Finally EASY import of Windows Media to iMovie/QT

[DanSlagle]

I bought the new Flip4Mac Windows Studio to generate WMV files with the version 9 codec. I was pleasantly surprised that QT now plays windows media.

So after downloading iMovie 5.0.2 cleaning my caches and rebooting. I figured what the heck let me drag and drop a Windows movie file I just downloaded off the web and drop it into iMovie.

IT WORKED!!! Sound and resolution was more than acceptable! Yeah.... Good job Flip4Mac

[terryj]

and, Dan, how much was it for the whole Studio?
and, more importanly, how does it handle Windows DRM?

[sjk]

Pricing is on the WMV Components page.

[DanSlagle]

and, more importanly, how does it handle Windows DRM?

Have not tried any protected content as of yet. Don't think I have any...

[terryj]

hmm...I'll email them and post back what they say.

in the meantime, Dan, if I'm reading their PDF right,
if all you want to do is bring in WMV files, you only need
the WMV Player Pro, but if you wan tto author Windows MV,
you need the studio?

[badtz]

telestream said that DRM and Copy Protection [wmv3] will be supported in a future release.

[DanSlagle]

hmm...I'll email them and post back what they say.

in the meantime, Dan, if I'm reading their PDF right,
if all you want to do is bring in WMV files, you only need
the WMV Player Pro, but if you wan tto author Windows MV,
you need the studio?

Yep but... I found out that Popwire is going to release a QT plugin that plays Windows Media for $FREE$ and their encoder is only $30.

Dang it! I jumped the gun again!

[terryj]

telestream said that DRM and Copy Protection [wmv3] will be supported in a future release.

if this is true, then it is worthless.
The majority of WMV's on the net in Usenet and P2P
are encoded WMV3, so if they aren't even releasing a product
to handle current standards, what good are they over existing
workarounds provided by ffmpegx?

I'll hold to see what Popwire does, but I can do WMV9 ALL DAY
in ffmpegx, and it didn't cost me anymore than before.
I NEED WMV3 SUPPORT!!!

[bendermac]

I found out that Popwire is going to release a QT plugin that plays Windows Media for $FREE$ and their encoder is only $30.

well the import plug in from flip4mac cost only $10 and beeing the very first i'd say it's a fair price. as for the encoder you only get a single pass encoder and not a 2-pass one that can do wm9 hd with 7.1 audio

anyway, i like the idea of competion on the market and this will help getting better products besides we have to give flip4mac a lot of kudos for making this wmv import plugin

[terryj]

from flip4mac:

Hi Terry:
I have registered on the videohelp.com site but can't post for 2 days. Please feel free to post this on our behalf.

Version 1.0 of the Player does not support DRM protected content. We anticipate that on an upcoming release. Also, you are correct in the need for the Player Pro to import for editing or conversion and that you only need the Suite or Suite Pro (which includes export capabilities) to create .wmv files.

Thanks for your interest and support. Keep the communications coming!

Barb


Barbara DeHart
Flip4Mac Program Manager
Telestream, Inc
Tel (530) 470-1306
barbd@telestream.net
www.telestream.net
www.flip4mac.com

[anaxamander]

You can convert wmv3 using VPC7, FedoraCore1 & a handful of rpms installed, and of course mencoder with wmv9.dll codecs installed. I do it all the time. A LOT faster than using tmpegenc/win98se to convert. In fact, both methods use the same win32.dlls to do the job.

I assume it could be even done for free if you tried a qemu based product. I don't have any drm files (and there is some sort of conflict with the wmv9dmo.dlls), but for plain jane wmv3 files, its relatively easy. I've converted a 900MB file in about 10 hours, somewhere around 8 to 12 fps.

I don't care so much about an "import plug-in" as I do converting wmv & realmedia files out to something like a divx avi. And free is better still.

[terryj]

I don't have any drm files (and there is some sort of conflict with the wmv9dmo.dlls), but for plain jane wmv3 files, its relatively easy. I've converted a 900MB file in about 10 hours, somewhere around 8 to 12 fps.

WTF?!?

I need something closer to ffmpegx conversion of WMV2 (Wm9) files.
ffmpegx spits out a 600MB wmv in less than hour on my Dual G4.
even if it was double that for wmv3 non DRM, I would go for it,
but 10 hours....?
NO WAY!

[anaxamander]

but 10 hours....?
NO WAY!

Keep in mind, that this is under emulation, so its not THAT bad. Using an x86 mencoder under VPC7 is something like 3 to 5 times faster than VPC7/tmpegenc.

One day, ffmpeg's libavcodec will fully implement vc-9 (which is what became of wmv3 when MS opened it up) and then any Mac will be able to convert natively. Until converting out of wmv3 becomes native & free, I'll stick with an overnighter.