Need help with AVI files, Quicktime, and Final Cut Express

[pUREcoin]

I just got a mac for school and having used PC all my life forgive any ignorances on my part. I am just playing around with it right now and I noticed that some of the video files I have won't play properly in quicktime. I downloaded and installed Periana and that helped kind of. Now all I can watch is the first five seconds of the file. VLC seems to run it fine however in order for me to use the file in Final Cut Express it says I need to be able to run it on quicktime.

Short and Sweet - I need a way to expand the codecs (I assume it is a codec problem) of QT/FCE for video editing.

 

[spinnerlys]

If you wanna edit video files you also have to consider what codecs those video files use.

.avi, .mov, .mkv, et cetera are containers for video and audio information using different codecs like Xvid/Divx, H264, MPEG-4, MPEG-2 and so on.

Those codecs are meant for distribution of video, not for editing it.

To edit such files using those codecs, you have to convert them into something editable. Final Cut Express uses the .mov (QuickTime) container with the DV codec and the Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) and some others.
Those codecs store every frame of the video, which is necessary for editing.
Codecs like Xvid/Divx, H264, MPEG-4, MPEG-2 and so on store every 15th frame for example, which is not usable for editing.

To convert your video files to something editable use either MPEG Streamclip or some other software.

Using MRoogle (my signature) will find you plenty of threads discussing the issues you have encountered.