MPEG2 export on a G3 iMac

[highe5]

I'm using a Blue G3 iMac (OS9.2) and am trying in Final Cut Pro to export to M2V using the QT MPEG2 component. I get an error message telling me my G3 hasn't got Altivec support and therefore can't encode.

I know that Altivec support exists in G4 upwards, but does anyone know if there's any workaround for me, as I don't want to have to take my HD into work to use my eMac (OSX) each time I want to encode!

[galactica]

unfortunately.... i dont think there is a "work around" as you pointed out its G4 chips and above....

[ctf]

apparently bitvice do a version of their mpeg encoder specifically for the G3
you could save a reference movie from fcp and then run that thru the bitvice encoder...
possibly.

[doctor]

I'm not sure why it won't allow you, (someone may have a tool to deactivate the warning, but processing will be very slow). The only workarounds I can think of are the Heuris MPeg encoder, or the slower way of exporting a regular MOV file (probably using the animation compressor - or anything you'd like to save the best quality; possibly DV, as final cut may just output it without recompressing).

There is also "Cleaner" Bitvice, and MegaPeg - I just know these make MPEG2, not that you could directly export from Final Cut. You can find that stuff at www.versiontracker.com Even on that older slower machine, I would recommend beefing up the ram, and giving OSX a try. There are many more sharewares and LOTS of freewares, as OSX can run only slightly modified linux programs (if at all), and there's a huge following there. I have 2 older G3 computers (iBook and iMac DV 500) that are running OSX, and they're fine. I turned off the extra animations, etc. and it feels very smooth, even on the aging machines... and your computer will never crash. Well, okay - almost never compared to OS9, and you'll need that. Plan on letting your machine process at least a full day or so.

[highe5]

Hmm... Maybe I'll try OSX some time....

I tried Megapeg (I downloaded the QT plugin), but I still can't export to a M2V file. The nearest I can get is a Toast-ready mpeg, which is fine, but I would prefer to be able to import into DVDSP for menuing, etc.

I heard about an app called MacMpeg2Converter 2.0, but the download link in Macupdate.com is dead, so I can't try it out.

Any other ideas... ?

[yonidass]

I've successfully exported MPEG2 on my G3 with ffmpegx. Slow, but it works. Just save first as a .mov file with FCP.

[highe5]

Thanks for that - I would probably give that a try if I had OSX installed, but I'm trying to find a solution under OS9.2

Any other ideas...?!

[yonidass]

Always helps to read the original message more carefully.

Bitvice, mentioned above, has been highly touted by many, but it's not free.

[highe5]

Yeah, I just tried ouy Bitvice and it's doing the job perfectly... Thanks everyone!