Does a converter make it an Mpeg file or the software?

[wyngon]

Hello,
Getting my feet wet here. Okay I am trying to understand what to many of you is just the basics. I convert through a Canopus ADVC100, according to their tech support:
(The ADVC-100 simply transfers signals from one source to another.* It acts like a signal splitter box.* What comes in, comes out from another connector.
It does not encode to either DV or MPEG2.* Your software must do it.* If you want to capture your files as MPEG2, then you need a software package that translate the DV signal coming in from the ADVC-100 to the desired format.)
So I ask does Toast6 convert Mpeg? Does Apple software just do quicktime .mov files?
The ELGato eye TV and Formac converter specs both say they export in mpeg, are they converters and how are they different from the Canopus?
TIA
*

[gshelley61]

The Canopus 100 sends a DV signal via firewire to your computer, which actually does the DV (or MPEG if you like) capturing/encoding. If your source is analog, the Canopus "converts" the analog video to a DV stream for the computer. Your computer software creates the file, not the Canopus.

[redwudz]

Actually, the ADVC-100 does hardware encode your analog video to DV format. DV format is a form of AVI, which is easy to edit compared to MPEG. To further encode DV to MPEG2, for example to use on DVD's, you need an MPEG2 encoder program. Sorry, not that familiar with Mac video encoders. In the PC world we feed the DV video file into an encoder like TMPGEnc encoder, then put it through an authoring program like TMPGEnc DVD Author, which prepares the encoded MPEG2 files into the DVD format that can be played on a regular settop player. You might want to post in the Mac Video forum here for specific Mac related video questions.

[galactica]

So I ask does Toast6 convert Mpeg? Does Apple software just do quicktime .mov files? *

Toast 6 does convert mpeg, so do some other apps. Apple software [assuming you are talking iMovie or FCP / DVDSP does require either .mov or DV for input.