Hello..
This is a "Top Ten" question for all combustion users...
The below info is collected from a variety of other users.
It should explain what you need to know:
Combustion on Windows with DV-AVIs ...
The support for DV and 1394 that is built into Windows uses Microsoft's DirectShow media system .. BUT: Combustion (windows version) does NOT support that DirectShow system !
Combustion only supports Video-for-Windows and QuickTime. Therefore, a work around is required.
There are two possible work around solutions:
1) Simply use a third party software, such as Movie Maker, Vegas, or Premiere 6: First, capture and save the video files as a Type-1 OpenDML Dv AVI files using DirectShow. (Again, Combustion can NOT directly read that file as it does not read the DirectShow Dv codec.) Next, you EXPORT from your editing software (Premiere, Vegas Video, etc.) using either QuickTime (which includes a Dv codec) or another third party Video-for-Windows-compatible Dv codec (such as the one from MainConcept.)
Note: if you use the Video-for-Windows AVI route make sure you generate "non-OpenDML AVI files."
Hint: QuickTime 5 is probably the easiest route since you won't have to buy a codec!
But, some tests have proven that the MainConcept Dv AVI codec performs very well.
Hint: if you want to export a still frame, it is easy to using Vegas Video (save snapshot) or Premiere (export image). Some DV capture applications will also save stills directly to image files.
2) An fast alternative to importing Type-1 Open DML DV AVI files (without re-encoding) is to use QuickTime Pro 5 or 6. Note: QT Pro is NOT the free version, rather the "Professional Upgrade." which you can buy at www.apple.com/quicktime. First open the DV AVI file in QuickTime Pro Movie Player. By default the preview in the QuickTime Pro Movie Player will look poor in quality, with low resolution and blocky pixilation. This is just QuickTime's default Dv playback mode. Your final import to combustion will NOT reflect this low quality. Combustion doesn't require for the QuickTime "high quality" settings in order to get full resolution Dv decoding, unlike many other applications such as Photoshop's ImageReady. Next, save the clip as a QuickTime "reference movie" using the File->Save As command. In the "Save As" dialog you should change the file extension from .AVI to .MOV and make verify that the "Save normally (allowing dependencies)" is selected. This will create a small file with the same name as the original AVI file, but with a QuickTime .MOV extension. This file just references the original AVI file -- Note that they act as a