Convert vob files for use in FCP X

I need to convert VOB files for use in FCP X on my macbookpro in OS X Lion (10.7.5) I use Clipwrap to convert other formats, but it does not seem to accept VOB for conversion (or if it does, I have not figured out how). In searching the web, I've come across several products that tout themselves as the best, fastest, easiest VOB to Prores converters etc., some that advertise as "free" when actually only a watermarked trial version is free. I have no idea of the actual quality of any of these (some examples are Brorsoft video converter for Mac, and Acrok HD Video Converter...), and would like some input from folks w/ experience in these things before dropping $ on the problem.
In another thread on this site I read something about MPEG Streamclip, & something about needing to separately download an MPG2 converter for it w/ Lion or Mountain Lion - the process sounded confusing and I couldn't tell if it applied to my situation or not...
Thanks in advance for any light anyone can shed.

Midnighttrain wrote:
… MPEG Streamclip, & something about needing to separately download an MPG2 converter for it w/ Lion or Mountain Lion - the process sounded confusing …
MpegStremclip is THE Swiss Army Knife, when it comes to conversion, a 100% reliable, it IS absolutely free (any download a dollar = Stefano would be a millionaire!), I dare to say it is THE most recommended 3d party tool in the editor community ....
How & why you need to install the mp2 plug-in does Signore Cinque explain in simple words on his website:
http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html

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Converting VOB Files For use in FCP

Hello,
I have a large FCP project using VOB files shot on a DVD Recorder.
I have been been using a freeware called MPEG Streamclip to convert them into Quicktime Files for use with FCP7. The resulting QT files have all been very choppy when used in the FCP Timeline etc.
I have options with this freeware to convert to MPEG, TS or export to Quicktime, DV, AVI, MPEG4 or other formats.
Any suggestions on how to bring these VOB files into Final Cut Pro so that they work well.
Thanks,
Marc

Nick's tutorial is good. Read it.
I had been using Cinematize for this but would always have trouble with the aspect ratio.
With MPEG Streamclip I have no problems if I do it this way:
Export to QuickTime
Change Compression to: Apple DV/DVCPro-NTSC
Quality: 100%
Frame Size: 720x480 (DV-NTSC)
Sound: Uncompressed (the default)
Make Movie
I do a preset of the above.
Now, when you take that resultant file into FCP:
In FCP make sure your sequence set-up is DV anamorphic (if footage is anamorphic/16:9). When you bring that file into FCP it will not be flagged as anamorphic. In the browser scroll over and check mark it as anamorphic. NOW drag into the timeline. Aspect ratio is good if you do it this way.
Sharon

Converting .dv files for use in FCP

We recently purchased a Datavideo DN-300 that saves files from our HS-500 switcher in .dv file format. When I put in FCP6 it shows I have to render the file in order to see them play. How should I convert these file so I can work with them better in FCP? Or maybe there is a setting in FCP so I don't have to render the .dv files.

Quality is the same. In compressor under "other workflows", then "advanced format conversions", then "standard definition", use DV NTSC. This will create a .mov file that won't require any rendering. You might bebetter off using a mac and capturing the video via firewire in either Final Cut or Quicktime Pro. I record city meetings right into a four-year-old powermac using Quicktime Pro and at the end of the meeting I have .mov that we can edit and create a "wrap-up" show.
Message was edited by: televisiontim

Converting mts files for use in fcp

i know this horse has already been turned into glue ...
in any case, i have a dvd's worth of mts files provided by a client. can't import them directly into fcp, so i need to run them through some sort of conversion. tried MPEG StreamClip and that doesn't work. Toast is too expensive. demoed VoltaicHD and didn't care for it. the two that worked the best are Moyea HD Video Converter and Pavtube MTS/M2TS Converter that were recommended. very simple interface, reasonable file sizes and much quicker than VoltaicHD. they go for $35 which i guess is reasonable. interestingly they seem like the same exact product just slightly different skins. anyone have any experience with either? one thing that i did find disconcerting is they use SWREG as their e-commerce provider who immediately tried to sell me keycode backup insurance. the whole operation seemed a bit shady to me. anyone have any problems with these guys?
if anyone has any other solutions to this mts conversion issue it'd be appreciated. thanks.

