I worked on my project for over a month. And now I can't open it. I get a mesage "Incompatible Project Format ...". I think I know what could have happened. I restored Windows to a previous date to kill the virus, Which could have made changes to the project folder. But how do I get back a month worth of work. I even tried to restore windows to current date but it did not work.

I did everything that I could find in posts on this subject but nothing worked so far. Please Help!

1. File name .stx and folder names are the same

2. Changed both names - did not work.

3. moved .stx file and project folder to a different drive and changed the names and still nothing.

I'm using version 10.7

Please help,

 Thanks

Thhats a gutter mate...... I had it happen to me just after i read this thread !! weird or what...... albeit my project took just over an hour to redo.

I didnt have any luck either renaming etc.......so just deleted the lot and redid it.

 

I did learn from it though, i saved 3 copies of it, so if the one i was working on crashed and corrupted the files, the other 2 would be fine.

Maybe you can consider this for next time.

I am running the same as you studio 10.7, but all i was doing was adding preview thumbnails to the sub menu buttons, and the pc froze.

Best of luck with your project, I know how annoyed i was with losing it after about 8 hours work, let alone 1 months work....sheesh !!

Thanks for reply Dean,

 

The thing is that it happened to me before with the same project, and I had to redo it over ones before. This time three different project got fried. And two of them were on a different internal drive. So saving several copies of the projects probably would not help in this case, unless they are saved on an external media and it is disconnected while restoring Windows. I think that if there are any changes done to the project folder outside of the Pinnacle it becomes unusable.

I did burn the disk image from one of them, but can’t get it back into the timeline. Its .vob files and I can play them with my VLC Media player but Pinnacle does not recognize them. Renaming these files to .avi did no work. Any suggestions?

Usually when I finish the project, I burn the DVD and then save the movie back onto the tape. I think tape is safer than DVD disk. But this time my brother took the camera with him on a vacation. So sh…t happens I guess.

May be gurus from Pinnacle have any suggestions on how to get this projects back, or even some parts of it.

 

Thanks.

buba:

I worked on my project for over a month. And now I can't open it. I get a mesage "Incompatible Project Format ...". I think I know what could have happened. I restored Windows to a previous date to kill the virus, Which could have made changes to the project folder. But how do I get back a month worth of work. I even tried to restore windows to current date but it did not work.

I did everything that I could find in posts on this subject but nothing worked so far. Please Help!

1. File name .stx and folder names are the same

2. Changed both names - did not work.

3. moved .stx file and project folder to a different drive and changed the names and still nothing.

I'm using version 10.7

Please help,

 Thanks

I get a mesage "Incompatible Project Format ...".

If Error Message states:....... "Project is from an earlier version of Studio", Kayla's Renaming Trick, usually works.

If Error Message states:......."Project is from a later Version of Studio" & you created the Project in S10.7, I'm afraid you can't Open the Project & you'll have to Re-do it. 

I restored Windows to a previous date to kill the virus, Which could have made changes to the project folder.

I agree.

But how do I get back a month worth of work

I'm afraid you can'tI did everything that I could find in posts on this subject but nothing worked so far

Those Posts would have been mine.

3. moved .stx file and project folder to a different drive and changed the names and still nothing.

Doing that would have compounded the problem further. You can Copy a Project Folder to another Drive, but NEVER  Move it.

There's no point in wasting anymore of your time in attempting to recover your Project. I'm afraid you'll have to "Bite the bullet" & re-do your Project & do a "Save As", instead of  "Saving" each Edit, "Saving As" each Edit to the same Project Name, but with incremental numbers, eg; Cat 1, Cat 2, Cat 3 etc. That way, if you lose your last Edit Project, you can Open the previous one, without having to re-do your whole Project.

The safest way, is to Render each Edit to File DV-AVI & "Save As" eg; Cat 1.avi, Cat 2.avi, Cat 3.avi etc. Dropping those into the TimeLine, for a final Render. That way, you don't lose anything.

