferred me to their in-house Avid Tech. Lo and behold, Eric was more than aware of the problem — and just recently his team at Sweetwater came up with a solution! Apparently. this issue affected a whole lot of end users.
The problem is that the new Windows 10 cut off support for Apple QuickTime (which Pro Tools uses). Regular attempts to reformat video files into Avid DNxHD using QuickTime created files that still were not recognized by Pro Tools.
Sweetwater eventually figured out that a specific conversion program was able to get around the Windows limitations and handshake with QuickTime to produce Pro Tools compatible Avid DNxHD clips.
The trick is to download: MPEG_Streamclip_1.21.b6 which downloads as a zipped folder and to execute that program under Windows 7 Compatibility. (found under properties).
After opening MPEG_Streamclip (as Windows 7 compatible)…. open FILE and select your video clip, and then select EXPORT to QuickTime. In the QuickTime dropdown menu, select Avid DNxHD as the desired format (using the default low res video image; some systems may be okay with a higher res video).
These newly created files appear to work perfectly in sessions that previously refused to recognize video clips (including DNxHD). Not sure what the difference is, but for whatever magical reason — these clips play just fine, and I was able to add/delete/replace video clips in older sessions as well as brand new sessions.
Feel free to pass this along to your editing students who may be struggling with Windows 10. This has not been an issue with Windows 7 or 8 on older machines.
Sweetwater will be posting this workaround to their online Knowledge board in a couple weeks, but until then, just forward this email to students and colleagues. Or speak with Erik in Avid Customer Support at Sweetwater Sound.
Addendum: I just returned from NAMM 2018, where I had an opportunity to discuss this issue with reps from AVID at their booth. In spite of how wide spread the problem was, they were MAC people and not familiar with it, although they were aware of general issues regarding Windows 10 and QuickTime. QuickTime for Windows was deemed as a security risk, so Apple stopped supporting it for Windows. AVID did just release their new version, Pro Tools 2018. As of this posting, PT2018 has only been out a couple of days, so the verdict is not in as to whether the video engine issue has been solved yet or not. Please leave comments with feedback.
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shake_puig
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Hello, I installed the pro tools 12.5 on a new Windows 10 reinstall, when I try to enable video engine it fills the bar but gets stuck. In the previous windows 10 install it didn’t happen, I tried reinstalling vcredist and other Quicktime versions but it doesn’t work.
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boomoperator
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Yup, join the club. And thanks for the message, because I wanted to reinstall PT myself, wondering if that would do the trick. Apparently no. You’re right, it did work, so it must be a Windows update.
I guess your only option to play video in PT 12 (other than finding a Windows version that did work and stop it from updating)
is to use a third party software like Xjadeo (free) or LTC-Midi reader/converter ($70,-). They will sync to MTC and playback video.
Both have a cumbersome setup that I couldn’t figure out very quick, there’s not much support. See this thread: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/pos…ayer-sync-pro-tools-mtc-mmc.html#post14931215
Because of this I learned working with Steinberg Nuendo, which isn’t too bad..
PT 12 on Windows is dead in the water when it comes to Audio for Video work. An update is very welcome (hint).https://www.videotoolshed.com/product/ltc-midi-readerconverter/
http://xjadeo.sourceforge.net-
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shake_puig
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Update:
I finally got it working! I tried another uninstall/reinstall, this time I dragged the install folder in my desktop (I was running it from a secondary drive before), then absolutelly delete everything from Pro Tools (Avid folder, plugin folder, digidesign folder…). I tried it and it works now, maybe it’s from something else or it’s just luck at this point. Anyway, I hope this helps!
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boomoperator
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Great news, which version of Windows (and which update) do you use?
Do you mean you deleted those folders from your desktop or from somewhere else? -
shake_puig
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— Windows 10 Pro — version 2004 — OS build 19041.508
— First I uninstalled deleted everything from Pro Tools. Then I grabbed the Pro Tools installer and dragged it to the desktop to run it from there (In previous installations I executed the installer directly from the secondary drive, that may be a reason it failed to load video engine).-
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boomoperator
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thanks, will give it a try..
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pon_pon
Ultrasonic- Joined:
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video works perfect here with audioutopia
but i think only works from the last win10 updates.
I work with davinci resolve in video and ….maybe some dll was updated????
