I.T. - Quicktime to Windows help please you nerds! ;-)

[K]

Ok nerlingers - just as I had got the hang of editting my old cameras Mpeg movies in Windows Movie Maker (downloaded at the nice advice of someone here)...

... my new camera saves its movies as Quicktime ones. :roll:

So - do I have to buy and download Quicktime Pro so I can convert them to a format WMM will accept?

Or - is there someother free, reliable, and legal bit of software I can use instead?

Oh yeah - most of the other students that I give these movie CDs out too don't have Quicktime, would rather not have to download it and are Horsey-computer-illiterate-dumber-than-me-which-is-saying-something-when-it-comes-to-technology types. :twisted:
So I'd rather not confuse their poor little brains by changing formats on them. ;)

[SoulKiss]

Ok nerlingers - just as I had got the hang of editting my old cameras Mpeg movies in Windows Movie Maker (downloaded at the nice advice of someone here)...

... my new camera saves its movies as Quicktime ones. :roll:

So - do I have to buy and download Quicktime Pro so I can convert them to a format WMM will accept?

Or - is there someother free, reliable, and legal bit of software I can use instead?

Oh yeah - most of the other students that I give these movie CDs out too don't have Quicktime, would rather not have to download it and are Horsey-computer-illiterate-dumber-than-me-which-is-saying-something-when-it-comes-to-technology types. :twisted:
So I'd rather not confuse their poor little brains by changing formats on them. ;)

Try this site

http://www.radgametools.com/bnkdown.htm

and grab the RAD Video Tools (http://www.radgametools.com/down/Bink/RADTools.exe)

I think that will do what you want - I have used it before :)

Or I sometimes use Mencoder on Linux for these kinds of things

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/dload.html

You will need the proggy and the GUI - they are separate items.

[Pedro68]

K,

Here's another one for you to try:
http://www.download.com/Apex-Video-Converter-Free/3000-2194_4-10656439.html?tag=lst-0-2

HTH,
Pete

[wyrdness]

There's a chance that they might not be quicktime movies. Windows might just think that they are. What is the file extension of the movie files? Right click the mouse on the movie icon and select properties. The filename will have .mov or .mpg or .somethingelse at the end.

My guess is that they're probably mpeg movies that Windows opens in Quicktime by default. They may even be in a newer format like h.264.

Quicktime is not actually a format. It's more like a container that can hold movies in lots of different formats. You need to know exactly what format you're using.

Try opening the video in Quicktime, select Movie Properties and then Video Track Format.
That should tell you what format the video is in.

[K]

Try opening the video in Quicktime, select Movie Properties and then Video Track Format.
That should tell you what format the video is in.

Unfortunately that option (Movie Properties) is only available in Quicktime Pro - not the basic programme.
Though I don't know the exact format - it's definately not Mpeg or anything else that can be imported into Windows Movie Maker.

I'm in the process of converting the first file using the programme Soulkiss suggested and it seems to be working so far.
There were a lot of confusing values and stuff - but I've just let everything blank and it seems to be sorting it out by itself. :oops:

I'll let you know if it works.

[SoulKiss]

Unfortunately that option (Movie Properties) is only available in Quicktime Pro - not the basic programme.
Though I don't know the exact format - it's definately not Mpeg or anything else that can be imported into Windows Movie Maker.

I'm in the process of converting the first file using the programme Soulkiss suggested and it seems to be working so far.
There were a lot of confusing values and stuff - but I've just let everything blank and it seems to be sorting it out by itself. :oops:

I'll let you know if it works.

The defaults are pretty sane, should work fine on defaults :P

[K]

Yup - just done the first one, brought it into WMM no probs. Sweet.

Thank you.:cheers::kiss:

[wyrdness]

Unfortunately that option (Movie Properties) is only available in Quicktime Pro - not the basic programme.

It works on my non-pro version, not that it matters, since you're converting the video anyway.

BTW, what camera is it?

[SoulKiss]

Yup - just done the first one, brought it into WMM no probs. Sweet.

Thank you.:cheers::kiss:

I think that Bink also supports batch conversion so you can give it a list and let it sort itself out.

[K]

It works on my non-pro version, not that it matters, since you're converting the video anyway.

BTW, what camera is it?

A Panasonic MDC-FZ18... and I have a sneaky suspiscion that it's cleverer than me. ;)

In the manual it states:
Recording File Format: Motion Pictures - "QuickTime Motion JPEG" (motion pictures with audio)

When I looked for the files with the Binky-thing that Soulkiss recommended it found them as a ".MOV" file - it that means anything (to me it's just a collection of letters :oops:)

I cling to the fact that I have opposable thumbs to demonstrate my superiority over technology that acts like it has a higher IQ than me... my old camera was cheap, dumb, and reliable - but the quality wasn't great.
This one is expensive, clever and the end results make me look good - so we're getting on... so far...


... I still seek reassurance in my opposable thumbs though. :oops: :thumbsup:

[SoulKiss]

Recording File Format: Motion Pictures - "QuickTime Motion JPEG" (motion pictures with audio)

And so a little more Apple-evil is leaked into the world............

[wyrdness]

A Panasonic MDC-FZ18... and I have a sneaky suspiscion that it's cleverer than me. ;)

In the manual it states:
Recording File Format: Motion Pictures - "QuickTime Motion JPEG" (motion pictures with audio)

Talk about a non-standard video format. I'd assumed that the camera would use a more common video format that wouldn't actually need converting, but you definitely need to convert motion jpeg.

I can see why they use it though - the camera already as jpeg compression and each frame is encoded independently of the others.

[wyrdness]

And so a little more Apple-evil is leaked into the world............

I imagine that they chose motion jpeg to avoid having to do intra-frame encoding (which requires lots of processing power and reduces quality). It's better than using an intra-frame encoder (e.g. mpeg) if you need to edit and re-encode the video.

The trouble is, that there's no standard format for motion jpeg. I've seen loads of different versions of motion jpeg from different manufacturers.
Apple's Quicktime m-jpeg is probably the most widely used version and most people with already have it or can download it for free. As you pointed out, it's quite easy to convert it into other formats.

[K]

Talk about a non-standard video format. I'd assumed that the camera would use a more common video format that wouldn't actually need converting, but you definitely need to convert motion jpeg.

I can see why they use it though - the camera already as jpeg compression and each frame is encoded independently of the others.

I imagine that they chose motion jpeg to avoid having to do intra-frame encoding (which requires lots of processing power and reduces quality). It's better than using an intra-frame encoder (e.g. mpeg) if you need to edit and re-encode the video.

The trouble is, that there's no standard format for motion jpeg. I've seen loads of different versions of motion jpeg from different manufacturers.
Apple's Quicktime m-jpeg is probably the most widely used version and most people with already have it or can download it for free. As you pointed out, it's quite easy to convert it into other formats.

*wwhhhooooosssshhhhh*
..............:-s

Did I mention I have opposable thumbs? ;)