How To Transcode .MOV files - Updated & Improved

[bobland]

Initially, I got blank screens, no screens, out of sync audio, pixelation and every other error reported here. After reviewing this thread I tried out hekky's suggestion and found that the default sizing was way off.

I changed the size and aspect ratio, ran it again and walla! It worked!

I suggest trying this very simple fix and give it a go again. This is a very simple way to transcode. I followed the steps on Eugenia's site but only ended up with gray screens. This process is much easier.

FYI, when you download Prism, don't check any of the boxes. The vendor will load up some mighty nasty hard to get rid of junk on your machine and desktop.

Burt

 

[englishman]

Initially, I got blank screens, no screens, out of sync audio, pixelation and every other error reported here. After reviewing this thread I tried out hekky's suggestion and found that the default sizing was way off.

I changed the size and aspect ratio, ran it again and walla! It worked!

I suggest trying this very simple fix and give it a go again. This is a very simple way to transcode. I followed the steps on Eugenia's site but only ended up with gray screens. This process is much easier.

FYI, when you download Prism, don't check any of the boxes. The vendor will load up some mighty nasty hard to get rid of junk on your machine and desktop.

I appreciate all the extra information (thank you hekky). My computer's in the shop right now getting some extra upgrades - when I get it back I'll try this out myself.

I also had initially tried Eugenia's method but was unable to get her method to work. I also ended up with a video that was just gray. After I installed ffdshow I couldn't even get Virtualdub to start the job . . . it would just give me an instant error.

Anyway, I appreciate the re-sizing advice and the advice about Prism auto-installing stuff . . . I should have mentioned that in my video! I had checked a few of the boxes and was surprised at the auto-installation of programs. When I uninstalled the programs, a little box came up asking if I wanted to tell the developer why I uninstalled. I said, "Yes. I don't like stuff that installs without asking me!"

 

[KatManDEW]

I tried this and the Prism Video File Converter told me that my 14 day trial period had expired when I tried to run it the first time. They want $40 for it.

 

[englishman]

Here's the link to the free one . . . in my video I should have been more specific. Most links on their site point to their trial version.

nchsoftware.com/prism/prismsetup.exe

 

[KatManDEW]

Thank you very much. And thanks for taking the time to create the tutorial.

Here's the link to the free one . . . in my video I should have been more specific. Most links on their site point to their trial version.

nchsoftware.com/prism/prismsetup.exe

 

[Keith Z Leonard]

I don't know that I agree that H.264 is bad for play back, it's a fine format. The biggest issue I have with it is the lack of PS3 compatibility. I have been able to resolve this with FFMpeg. Sadly FFMpeg is a command line tool, so some will not like it. One day I will get around to writing a windows wrapper for batch conversion. (I'm a programmer) Until that day here is an example of the command line call to convert a .mov to .mp4 for playback on PS3...

C:\FFMpeg\bin\ffmpeg -strict experimental -i MVI_0144.MOV -vcodec copy -acodec aac -ab 320k MVI_0144.mp4

By transcoding your videos to another format for playback you sacrifice quality. If you do so at a high enough bitrate you may not notice, but you are still decompressing the H.264 and then recompressing the stream with some other compressor, so x2 the compression artifacts.

 

[bobland]

I spent a lot of time rendering transcoded and non transcoded mov files. In the end, I found that with the method described by the OP I'm able to slap multiple effects and transitions on without the slightest hesitation of any kind. I've got a new 920 with 6GB RAM and a lot of fast drives. I was never able to put more then a few effects on without the playback coming to, what seemed like, a dead halt.

Any apparent loss of quality is made up in rendering. I've found that rendering an unencoded mov file will not look as rich as an encoded file.

Additionally, after rendering both the encoded and un-encoded stepped-on clips, the encoded renders quality were striking enough for me to abandon the position of editing un-encoded.

One thing I like about this method is just booting Prism, adding the files and hitting Convert. Sure, it takes a while but for me, the time spent is time well invested.

As with all things, YMMV.

Burt

 

[brian1366]

Lots of people have seen my tutorial on transcoding .mov files to an intermediate format for editing in Sony Vegas. My original method used the Avid DNxHD codec. My new method utilizes the recently released Matrox codecs and has a few advantages over the original method:

• there's an option for videos recorded at 29.97 (which the DNxHD codec does not have)

Why do you say DNxHD doesn't support 29.97?

I just downloaded Quicktime Pro and the Avid DNxHD 2.1 LE codec and was able to convert my T2i 29.97fps .MOVs into 29.97fps DNxHD files. Confirmed by reading them into Vegas Studio 10 and it reports 29.97fps.

Am I missing something? Is Vegas Studio 10 lying to me?

 

[englishman]

1920x1080 @ 29.97fps - the option isn't there.

You may have recorded at 1280x720 . . . am I right?

