Can Pana Quicktime videos be converted to mpg or avi easily (Windows Movie Maker)?

[Eric C]

I want to get a FX-01 (had been using Canon for a long time) but one of my concerns is it shoots video in Quicktime format.

I like to make home movies using Windows Movie Maker and I noticed it will not import Quicktime movies. Obviously I know there is 3rd party software out there that will do conversions but that would be extremely annoying to have to convert all the videos, let alone perhaps suffer degradation from the conversion...

Those who have shot video using their Panas and import into video editing programs such as Windows Movie Maker....how do you handle this issue?

 

[IonBuck]

Normally, what I do is to use TMPGenc with QTReader. You need to download both separately. TMPGenc has a free version but you can only do conversion for MPEG 1... and maybe MPEG 2 (can't remember). You can download and read more about it from here:

http://www.tmpgenc.net/e_main.html

To be able to convert Quicktime, you need the QTReader plugin which you then need to copy into a folder... can't remember that either but you should get the information from the ZIP file that you can download from here:

http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=TMPGEnc_Mov_Plugin

I must say this is not the easiest way but is the method that I am using.

 

[Mauricevk]

Yes you first have to convert it to uncrompressed avi to use it in windows movie maker look here for a tutorial on videohelp http://www.videohelp.com/mov2avi.htm

You can also use another editing program i use premiere from adobe, but there are others.

Take a look at http://www.videohelp.com for all kinds of video-editing and conversions

btw Tmgenc like stated above is one of the best mpg decoders around

--
I am here to learn

 

[richardplondon]

Check "mov2avi" on google - there are other converters too.

I don't think you have to uncompress the video, just change the "wrapper" format.

RP

 

[Eric C]

how long does it take relatively to convert say, a 100 meg file?

is the amount of compression between avi and quicktime similar? say, a 10 second file avi would be about the same quality as 10 sec quicktime at the same resolution?

this could be a dealbreaker for me whether not to go with panasonic because it could be really annoying to always have to convert video or lose quality in video if i'm having to convert.

can anyone confirm that i can successfully convert quicktime to avi without losing quality? would the size the file increase over the conversion and if so how much?

 

[RichardGSmith]

If you purchase Quicktime Pro $29 you can export to Windows Media format, AVI and a lot of other formats.
--
Rich G Smith

 

[Mauricevk]

I did a little test for you and converted a mov file of 8 sec (11 MB) to an uncrompressed avi it did it in 8 seconds with Rad video tools the filesize then increases to 230 MB. There was no visible loss of quality.(P4 3 GHz)

I would use uncompressed avi if you have small videofiles say up to 1 or 2 minutes.

If you are using longer videos you could use some compression to reduce the filesize only the conversion would take longer then this depends on the type of compression.

If you are using compression take care of what you use and don't compress to much because this could affect your video-quality.
--
I am here to learn

 

[richardplondon]

It's very very quick. The AVI format can contain the exact same compressed data as the MOV, as I understand it, so there is no need for conversion (therefore no loss of quality - though the video quality from my LX1 is nothing special to start with).
File size example: MOV file 9610KB - after conversion AVI file 9580KB.

This file size difference is due to the format (header info) not the video data itself. The two (MOV in a Quicktime window, AVI in Windows Media Player) look indistinguishable to me.

RP

 

[Eric C]

Wow...11 megs to over 200 after conversion? That's a huge number...I guess I'll just need to buy a new hard drive now in preparation...

 

[Mauricevk]

After RP's reply i was curious googled some there is a way indeed without decompressing the program is called smartvid it doesn't work for all mov files but will work for the panasonic ones.

You can download it here http://www.digital-digest.com/software/download.php?sid=867&ssid=0&did=1

There is a readme in the zip, but it is really simple and a very small program.
It is very fast and you will get almost the same filesize and no los of quality.

So now you can buy youre panasonic
--
I am here to learn

 

[ryanbrancel]

I use "Windows Media Encoder" to convert to WMV which produces a much smaller file with minimal loss in quality. I usually compress the video to 1 Mbps (or sometimes 2 Mbps). Let me know if you have any questions about the conversion settings.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia