How to Convert Quicktime MOV Video Files to MPEG-2

[hiroprot]

I need to convert Quicktime MOV video files from my digital still camera to MPEG-2 for archiving/editing/playing. Even after much research I did not find a simple explanation of how to do that using free tools while retaining the full HD resolution (1280x720).

Then I found MEncoder and after many hours of trial and error due to the sparse documentation I had figured out the correct command line parameters. To simplify the process of converting my MOV files to MPEG I wrote a small batch file that takes the path to a MOV file as its argument and spits out an MPG file in the same location.

A more lengthy explanation of the process can be found in my blog: http://it-from-inside.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-to-convert-quicktime-mov-video.html

I tried to attach the batch file to this post, but only images are allowed. You can find it in my blog article, though.

I hope many find this useful.

[Baldrick]

Great tutorial and batch script! You should be able to attach/upload any file(or not html,php) when you post here.

Some other free tools that might work for your mov mjpeg to mpeg2 conversion are AVIDemux(lots of filters and stuff if you need any such) and Xvid4PSP.

[hiroprot]

Thanks, Baldrick.

I have attached the batch file to this answer.

mencode.cmd

[Supreme2k]

How do you use it?

I tried
D:\Video\Mencode\mencode sample.mov (at a command prompt) and it gave the error "Output file D:\Video\Mencode\sample.mpg already exists. Aborting..."

[hiroprot]

supreme2k: it is kind of obvious, isn't it? The script tells you the output file (file.mpg) already exists. As can be clearly seen in the script this is a safety check. What to do? Delete or rename the existing MPG file.

Baldrick: I just tried to open one of my Quicktime MOV files with AVIDemux. It crashes while doing that.

[ricardouk]

Avanti does that in a blink of an eye, i convert MOV files to other formats very often and Avanti has been by far the better one

[Supreme2k]

supreme2k: it is kind of obvious, isn't it? The script tells you the output file (file.mpg) already exists. As can be clearly seen in the script this is a safety check. What to do? Delete or rename the existing MPG file.

It is kind of obvious that I started with only a MOV file, yet it says that the mpg of it already exists (which is incorrect).

[hiroprot]

Supreme2k,

sorry for being unfriendly in the earlier post. There was indeed a bug in the handling of paths with spaces in them. I have corrected this and made an updated batch file available for download here:

http://it-from-inside.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-to-convert-quicktime-mov-video.html

[Supreme2k]

Works great now.

Thanks for your help!