Hi,is your problem resolved? there is a good mts converter for mac of highly-regarded reputation from this forum and other popular camcorder forum.http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/showthread.php?p=251941

Converting wmv files for use in imovie 9 for users who have pc

To convert wmv files use your pc windows movie maker. (if you have one) On your pc, open windows movie maker, get collections and get your wmv project/video, drag it into the timeline, and then save in your computer, save it as an avi file and rename it. After send file to your memory card reader, that way you can transfer that file onto your mac!! And voila! I tried to email it but file became too large so transfering it to a memory card is the easiest. This took me days to figure out, I hope I have helped someone out there.....

I don't want to use DV because these .m2t files are from an HDV camcorder and I want to preserve the aspect ratio and resolution in the files. What other "flavor" of HD would you suggest that I convert them to since (a) I can't bring the files into FCP6 or Compressor (b) I don't see any other flavors of HD to use in VisualHub.
The whole business of converting .m2t files to a FCP6 compatible format, i.e. a Quicktime format, would seem to be one that is commonly encountered, and yet I have never found a thread on this forum that really answers this question: What is the best workflow for converting .m2t files for use in FCP? Surely, one of the pros who frequent this forum must have dealt with this issue and have an answer.
I don't want to have to recapture the files from tape all over again just to use them in FCP6.
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How do you convert .AVI files for using in iMovie without losing the original clip time and date

Hi everyone! does anyone know how to convert .AVI files for using in iMovie without losing the original clip time and date? Handbrake, MPEG Streamclip and Evon all replace the original timecode with the date of modification. This is very frustrating when you are trying to keep the chronology right. I know that if you upload the files to iMovie from one device the chronology isn't a problem, but I'm adding video files from a couple of iPhones and a couple of camcorders. any help much appeciated.
paul

Hi everyone! does anyone know how to convert .AVI files for using in iMovie without losing the original clip time and date? Handbrake, MPEG Streamclip and Evon all replace the original timecode with the date of modification. This is very frustrating when you are trying to keep the chronology right. I know that if you upload the files to iMovie from one device the chronology isn't a problem, but I'm adding video files from a couple of iPhones and a couple of camcorders. any help much appeciated.
paul

Options for converting '.vob' files for editing in PP Pro CS3...

Hi,
I'm using PP Pro CS3 (Windows) and I have a few projects here where the source material are '.vob' files only.
Now because PP Pro doesn't support that file format, I'm looking for options to convert this footage to a format - suitable for editing in PP Pro CS3 - that does NOT explode in file size.
Converting to uncompressed .avi is up 20 times the file size, DV .avi is about 5-10 times the file size.
Here are the options I've tried so far:
1. importing '.vob' files straight into PP via the Avisynth method
--> works, but PP crashes randomly and it always crashes when rendering more than 2-3 min
--> all my system drivers are up to date
2. renaming to .mpg or .avi
--> works for some files (only) but you get random red frames in your footage
3. converting to mpeg-2 via...
a. Carbon Coder - best quality so far - looks like original
b. Premiere Elements 4 - no de-interlacing option, takes way too long, quality worse than original
c. MPEGStreamclip - no options selectable, quality is worse than original
4. converting to 'DV avi' via...
Carbon Coder - PE 4 - MPEGStreamclip - VirtualDubMod
--> file size explodes (5-10 times of the original .vob file), quality looks on all kinda the same and NOT better than the mpeg-2 output from Carbon Coder - that's why I don't wanna take the storage hit...
Are there any other methods or ways to convert '.vob' files to a suitable editing format (with a reasonable file size) ?
Thanx for your help !
Mike

Take the storage hit and be done with it. Hard drives are cheap these days. Editing takes lots of space. Might as well get used to it.

How to convert iDVD theme to .mov file. for use in FCP?

I would like to use the Baby Mobile iDVD theme as a clip in a movie to be created on FCP. I dropped my pics in the iDVD project with the Baby Mobile theme and put in a green background so I could later key out the background and replace it with a different background. I deleted the title and added a short movie to the menu. Because I don't want to use the theme as a DVD menu, I made the menu button the same color as the green background.
I then burned the DVD. Next I ripped the DVD using MactheRipper to give me the Video TS folder. I then used Handbrake to convert the VOB files to Mpeg4. Unfortunately, Handbrake only converted the 10 second movie I put in iDVD and not the Baby Mobile iDVD theme.
Any ideas out there to help me use the iDVD menu theme as a standalone clip in a movie?
I did find the source material of the theme in the Mobile.pox folder; it contains the 2 .mov files with alpha channels but I would rather not go through the time consuming process of keying in the movements and size of my pics to match the Mobile. It would take too much time and I don't know how successful it would be.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.

