Using my digital camera as a video player...

[meatloaf]

First of all, sorry if I've posted in the wrong section. I'm new here.

So I picked up a memory card reader yesterday because I wanted to write pictures to my camera (i couldn't when the camera was connected, would only let me copy off.) After some tinkering around, i got the pictures to display fine. Then I figured i would try video, since my camera has video capabilities. I tried to convert into different formats to try to get it to play, but nothing has worked. Any mpg types would not be recognized on my camera. they simple wouldn't appear when i viewed my saved pictures. Avi's are recognized, but they won't play. Just a blank screen with "read error". The read error also happened when I wrote mis-sized pictures onto the cam. All I had to do was make it the same size as the camera sets. I've tried resizing in different avi formats, but it still won't play.

Here is the link for sample video straight from my cam: http://rapidshare.com/files/80151328/DSCF2195.AVI.html
Here is the test vid i was trying to convert: http://rapidshare.com/files/80158621/walkclean.avi.html

I want to be able to convert any video to be playable on my camera.
I have a Fujifilm Finepix f31fd, which uses an xD card. The video sizes available are 320x240 and 640x480. I'm not sure of the format of the video from the camera. It records as .avi, but beyond that, i don't know.

If anybody could help figure this out, I'd be really happy. I have MSN and AIM if you want to help me out through there. Also, if I can convert files using some sort of free software, that would be good. I'm not planning on buying anything.

Thanks

[redwudz]

Opening that file in Gspot 2.70 tells me it's a MJPEG format, common with digital cameras. You could try https://www.videohelp.com/tools/LEAD_MCMP_MJPEG_Video_Codec to convert, but it's payware. They do have a trial available. I don't know offhand if there is a freeware program to convert to that format. You would also likely have to use the same resolution and framerate as your sample.

But others may have better info.

And welcome to our forums.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Gspot must be confused. If you use the tried and tested cheap way of looking at an AVI file header, it shows up as DX50 - i.e, DivX.

I can't vouch for this but:

http://download.divx.com/divx/DivX502Bundle.exe

BTW, the cheapskate way of looking at AVI headers is to simply open the file in Notepad. This is what the sample file shows:

RIFFø…
AVI LISTÌ hdrlavih8 ¢   
ó € à
LISTt~ strlstrh8 vidsDX50
  ó strf( ( € à

 DX50  indxø} 
00db € ~ 

Re M-JPEG - Windows comes with a M-JPEG codec.

[redwudz]

Interesting. I had already assumed MJPEG just from the digital camera part. Gspot seemed to show a regular MJPEG file. When I open it in Notepad I get a MJPEG, FUJIFILM FinePix F31fd' Or are we talking about the same file, 'DSCF2195.AVI'?

[meatloaf]

Are there any other specs that I need to change? I'm using SUPER, and I've changed it to MJPEG and Divx, still a read error...I match the 30fps and the sizes, but is there anything else that needs to be changed you think?

This is really frustrating, because I know its capable of playing vids. :/

I also emailed Fuji to see if i can get video specifications.

EDIT: That mediacoder one didn't work.

[powerpc123]

Mediacoder might get close. Try this mediacoder transcoded avi on your camera.

http://rapidshare.com/files/80185697/walknew.avi.html

[guns1inger]

There have been many posts here over the past year or so from people trying to get videos converted to play on cameras, and I have yet to see anyone succeed. These cameras are not designed to be video players. They shoot video as an after thought, not as a primary function. The playback of video is rudimentary. Nothing converts video for playback on digital still cameras. I suspect is it something in the headers of the videos created by the cameras. You need to match the header exactly, which means taking the time to dissect it, then re-create it. To date, no-one has seen this as a worthwhile exercise. Especially when there are far better (and cheaper) ways to play video on the go.

[JohnnyMalaria]

My bad. I misunderstood what the test video is - I thought it was an example out of the camera. That explains the file size difference

The DSCF2195.AVI plays just fine on my Vista setup on WMP11 (the video shows a PC keyboard). In Graph Edit, it shows that the MJPG decompressor filter is being used (part of quartz.dll).

It also plays with WMP9 on clean install of XP Pro SP2.

But it's a hell of large file (1.15MB) for about 1 second of video!

[redwudz]

JohnnyMalaria, that's a good point about the filesize vs playing time. Even if the OP was able to put a file on a SD card at that resolution, the playback time would be short. If my calculation is correct, a 30 minute video would use up a 2GB SD card. No wonder my camera will only do 3 minutes of MJPEG video at a time.