Attention: Video conversion experts

[Canon GL-2 Guy]

I have what appears to be a very high quality HD video clip which Premiere Pro CS 2 or 3 cannot play.

Maybe I need another codec on my Vista machine.

All options are open, however I'm asking you gents what's the best way by using this forums tools to:

Convert the .mov HD file to a .avi file (at comparable quality) for playback & further processing purposes on the PC .

Yes, Quicktime for the PC plays it but not much else.

I tried to convert it but the results were not good at all.

Here's the file specs as I know them:

24 bit/pixel depth, 48k audio, 1280 x720, 60i (59+ frames per second) HD Quicktime file in .mov format.

What would really be helpful & appreciated is to know not only what the best solution is, but what the settings and parameters are for those apps or programs as well.

Thanks!

[Baldrick]

mp4camtoavi might work. Or mpeg streamclip, try different video codecs, less compressed better quality.

[guns1inger]

Use mediainfo in Tree mode to determine exactly what you have.

[Canon GL-2 Guy]

It turns out the file is (from what I can figure out) Apple ProRes 422/"lossless".

Not necessarily PC friendly as I discovered.

Codec is apch or something like that.

[jagabo]

http://support.apple.com/downloads/Apple_ProRes_QuickTime_Decoder_1_0_for_Windows

It sounds like it only works in QT. Maybe AviSynth's DirectShowSource()?

[poisondeathray]

install the windows prores decoder, and you should be able to use it directly in PP (works in CS4, not sure about earlier versions)

http://support.apple.com/downloads/Apple_ProRes_QuickTime_Decoder_1_0_for_Windows



EDIT: jagabo beat me

Yes, it works with avisynth's QTInput() , but it works through quicktime API, so any application that can access that can use it. e.g. mpegstreamclip , premiere pro, vegas

[Canon GL-2 Guy]

General
Complete name : C:\Video Ministry Promo Spots NEW\01_Promo 1.mov
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : QuickTime
Codec ID : qt
File size : 309 MiB
Duration : 15s 31ms
Overall bit rate : 172 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2009-05-07 13:30:21
Tagged date : UTC 2009-05-07 13:35:57
Writing library : Apple QuickTime
Media/UUID : 89DAB078-F377-4618-B0E6-915C47CBF705
Video
ID : 1
Format : ProRes
Codec ID : apch
Codec ID/Hint : HQ
Duration : 15s 31ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 170 Mbps
Width : 1280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 59.940 fps
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 3.079
Stream size : 305 MiB (99%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2009-05-07 13:30:21
Tagged date : UTC 2009-05-07 13:30:30
Audio
ID : 2
Format : PCM
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Format settings, Sign : Unsigned
Codec ID : in24
Duration : 15s 31ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 2304 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 24 bits
Stream size : 4.13 MiB (1%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2009-05-07 13:30:21
Tagged date : UTC 2009-05-07 13:30:30
Menu
ID : 3
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2009-05-07 13:30:30
Tagged date : UTC 2009-05-07 13:30:30

[Canon GL-2 Guy]

I tried to upload a screenshot but have no idea where it went!

Maybe the admin needs to approve it first?

I do not have CS-4.

Avisynth is Greek to me. Do not understand it or how it works.

My goals are as follows:

1) To convert this to a more PC friendly format at comparative quality.
2) So that CS2 plays it from the timeline.

Is MPEG Streamclip my only viable option, and if so, what are the settings I should set the parameters too?

[poisondeathray]

it should work anyways, directly in PP all versions, if you have the prores decoder installed with quicktime

it's quite sluggish on PC, because decoding of .mov container not optimized on PC. Prores on a MAC flies - as if you were editing DV

if your pc specs listed are correct, there is nothing that will give you similar quality and yet good playback performance for editing (everything will feel sluggish), you would need a faster computer

[Canon GL-2 Guy]

Hi,

I'm not sure what you mean by "sluggish". I was reffering to the visual quality when played back without jaggies, artifacts and other types of digital garbage being present (& newly introduced by the conversion process) in the image/video.

If we now take the next step beyond just playing it in it's current format, hopefully by converting it to a .avi, reasonable quality will be preserved. I do not have QT Pro or the MPEG-2 encoder.

I hope someone will kindly pass on all of the MPEG Streamclip settings in detail in order to obtain the optimum result, the best solution available at this time.

Thanks for you valued replies.

[Canon GL-2 Guy]

Doesn't having QT installed means that other tools found in this forum do not function properly?

QT Alternative is reccomended in at least one, I just can't think of the apps name at the moment.

[poisondeathray]

No, QT can co-exist with basically everything , it uses a different systeam than other decoders

Apparently the newest release 7.6.6 released yesterday is causing havok and problems, so I would try an earlier version if you can

Not sure if it will work with QT alternative, but it works with QT pro

Try it out. I have CS2 installed in one of my older computers , but you could just as easily test it out , it should only take a few seconds

Cineform would be the equivalent where you have near lossless quality, and good decoding performance, but it's not free, and you would need at least a dual core for it to work properly

[Canon GL-2 Guy]

Thanks for the heads up on QT 7.6.6 issues which I already downloaded but did not install yet.

I'll find an earlier version and see what happens.