Options:
-If you have FCS2, you can use Motion to track the points, thus saving you lots of keyframing time in FCP.
-You can use MPEG Streamclip to rip the DVD (I believe it can find the menu files)
-You can get a screen capture program such as Snapz X Pro to screen capture it.
-As it encodes the media in iDVD's burning process, you can find where it stores the temporary copy of the MPEG2 that it creates, and snag that file before it finishes the burn and deletes it.
NOTE: I've never tried option 4, nor do I know if it will work. I just came up with it.

Converting .avi files for use in iDVD

I have multiple .avi files that I'd like to add to a DVD using iDVD. These files are in their original format at 30 kb/sec and not compressed at all so they are HUGE...totaling almost 20G.
What is the best way to convert these files so that they can be imported into iDVD and fit on a single DVD. The files would be about an hour and a half playing time so I am hoping that can be done. I realize quality may be compromised but I'm willing to lose a little bit.

Roxio Toast is your best option IMO but if you want to stay within the iApps then you'll first have to add the avi files to iMovie => iDvd. That or use a third part app likeMpegStreamclip (free download):
I suggest you do not exceed 120 mins playback for SL Dvd-R
Hope this helps but if not just come on back.
Message was edited by: SDMacuser

How to quickly combine 2GB QT files for use in FCP Multiclip?

We have 3 Focus FS-4 Pro 80GB HD units that work with 3 Sony DVCAM camcorders. We edit on FCP 5 and 6 on Quad G5s and one Intel G5 with Mac OS 10.4.11 and 10.5. We work in DV primarily.
Recently, we began to do a large number of multi-cam programs which need multiclip editing on FCP. Being FAT 32, the FS-4 breaks the QuickTime DV files into 2GB chunks. This poses an editing problem. At the present time, after importing all the 2GB files to the computer/FCP, we have to stitch them together in the FCP timeline, export the resulting timeline into a single QT movie and reimport that into FCP for multiclip editing. This takes OVER HALF THE TIME it would take to digitize the three tapes(using a one hour 3-cam show as an example).
Is there a solution? A speedy Mac utility that combines the 2GB Quicktime files into one large file? Or some other workflow that we have missed?
I may write to Focus to see if the drive could be reformatted into NTSF without losing a lot of functionality. Have not done this yet. Don’t expect a positive answer. Know they have an FS-5 with 90min clips, but can't replace the FS-4s yet.
Any help will be very appreciated as we are bogged down with this now.

If I might offer a little bit of a different perspective.
Having worked a number times with multi-clips and lots of footage (3 day long one on one interviews as an example) There really isn't any need to concatenate all of the footage from one camera into a single clip. I have never stayed on any clip for 5 minutes (~2GB of DVCPro HD 720/30p).
The process of the edit just doesn't demand that you work with all the footage at once. Work with the segments you have and then move on to the next. I would assume at some point your going to pull shots from some other time in the shoot to fix a reaction or a camera error as well as any number of other things editing requires, don't get caught up in the tech and end up making more work and files.
o| TonyTony |o

Converting WMA files for use in Logic

How do convert .wma files recorded on an Olympus Voice recorder for use in Logic? I can play the files with Flip4 Mac but Logic does not recognise them when you try to import?
Cheers
MS

You're welcome.
I forgot to mention there's another good utility [All2MP3|http://download.cnet.com/All2MP3/3000-2140_4-190407.html] which is free, but only converts to mp3.

How can I convert .mov files for use with other apps?

When loading movies taken on a friend's digital camera to my PC, the video files were saved as Quicktime .mov files. I am now unable to pull those files into any other software program (I want to put them onto a CD or DVD and play on external players.) How can I convert .mov files to a .wmv or .avi or mpeg?
Thanks - J
RS720G Windows XP

