.MEV movie file?

[ChaunceyK]

Can someone tell me what will play this & if there is any way to convert it to other formats?

Thanks in advance.

[aedipuss]

try using mediainfo on the file. report back with the specs.

[ChaunceyK]

Which options do I use once I've dropped the .mev into MediaInfo?

[poisondeathray]

Never heard of it before, but a quick search suggests it's a viewer and proprietary

Maybe try their software or the links in the pdf

http://www.tm4.org/mev/
http://www.decodon.com/Support/Documentation/MeV/MeV_Manual_4_0.pdf



In mediainfo View=>text for more information on the video (if there is any). Try VLC, it might be able to play

[ChaunceyK]

That doesn't do anything for it, Poison, but thanks for trying. I figured I'd start with the most basic "I have a movie file with the .mev extension" but since that doesn't seem to be bringing any immediate "Oh, I know that one" replies...

I took my family to Sesame Place yesterday & they offer a USB drive (choice of character) with the pics you had taken there, plus "The Best of Elmo" video (in .mev format) on the drive. Its supposed to be plug-n-play with the player installed on it, but its not working at all. And the player doesn't give any info I recognize either (see attached screen-cap of the player folder).

[poisondeathray]

The viewer doesn't show any video data , a few KB files only

How big is the USB key?

What does windows explorer show?

Mediainfo results ?

VLC ?

[aedipuss]

Which options do I use once I've dropped the .mev into MediaInfo?

try view/text.

looks like it's most likely an encrypted video that only plays with their own software though. what happens if you right click on the .mev video, choose open with and navigate to the included player app?

[ChaunceyK]

When I use view/text, this is all I get...

General
Complete name : J:\Videos\TheBestOfElmo.mev
File size : 292 MiB

...and oddly enough, the workaround aedipuss suggests works. I say "odd" because when I use the included shortcut, it doesn't work. Well, at least I can view it now. Just wish there were a way I could convert it to something playable on a dvd-r so I can play it on the tv.

[aedipuss]

there are screen recording apps you could use to capture it.

[jman98]

The more schools and places like this try to give parents videos, the more they screw it up. One of my friends in desperation gave me a CD with a 5 or so minute video that his daughter's school put together of some kind of school activity. It took me well over an hour of difficult work to get it converted to Divx and good old MPEG-2 just to give him something he and his wife could watch as it was in some completely screwed up WMV format that even WMP was having problems with.

Here's some better information on the format but I don't promise anything here will help you be able to play it.
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=195999

I am not kidding here. I would contact them via email and give them a VERY angry (avoid profanity) email and tell them that they are idiots for providing people with video in such an exotic format. Question their technical competence and ask them why they aren't smart enough to use MOV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, H.264, Divx, Flash or even WMV instead. Tell them that you will NEVER buy this product again because they aren't smart enough to give you anything you can actually use. If customers like you don't raise hell about this, these idiots will never change.

My brother and his family recently went to Disney World in Florida and they made some very quick videos for free at Epcot. Disney provided a link and I was able to save them as Flash video with zero problems. I gave me brother some copies and he can play them anytime he wants on his PC. It's just not that freakin' hard to do this right instead of doing it the proprietary jackass way.

[jman98]

For those who don't want to follow the link, this is Sony's Micro Vault proprietary format. Nobody else in the world seems to support it. I did find some links to a supposed 3rd party player but I didn't trust any of them so I will not post them here. Likely they are trojans or viruses. Sony itself seems to just think that the stupid devices will just automatically play upon insertion into your PC or Mac so if it won''t play for you, you are apparently SOL. Sony lasted tested this crap under Vista so nobody knows if it will work under Windows 7 or not.