 

[brian1366]

Nope I was able to transcode at 1920x1080 29.97fps. I only quirk I noticed is that before I click on 'export' in Quicktime, I had to make sure I was viewing the video at 100% (1920x1080). If I was viewing at any other resolution, that would be the export size. I couldn't change it in the export options.

 

[englishman]

Nope I was able to transcode at 1920x1080 29.97fps. I only quirk I noticed is that before I click on 'export' in Quicktime, I had to make sure I was viewing the video at 100% (1920x1080). If I was viewing at any other resolution, that would be the export size. I couldn't change it in the export options.

Look carefully at this menu. All the 1080p options are shown. Do you see an option for 1920x1080 . . . 29.97fps? No. It's not there. I'd be curious to know your workflow. Perhaps Avid's released new software since I created this tutorial.

 

[brian1366]

I'm not using MPEG Streamclip. As I said I'm using Quicktime Pro.

I'll take some screen captures tonight when I get home.

 

[englishman]

I'm not using MPEG Streamclip. As I said I'm using Quicktime Pro.

I'll take some screen captures tonight when I get home.

I understand. The options shown, however, are the options available in the DNxHD configuration - Streamclip doesn't have anything to do with those options.

Even in Quicktime Pro, when you go to configure the DNxHD codec, these are the options that should be shown. If they are different that would be surprising to me.

I'm very interested to see the screenshots. Thanks.

 

[brian1366]

Hi, I'm back with screen captures. Here is the exact process I followed:

Purchase, download and install Quicktime Pro 7
Download and install Avid QuickTime Codecs LE 2.1:
http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=263545

Open a T2i .MOV file in Quicktime Pro and make sure its displayed at 100%. Here are the settings from the FILE -> EXPORT command:





Opened the transcoded file in Vegas and confirmed it was 1080p 29.97fps:

 

[englishman]

It appears to me you're transcoding to 59.94i (interlaced), which is indeed still 29.97 frames per second. The difference is with 59.94i, you're capturing two fields - odd scan lines then even ones - which must then be recombined to make one de-interlaced frame. With 29.97p, you're capturing a complete frame (just like with a still film camera) from the same moment in time.

So either way, you have 29.97 frames per second. Not being a pro, I don't know what effect transcoding to 59.97i has on the final rendered product. But it's nice to see there is a way to use DNxHD w/ video recorded at 29.97fps.

The matrox codecs and Prism provide a simpler solution for me; there's an option for 29.97 or 24.98. Either way I'm covered.

 

[Ludvig]

All these codecs and formats seems a bit over my head, but I find it pretty easy to edit and export a MOV file using Pinnacle 14. My workflow for 1080 files is:

• Drag the original MOV files into the timeline.
• Add transitions.
• Set the file to MPEG4, 1080, 25fps and 12Mb/sec (I have to set this manually every time).
• Save file.

Maybe I'm loosing some quality, but I took a screenshot of the original MOV file and a screenshot of the exported MPEG4 file, and I can't see any difference in quality.

I'm in PAL land, so 25fps is the one to use, but I also tried setting the fps to 29,97, and it worked fine. Not the same quality as the original 25fps (of course), but I found no problem to export to this framerate. By the way, Pinnacle will set the framerate of the project to the same as the first frame added.

So I use only one program to do this, plus the Windows Media Player to play the movies.

I'm writing this because when I wanted to start editing movies, I was overwhelmed by all the codecs, conversions and expressions in this area. For people trying to get into this, they might give up because of all this technical talk. Sure, Pinnacle 14 is a 32bit program and not the fastest, but, like I said, I can't see any difference from the original MOV files, and that is good enough for me.

Probably something I didn't understand, but there is an easy way to do this.

Ludvig

 

[brian1366]

It appears to me you're transcoding to 59.94i (interlaced), which is indeed still 29.97 frames per second. The difference is with 59.94i, you're capturing two fields - odd scan lines then even ones - which must then be recombined to make one de-interlaced frame. With 29.97p, you're capturing a complete frame (just like with a still film camera) from the same moment in time.

So either way, you have 29.97 frames per second. Not being a pro, I don't know what effect transcoding to 59.97i has on the final rendered product. But it's nice to see there is a way to use DNxHD w/ video recorded at 29.97fps.

The matrox codecs and Prism provide a simpler solution for me; there's an option for 29.97 or 24.98. Either way I'm covered.

59.94i is the same thing as 29.97p. I was worried about that at first (wondering where all the 29.97p settings were in video editing software). The HD spec (not sure what its really called) doesn't even define a 1080p 29.97fps. They only spec the 59.94i interlaced at 1920x1080 because progressive TV's (Plasma, LCD) recombine the 59.94i signal into a 29.97p output (combining every other frame / field). So for playback on a TV it HAS to be 59.94i but there is no quality loss.