Kodak Digital Camera QuickTime MOV Problems
After battling a number of serious problems with the videos taken by my new Kodak Digital Camera, I decided to write up this page so that anyone searching the web would find out the true answers without as much grief!
I’ve also made some other comments about my experience with the camera, in case anyone was considering buying a Kodak camera in the near future.
I bought the camera just before Christmas 2004 in the US. At the time of writing, it is a pretty good model for domestic use—about 5.2 megapixels, costing about US$400 (or AU$600 back here in Australia). From a company as reputable as Kodak, I expected no problems.
The first disappointing thing was that the spring inside the spring-loaded battery clip, inside the camera, came loose within days. It proved impossible to reattach it without completely dismantling the camera, which (despite my engineering qualifications) I was not willing to do. This would usually have been a warranty item, but Kodak’s warranty does not extend to other countries. I’ve since had to jam cardboard in to keep the battery clip engaged, and have taped the battery bay shut to avoid it opening accidentally when taking the camera out of the case. This works fine with the docking station (an extra AU$100!), but it means I can no longer charge the battery without the docking station (since you need to take it out to charge it). I was not impressed!
The camera takes good photos, and I have no complaint with that. The controls and camera menus are well-designed. The large display is excellent.
The EasyShare software is not as easy to use as it looks, has a habit of crashing, has a web update program that is always running in the background of Windows, and transferring images is nowhere as easy or quick as it should be. I’ve now uninstalled it completely, and simply copy the photos directly from the device. (If the camera memory is nearly full, and you just want to transfer the last few photos, then it’s impossible to use the EasyShare software to browse the camera’s photos without it actually downloading the whole lot through the USB cable—and it takes forever! Copying from the device directly doesn’t hit this bug.)
The capability to take video using the camera was a great attraction when I selected it, and, if it worked properly, it would make it quite a handy little camcorder in its own right. With a 512 MB memory card in it, over an hour of video can be recorded at Video-CD quality (320 x 240 24fps video, 8 kHz audio). It’s not full digital video, but it would still be a pretty good feature for a US$400 camera. If it worked.
The first disappointing thing about taking videos is that the optical zoom cannot be adjusted while the camera is recording. It can only be adjusted between video sequences. I don’t know why this restriction was made in the design.
The real problems, however, start when you try to do anything with the video clips captured by the camera. Kodak has chosen to capture the videos in QuickTime format. This is fine—QuickTime is, technically, excellent—except that there is no simple way to convert QuickTime MOV files to AVI or MPEG or VCD. The Kodak software comes with a QuickTime player, so you can see the video clips on the computer you installed the software on—and they look good. Problem is that you can’t just dump those MOV files onto your Video-CD creator (it will usually want AVI or MPEG files).
It takes some time to realise that Kodak have not even bothered to include any software with the camera that can convert these MOV files to a more useful format. This is a serious PR blunder, and anyone bitten by this is unlikely to go near the Kodak brand ever again.
After some web searching, owners of these cameras generally find that the best (only?) freeware solution to convert MOV to AVI is Bink and Smacker’s RADtools program.
RADtools is amazingly powerful for the price (i.e. free), but it hits two fundamental problems with Kodak Digital Camera MOV video files, that are the fault of the Kodak camera, not RADtools. (I know this because every other MOV converter hits the same problems—except one, as you will see below.)
The first problem is that the sound cannot be converted properly. When you convert any Kodak MOV files, there is an “aliasing” of the sound at the upper frequencies. This is a technical description—you get a whispery, tinny, C3PO type of echo to everything. It really destroys the quality of the video clips (especially bad when I am trying to capture priceless memories of my 4- and 7-year-old sons—I don’t want their voices destroyed for all time).
Every conversion program I tried ended up with the same audio problem. I concluded that it is something strange in the way the Kodak cameras store the MOV files.
Strangely enough, I noticed that the QuickTime player didn’t distort the audio like this. The audio sounds just fine through QuickTime. More on this shortly.
The second, more serious problem is that RADtools could not properly convert some of the video clips at all. (This problem only affected less than 10% of the clips I originally filmed, but most of those clips were very short—less than 20 seconds. It seems that the probability of this problem gets worse, the longer the clip.) RADtools would misreport the number of frames in the clip, and would stretch out a small number of frames of video (in slow motion) to match the length of the audio.
Again, I confirmed that this is a property of some of the MOV files stored by the camera. Other conversion tools also had problems with the same MOV clips.
After more angst, I found a number of websites in which frustrated owners of these Kodak cameras have reported the exact same problems.
It was only then that I discovered that QuickTime itself can convert MOV files to AVI. Believe it or not, it’s built into the QuickTime Player that Kodak supplies, or that you can download free from apple.com. The problem is that you can’t use it unless you pay Apple to upgrade to QuickTime Pro.
After realising that this would probably be the only way to get decent audio for these clips, I paid the AU$59 to Apple Australia to get the licence key that enables the extra “Pro” menu options in QuickTime.
Sure enough, you can “Export” any MOV file to a number of formats, including AVI. And guess what? The audio comes out fine!
So, the first piece of advice I can give is: pay Apple the US$29 (or whatever amount it is in your country) to upgrade QuickTime to QuickTime Pro.
From here, however, there are still a few snags to untangle.
The first is that the default settings for Exporting to AVI don’t give a great result. It defaults to the Cinepak codec, medium quality. This looks terrible compared to the original QuickTime movie. Even on maximum quality, that codec just doesn’t give good results.
I finally found that the best option is to use the Intel Indeo Video 4.4 codec, set on maximum quality. This creates AVI files that are 10 to 20 times larger than the original MOV files, but the quality is there. If (like me) you only want the AVI files so you can dump them into your Video-CD program, then you want to keep the quality as high as possible in this first step. The extra hard disk space is not really a concern. When your VCD program converts the AVI files to MPEG, it will compress them to the usual VCD size.
Now for the biggest snag: those problem MOV files are still a problem, even for QuickTime Pro. Unbelievably, these Kodak cameras are spitting out MOV files which have some sort of technical flaw in their data specifications. QuickTime is able to play them back fine—and that seems to be all that the Kodak engineers really checked. However, if QuickTime Pro tries to export them, then when the progress bar gets to the end, it never finishes. It just keeps going. If you check the output folder with Explorer, and keep hitting F5 to update the file listing, you can see the file getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger. It never stops.
That this happens even for QuickTime itself (the native format for these files) confirms that the problem is with the software built into these Kodak cameras. It would be nice it they issued a patch or a fix. I couldn’t find one.
Fortunately, there is a “workaround” for this problem. I found it when trolling the net trying to find solutions to all these problems. The workaround is to use QuickTime Pro’s cut and paste facility. Open the problem MOV file, then press Ctrl-A (the standard key combination for “select all”—in this case it selects the entire film clip, as you can see by the grey selection of frames at the bottom of the player). Then hit Ctrl-C (i.e. copy, which in this case copies all the frames, but not the incorrect data structure in the original MOV file). Now hit Ctrl-N (i.e. new, in this case a new MOV file or player). In this new player, press Ctrl-V (i.e. paste). Now you have a new version of the MOV file with the bad data structure exorcised. You can save this under a new name, but make sure you specify “Make movie self-contained”—otherwise, it will simply be a link to the original (bad) MOV file, which you are probably going to delete once you save the exorcised version. (You also cannot overwrite the original file, because it needs to access that to make the “self-contained” movie. You need to give it a slightly different name, save it “self-contained”, then delete the original and rename the new copy back to what you wanted it to be. A pain, I agree, but at least the **** thing works—finally!)
The exorcised MOV file can now be used to Export to AVI format. (I also keep all the MOV files on a separate CD, in case I want to reconvert them to a different format in the future. I figure it’s better keeping the exorcised ones than the haunted ones.)
So I hope that all this answers a few of your questions. No, you weren’t being incredibly stupid.

