Open MOV (HDVA) file for edit

[aedipuss]

anyone have an apple HDVA sample uploaded or available somewhere? the op may be having problems posting from s.a.

[dLee]

I have a largish collection of .mov entrapped HDV, from many different sources.

I don't want to drop each file individually into mediainfo.

How can I narrow it down to likely HDVA? Is it likely to be footage from a particular camera or a project rendered in FCP or ???

[poisondeathray]

I have a largish collection of .mov entrapped HDV, from many different sources.

I don't want to drop each file individually into mediainfo.

How can I narrow it down to likely HDVA? Is it likely to be footage from a particular camera or a project rendered in FCP or ???

mediainfo can open a folder and export a text file listing mediainfo contents of the videos in the folder (file=> open => folder) , file=> export

Then you might open that exported text file in a text editor , word, or even wordpad/notepad and search for the string "HDVA"

This will quickly determine if you have HDVA in that folder , and the name of the file

[aedipuss]

fcp .mov format i think. if you highlight more than one, right click - mediainfo - it will pop up a box for each one.

[poisondeathray]

And you should liberate those videos stuck in prison be a freedom fighter

FCP doesn't always export HDVA, I have some that were HDV1 and 3 from a MAC.

I think HDVA is from some JVC HDV cameras

[aedipuss]

jvc would also explain the op having a HDVA 720 mov.

[dLee]

OK, thanks for the tips.

I have something I must do this afternoon (2:45pm PST here). I'll start looking this evening.

Potential issue: I'm on a Win7PC and I only have Vegas Pro 10, so if I have an HDVA .mov file, I won't be able to cut it down for posting. I've got an iMAC in the house, but I've never tried iMovie with HDV footage - never use it for work - I don't remember if I can even play HDV on it.

My files are already liberated. They've been re-wrapped, edited, rendered in Vegas and shown at the Festival I work for. These are just the files I got from MAC hypnotized filmmakers. I have to fight this every year.

I've got some JVC HDV files, but I capped them, so that won't work.

Do we need a couple of seconds or a couple of minutes?

[poisondeathray]

A few seconds is enough

I fairly certain you need FCP for HDV/MOV (all types), I don't think imovie will open it

You can try the make sample utility aedipuss linked to earlier (I'm not sure what it does to the header or metadata)

But the fact that any video converter identified the OP's video as HDVA, and was able to convert it , makes me think that FFmpeg / FFmbc should be able to do it too , or rewrap it (or perhaps mencoder)

HDV is just MPEG2, so even demuxing it with DGIndex to m2v makes it infinitely more usable on a PC. MOV is like green kryptonite for PC's

[aedipuss]

makesample leaves HDV header identifiable. 20mb is about a 5 sec. clip and about as small as you want to go. here's mediainfo from a makesample cut file.

General
ID : 255 (0xFF)
Complete name : G:\canon_hv30\tape1-2011_12_18-13_40_15-SAMPLE.m2t
Format : MPEG-TS
Commercial name : HDV 1080i
File size : 20.0 MiB
Duration : 6s 90ms
Start time : UTC 2011-12-18 13:40:15
End time : UTC 2011-12-18 13:40:21
Overall bit rate : 27.0 Mbps
Maximum Overall bit rate : 33.0 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2011-12-18 13:40:15

Video
ID : 2064 (0x810)
Menu ID : 100 (0x64)
Format : MPEG Video
Commercial name : HDV 1080i
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@High 1440
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=15
Codec ID : 2
Duration : 6s 6ms
Bit rate : 25.3 Mbps
Maximum bit rate : 25.0 Mbps
Width : 1 440 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : Component
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.542
Stream size : 18.1 MiB (90%)
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio
ID : 2068 (0x814)
Menu ID : 100 (0x64)
Format : MPEG Audio
Format version : Version 1
Format profile : Layer 2
Codec ID : 3
Duration : 6s 120ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 384 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -56ms
Stream size : 287 KiB (1%)

[dLee]

Looks like I don't have any hdva. Most of the footage is hdv6 and the FCP renders are mostly AVC.