 

[englishman]

All these codecs and formats seems a bit over my head, but I find it pretty easy to edit and export a MOV file using Pinnacle 14. My workflow for 1080 files is:

• Drag the original MOV files into the timeline.
• Add transitions.
• Set the file to MPEG4, 1080, 25fps and 12Mb/sec (I have to set this manually every time).
• Save file.

Maybe I'm loosing some quality, but I took a screenshot of the original MOV file and a screenshot of the exported MPEG4 file, and I can't see any difference in quality.

I'm in PAL land, so 25fps is the one to use, but I also tried setting the fps to 29,97, and it worked fine. Not the same quality as the original 25fps (of course), but I found no problem to export to this framerate. By the way, Pinnacle will set the framerate of the project to the same as the first frame added.

So I use only one program to do this, plus the Windows Media Player to play the movies.

I'm writing this because when I wanted to start editing movies, I was overwhelmed by all the codecs, conversions and expressions in this area. For people trying to get into this, they might give up because of all this technical talk. Sure, Pinnacle 14 is a 32bit program and not the fastest, but, like I said, I can't see any difference from the original MOV files, and that is good enough for me.

Probably something I didn't understand, but there is an easy way to do this.

Ludvig

Hi Ludvig, thanks for sharing this. This is definitely the easiest way to do things.

This tutorial is for people who might want to use Sony Vegas or another NLE that doesn't play well with the native .mov files. Also, transcoding to the appropriate format is essential for the best quality video (see original post).

Many NLEs are vastly more capable than Pinnacle. Many people (like myself) do not want to be tied to only one NLE, especially when it's possible to use others.

 

[englishman]

59.94i is the same thing as 29.97p. I was worried about that at first (wondering where all the 29.97p settings were in video editing software). The HD spec (not sure what its really called) doesn't even define a 1080p 29.97fps. They only spec the 59.94i interlaced at 1920x1080 because progressive TV's (Plasma, LCD) recombine the 59.94i signal into a 29.97p output (combining every other frame / field). So for playback on a TV it HAS to be 59.94i but there is no quality loss.

Hey Brian, not being a pro, this has gotten me to really look into this (thank you!). Here's a quote I found on the differences between 60i and 30p . . .

When you record in 1080i @ 60 fields a second, you are taking 60 different snap shots in 1 second. Yet each snapshot (field) is every other line. So you have ab A field and B field. Each field represents 1/2 of the picture as every other line. You are actually getting twice the snap shots of 30 complete frames a second, yet they are only 1/2 in size. So the timing between lines at recording time is slightly different, which leads to smoother image when watching action scenes.

What really matters is your max data rate. You cannot legitimately display anymore than that. If the data rate is the same, the picture quality should be pretty close to each other, as far as the human eye can tell, yet you may notice some subtle difference in certain scenes of still frames compared to action frames depending on the recording format.

I would not worry about what you can edit with so much, rather where you are going to play it back. A 1080i@60 signal will display perfectly on an interlaced display (without duplicating frames) and display as 1080p on a progressive display.

 

[Ludvig]

All these codecs and formats seems a bit over my head, but I find it pretty easy to edit and export a MOV file using Pinnacle 14. My workflow for 1080 files is:

• Drag the original MOV files into the timeline.
• Add transitions.
• Set the file to MPEG4, 1080, 25fps and 12Mb/sec (I have to set this manually every time).
• Save file.

Maybe I'm loosing some quality, but I took a screenshot of the original MOV file and a screenshot of the exported MPEG4 file, and I can't see any difference in quality.

I'm in PAL land, so 25fps is the one to use, but I also tried setting the fps to 29,97, and it worked fine. Not the same quality as the original 25fps (of course), but I found no problem to export to this framerate. By the way, Pinnacle will set the framerate of the project to the same as the first frame added.

So I use only one program to do this, plus the Windows Media Player to play the movies.

I'm writing this because when I wanted to start editing movies, I was overwhelmed by all the codecs, conversions and expressions in this area. For people trying to get into this, they might give up because of all this technical talk. Sure, Pinnacle 14 is a 32bit program and not the fastest, but, like I said, I can't see any difference from the original MOV files, and that is good enough for me.

Probably something I didn't understand, but there is an easy way to do this.

Ludvig

Hi Ludvig, thanks for sharing this. This is definitely the easiest way to do things.

This tutorial is for people who might want to use Sony Vegas or another NLE that doesn't play well with the native .mov files. Also, transcoding to the appropriate format is essential for the best quality video (see original post).

Many NLEs are vastly more capable than Pinnacle. Many people (like myself) do not want to be tied to only one NLE, especially when it's possible to use others.

Ok, thanks for the information. I guess my post was a bit off topic, but I see that different people have different preferences.

I downloaded a trial of Adobe Premiere, and it rendered the files appr. 3 times faster than Pinnacle (The Adobe program runs at 64bit). So if I were doing more video editing, I guess I had to do more background work. But, way too advanced and complicated for a person only doing occationately video editing.

Ludvig