Protools instaled from another drive. -
Curly123456
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For me, FIXED!!!!!!!!!!!I downloaded the latest FFMpeg build from here: https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/packages/
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Curly123456
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My video engine also never launching FIXED!!!!!!!!!!!
I downloaded the latest FFMpeg build from here: https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/builds/packages/
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Fneltastik
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Fixed.
This is what worked for me after hours of installing/uninstalling Windows 10, PT and different drivers. Sorry for my bad english in advance.
In C:Program FilesAvidPro ToolsVideo Engine run AvidVideoEngine.exe and see what missing .dll you have (i had msvcp100.dll, msvcp110.dll, msvcr100.dll and msvcr110.dll) download those from the links below and paste the files in the same folder with AVE. After that i had the error 0xc000007b and for that i’ve downloaded DirectX 12 and Aio Runtime. Restart computer and everything works just fine.
Thought to post this here because this is the first forum i’ve checked when i’ve got this problem and there isn’t really any solution on internet how to solve infinite loading AVE, hope somebody who will encounter the same problem will see this and hope this helps.
Links:
https://www.dll-files.com/msvcp100.dll.html
https://www.dll-files.com/msvcp110.dll.html
https://www.dll-files.com/msvcr100.dll.html
https://www.dll-files.com/msvcr110.dll.html
https://www.mediafire.com/file/q1zqw7ytckytz4p/aio-runtimes_v2.4.6.exe/file -
boomoperator
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Thanks, but Curly’s trick installing FFMPEG already did the trick for me. Nothing wrong with your English..
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If you are a regular user of Windows Pro Tools and use video, odds are that when you’ve installed any of the 2020 releases, the first time you’ve fired up Pro Tools, you’ve seen this message. This is because, in recent releases, Avid has been having an issue with Windows installers, resulting in that they don’t always install all components in one go.
What can we do to prevent this? In this article, Post Production and Windows specialist Alan Sallabank, gives you the best workflow to ensure a smooth and complete install with your new Windows Pro Tools 2020.9 installer.
First Things First — Uninstall The Old Version
It’s very tempting to simply “over-install” when upgrading, but that is often where trouble can lie. First, from your desktop, press the Windows key on your keyboard and type the words, “Control Panel”.
This will bring up the shortcut to the old-style Windows Control Panel (different to the newer “Settings” page), where you can find the “Programs and Features” option.
From here you can bring up a list of all your installed software. It’s usually easiest to sort your installed programs by manufacturer. Assuming you already have a working AVE installation, you need to look for the Avid Video Engine, then select “Uninstall” (if you do not have the AVE already installed, you can skip this step).
Once you have done this, you can then uninstall Pro Tools. You don’t have to worry about losing all your settings or plug-ins, AS LONG AS YOU FOLLOW THESE STEPS.
Select the “Change” option — you won’t get an “Uninstall” option.
If you want to keep all your settings and plug-ins, be sure to select “Pro Tools Only”
Once the uninstall is finished (you may be asked to restart your system), you can now proceed to the next step.
Step Two — Install Pro Tools 2020.9
This is the usual procedure of unzipping the file you’ve downloaded from your Avid account and double-clicking the “Setup” application.
Once Pro Tools has installed, you are usually asked to restart your system. It’s always worth following this advice, as it allows Windows to tidy up and get its ship in order.
Step Three — Install The Avid Video Engine
If you now open Pro Tools, you will get the error message shown at the top of this article and below. So, your best bet is to avoid that entirely and instead go straight to Installing the Avid Video Engine.
Open Windows Explorer and navigate to your System Drive — usually C:.
You can copy and paste the following location into your Windows Explorer browser bar (just like with a web browser) —
C:Program FilesAvidPro ToolsPro Tools UtilitiesAvid Video Engine
Double-click on the “AvidVideoEngineSetup” application to install the AVE —
Once the AVE is installed, I’d always recommend another restart, to let Windows get itself in order again. Once you’ve done that, you can now fire up Pro Tools with the latest greatest video engine installed. Of course, don’t forget to enable the video engine first in the Playback Engine settings —
Final Step — Enjoy!
Congratulations — you’ve now got the Avid Video Engine on your Windows Pro Tools 2020.9 install. And double congratulations are in store — from all my years of experience running Pro Tools on both Windows and Macs, I’ve found that the AVE on Windows, for me, has been far more stable and reliable than on the Mac, especially when using Blackmagic hardware.
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