Converting .avi files for use on ipad without using a laptop

Hi, I have a head cam (for use on the slopes and on my bike) that records .avi files to an sd card. I was wanting to know before I buy the sd connector for the ipad if there is any easy way (I appreciate that there are some complicated ways) to convert then edit the video with a movie editor. I was thinking about buying iMovie but I understand it doesn't recognise .avi files so would need to convert them beforehand - I don't intend to take my laptop though so need to do it all on the ipad - qu therefore is can it be done, in a simple straightforward way, with full knowledge that I am not a techie ?

Here is an article that will help you and has links to some software to help convert your wma files to a usable format.
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/consumerelectronics/ipodfaq/ipod-supported-music-formats-good-sound-quality.html

Converting CS4 files for use in CS2

A friend of mine has CS2 of AI. How can I convert CS4 files so he may view them?

I'm using Windows based CS4...

Can I convert a fcp 7 file for use in fcp x then back to tcp 7?

We are working on projects that were started in FCP 7 and need to be submitted in FCP 7, but all we have is FCP X. Is it possible to covert from 7 to x, finish the project, then convert back to 7? Any help is greatly appreciated.

You need two apps:
7 to X:
http://assistedediting.intelligentassistance.com/7toX/
and X to 7:
http://assistedediting.intelligentassistance.com/Xto7/
Be sure to read all the information about using XML for transfer - not everything will make it between platforms.
You will also need to reconnect your media.
MtD

Convert vob files for use in FCP X

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