Converting to AVI formats readable by Windows?

[goodcowfilms]

Hello,

Basically, I just need to output files that are readable by Windows, such that I can encode them with Windows Media Encoder.

I've tried...

1)MPEGStreamclip - Any of the "AVI" codecs I pick seem to rely on Quicktime codecs, which both Windows Media Encoder and VirtualDub can't open and error out on. Other formats, like MP4 using H.264 also cause WME to error.
2) QuickTime Pro - If I try to output an uncompressed AVI, and it gets over 2GB (not a FAT32 limitation), the file will work on Windows, but only after I have VirtualDub reconstruct the corrupt index file and output another uncompressed AVI of it. This process takes far, far too long.
3) Flip4Mac - The encoding options aren't flexible enough for me, nor did I like the test encoding results from the demo version
4) ffmpegX - If I drag finished HDV files into it and try to convert to XviD or DivX, ffmpegX just errors out, saying it can't open the file, even though I can convert these same HDV files fine to iPod video format.

I'm fine, in terms of drive space outputting uncompressed AVIs to convert to WMV, but I don't want to have to reconstruct the file indexes in VirtualDub before I can proceed.

How can I just simply take a video file I'm done with on the Mac, and output it to a high quality, Windows (and Windows Media Encoder) complaint file so I can convert it to WMV?

Thanks in advance.

[live4ever]

What program did you make the original file in and what is its codec, container, resolution, duration (are they HDV files, as stated in 4?).

What qre the final goals for file size or distribution?

I'd use a program that supports HDV files directly to do the encoding (I don't know if Windows Media Encoder does).

[goodcowfilms]

The files are mixed, as we've recently acquired HDV cameras (HDR-FX1s), plus I'm trying to get a "video archive" page of all our old footage up on our college website. (SD DV)

The HDV stuff is an entirely Final Cut Pro workflow:
HDV 1080i60
The final videos are output from FCP and are in Quicktime wrappers. Again, I can get these into iPod video format fine, but Windows Media Encoder 9's copyright is 2002, and Microsoft hasn't updated it to support HDV or many other newer formats.

The older content really only exists at this point as archival DVDs, so I've been ripping the discs with MPEG Streamclip, normalizing the audio levels, and making iPod video files from the m2v and aiff files.

Windows Media Encoder *will* support an m2v and aiff file as seperate video/audio sources (Compressor really needs this feature to give it separate video/audio tracks by the way), but as there are about 200 files to be converted to WMV, and it takes FOREVER for Windows Media Encoder to actually acknowledge and parse an m2v file through the GUI to actually start the conversion process, I just want to feed it AVIs to batch encode via a DOS command BAT file.

So in summary...

- the original formats are mixed (HDV and m2v/aiff, mostly)
- I can output to iPod video no problem
- Final delivery is iPod video and WMV, possibly with QuickTime streaming and Flash later, bitrate about 700kbps and 2000kbps
- I really just need some method on the Mac to output uncompressed AVI files that don't get corrupt index files once they get past the 2GB mark as Compressor/QuickTime Pro does

I did manage to use the Microsoft MPEG4v2 codec in ffmpegX successfully since my original post to make an AVI that Windows will read, but it was 800 megs, so I'm not sure yet if that too will break after the 2GB mark.

[live4ever]

Adobe Premiere Pro 2 (for Windows) should be able to read the HDV files that can be exported from FCP - maybe download the trial to see if it will work.
http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/

Also are you using WMV Studio Pro (or Pro HD) from Flip4Mac - they give you access to a wider range of settings (the standard $49 one is pretty useless for good quality) - their are trials for these as well.
http://www.flip4mac.com/wmv.htm