Reaper Video Import Problem

[alpop]

Hi! I just got Reaper, and I am old, (64) and not adept at digital tech! Maybe someone here can help me with a stumbling block I've encountered. I have Windows 10 and have recorded videos of myself playing that are in my files. When I import one into Reaper, I get a message saying: "video is offline." Can anyone help me get past this issue?

I have successfully posted a few videos in the Practical Standards thread with just the iphone audio/video but am hoping to be able to improve the audio quality for future videos.

Anyone else experience this: "video is offline?"

[fep]

I'm not sure your exact steps but I think I may have had that problem in the past when I didn't first copy the video from my phone to a folder into my computer.

My steps:

1 - open reaper, create a project file name (you may have to select File/Save Project, if that window is not set to appear in your preferences). Navigate so the song will go in the folder Reaper Projects, give it a file name, select the buttons near the bottom of that window "Create subdirectory for project" and "Copy all media into project directory". Click save.

2 - Plug your phone into your computer, in file explorer navigate to the video you want to import, right click on it, select copy from the menu, navigate to Reaper Project folder and then to your song name folder, right click in that folder and select paste.

3 - Reduce the size of the file explorer window, and drag your video from the file explorer window into the track panel section of the reaper screen (the main area to the left). This will automatically create a track and put your video into the project.

Works every time... never fails. (I am younger, 63). There are other workflows to accomplish this (as there always seem to be), this is my workflow. I like to have all my files in my song project file, including my video files if I'm doing video.

[alpop]

I'm not sure your exact steps but I think I may have had that problem in the past when I didn't first copy the video from my phone to a folder into my computer.

My steps:

1 - open reaper, create a project file name (you may have to select File/Save Project, if that window is not set to appear in your preferences). Navigate so the song will go in the folder Reaper Projects, give it a file name, select the buttons near the bottom of that window "Create subdirectory for project" and "Copy all media into project directory". Click save.

2 - Plug your phone into your computer, in file explorer navigate to the video you want to import, right click on it, select copy from the menu, navigate to Reaper Project folder and then to your song name folder, right click in that folder and select paste.

3 - Reduce the size of the file explorer window, and drag your video from the file explorer window into the track panel section of the reaper screen (the main area to the left). This will automatically create a track and put your video into the project.

Works every time... never fails. (I am younger, 63)

That is fantastic, above and beyond the call of duty! Very generous of you to take the time to respond in such detail. I will follow your steps and see how things work out. You youngsters have all the answers!!

[grahambop]

I suspect the basic issue here is that when you ‘import’ media into a program like Reaper (or a video editor like Powerdirector), it does not actually copy the source media file into it. It just points to that file and then remembers all the editing instructions that are subsequently applied to it. That’s why the resulting saved project file is quite small, it is really just a list of instructions.

So if the source media file is not actually present on the same device, or gets moved, the program can’t see it any more.

At least that’s my relatively non-techy understanding.

I sometimes see ‘offline’ displayed in the waveforms when I open an existing Reaper project, but it always goes away after a few seconds. I assume that’s just my computer being a bit slow to access and read all the underlying media files.

[Michael Neverisky]

I follow the the same process as old man fep, and it works for me, a mere 62.8333 year old.

[alpop]

It turns out that my issue was that I needed something called a VLC in order to import the videos. I downloaded one, and now I am off and running (crawling) and am able to import videos.
In my naivete I had assumed that everything needed to operate Reaper was included with the Reaper download. I am learning new things and getting younger every day! However, there is no chance that I will refuse my Old Age Pension cheques when they start arriving later this year!

Alan