Good luck  

Its .vob files and I can play them with my VLC Media player but Pinnacle does not recognize them. Renaming these files to .avi did no work. Any suggestions?

vob files are mpeg-2. You should rename them to *.mpg.

Alternatively, and probably a better bet, you should be able import the DVD image using "Import DVD titles" from the file menu of Studio, or both of those suggestions fail, try using a program such as Super C (free) to convert the vobs into mpegs or AVIs.

Thanks colour,

 

You are right, most of the posts that I’m referring to were yours. And the message was “from the later Version of Studio” so I’ll just roll up my sleeves again.

On your recommendation on “Save file As” I did not find an option DVD-AVI, but in make movie section I have an option of saving my project as AVI, Mpeg 1,2,4 or Sony PSP Compatible. Which one will give the least quality loss?

 

Regards,

Jeff,

 

You are a life saver, why didn’t I ever think of that. I guess because I don’t have enough experience. Renaming the .vob to .mpg worked just fine. You gave me three weeks of my life back.

 

Thanks!!!

On your recommendation on “Save file As” I did not find an option DVD-AVI, but in make movie section I have an option of saving my project as AVI,

DV - AVI (There are a number of different AVI File Formats)

Which one will give the least quality loss?

AVI - No quality loss.  

buba:

Jeff,

 

You are a life saver, why didn’t I ever think of that. I guess because I don’t have enough experience. Renaming the .vob to .mpg worked just fine. You gave me three weeks of my life back.

 

Thanks!!!

Congrats Jeff

You gave me three weeks of my life back.

Glad it worked. Best to check the audio sync before you go too far. You might just want to try re-rendering a section to see the sync doesn't slip, but it should be OK particularly if the vob was made by Studio.

I'm glad the VOB to Mpeg trick still works.

Did you ever get a fix for this?  This has happened to me repeatedly with Studio - I, too, use 10.7.  I don't feel confident that upgrading would help!  I just finished a 20 minute project containing video clips and stills which I've worked on for several weeks and now it won't open... This happened to me when I was making one for my mother's 80th b-day, too, and I had to start all over after a month of work.  Also, when I preview the project, sometimes the video acts like a still and won't play (only the audio plays).

Does anyone know of a decent program that doesn't have all the issues Studio does??

when I preview the project, sometimes the video acts like a still and won't play (only the audio plays).

It sounds like you're system is having a hard time playing back your project.

vjanef:

Did you ever get a fix for this?  This has happened to me repeatedly with Studio - I, too, use 10.7.  I don't feel confident that upgrading would help!  I just finished a 20 minute project containing video clips and stills which I've worked on for several weeks and now it won't open... This happened to me when I was making one for my mother's 80th b-day, too, and I had to start all over after a month of work.  Also, when I preview the project, sometimes the video acts like a still and won't play (only the audio plays).

Does anyone know of a decent program that doesn't have all the issues Studio does??

Welcome to the Forum

Dell Inspiron Laptop

Please enter your PC's Full Hardware Specs into your Profile. It may be that it's insufficient for Running S10. How to, in THIS Post.

I just finished a 20 minute project containing video clips and stills which I've worked on for several weeks and now it won't open...

&

Also, when I preview the project, sometimes the video acts like a still and won't play (only the audio plays).

2 conflicting statements here. If the Project does Open, then it's not due to an "Incompatible Format".

Try these in the following order:

1) Defragment your HDD

2) In XP, got to: Start / My Computer / Right-Click on HDD Icon / Properties / Error Checking / Check Now & do both Error Checks sequentially.

3) Select the whole of your Open Project in the TimeLine / Copy / Open a New (Empty) Project / Paste into the New Project TimeLine.

Does anyone know of a decent program that doesn't have all the issues Studio does??

No such Video Editing Prog exists. Video Editing Progs per se, are dependent upon a variety of different PC hardware & Software Specs, User workflows & competence. 

BTW - S10.7 is the most stable Version of S10. Upgrading to a another Version isn't a panacea for solving any problems you have in a current Version. Hopefully you can get those identified & Fixed on this Forum.

   

Yes I agree, it would help if you post your computer's specs. that would help us gauge the issue better.