[andrewgerm]

Good day again everyone.
A very big thank you to you all for all the assistance.

Just to confirm what Any Video Converter is saying on my files.
Both are showing as HDVA format, 1280x720, with one 25fps and the other 50fps

Converting them, I was using the ffmpeg command line suggested by poisentdeathray, however those files were still not usable in Vegas (10 Pro 64bit on Vista Ultimate 64). However, taking those files and running them through Any Video Converter, saving to .mpg files (settings: original resolution, 25fps) let me at least access the video stream (no audio). This did however look like old cellphone footage once it reached Vegas.

I will try get a larger sample of the file (20MB) uploaded, however this does take time with the slow Internet here.

A very big thank you again to all

[andrewgerm]

Okay. finally have a larger example file uploaded.
Same location: http://www.samdb.co.za/videos/disputedfaith_0.mov

Thank you, once again!!

[aedipuss]

is the 20mb sample of the original HDV? it's mpeg-4 not hdv mpeg-2.

[andrewgerm]

Hi Aedipuss

Yes, it's of the original. My second post gives details obtained from mediainfo for the original file.

Could any change have occured using DGSplit? Or could this indicate some sort of file corruption?

Thank you, once again

[poisondeathray]

Try it with makesample instead of dgsplit - dgsplit doesn't perserve the header info.

If you're in a time crunch , you can get any video converter to use different compression instead of MPEG2. Use lossless like huffyuv/AVI (filesizes will be ~10x). Or if you can try to specify "copy" for the video stream

[andrewgerm]

Thank you all, once again.

Going to try makesample, and will try other settings for Any Video Converter (although, several other formats I tried there failed to do anything, and I got an error from the program).

Thank you all

[poisondeathray]

The sample I downloaded was 20MB, not 555Kb as in aedipuss' link

I used DGIndex to demux elementary video, and ffmpeg to re-wrap in mpg-ps (mpeg progam stream .mpg) , to import into vegas

[AeroQ]

I know I wrote "convert", but I don't think it's converting - probably just re-wrapping. Long (not broken up into clips), footage-type HDV files are done in minutes.

I'm having trouble finding something that explains the difference between HDV1,2,3,A. Do you have a good link?

Difference between HDV flavors is explained here: (table at bottom of page)
http://aeroquartet.com/movierepair/hdv

Regards,
BJ

[andrewgerm]

Will try same, poisendeathray

Just running a little low on brain power at the moment due to too long in front of the screens, and lack of sleep

Thank you all, once again. Will post my results!!

[poisondeathray]

Difference between HDV flavors is explained here: (table at bottom of page)
http://aeroquartet.com/movierepair/hdv

Thanks!

[aedipuss]

the file i posted was re-encoded to show a playable version.

[andrewgerm]

Good day everyone
Again, a big thank you for all the help, time and advice.

Am busy trying poisendeathray's instructions. However, playing the file only gets me a certain distance, and then stops (whether demuxing, or playing). Just trying to locate the log file to take a look there (will post what it says)

But looking in the status / info field, there are many errors that flash past, until the program just stops on 'mb addr inc error'

Thank you all once again
[edit]
Adding the log below. Unfortunatly it does not list the errors completely.

Stream Type: Elementary
Profile: main@high
Frame Size: 1280x720
Display Size: [not specified]
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 [3]
Frame Rate: 50.000000 fps
Video Type: PAL
Frame Type: Progressive
Coding Type: B
Colorimetry: BT.709*
Frame Structure: Frame
Field Order: Bottom
Coded Number: 2182
Playback Number: 2182
Frame Repeats: 0
Field Repeats: 0
VOB ID:
Cell ID:
Bitrate: 21.081 Mbps
Bitrate (Avg): 19.690 Mbps
Bitrate (Max): 25.887 Mbps
Timestamp:
Elapsed: 0:00:43
Remain: 0:09:04
FPS: 49.92
Info: mb addr inc error

[poisondeathray]

Not sure, maybe the file is corrupted or has errors ?

But any video converter was able to convert it successfully ?

At this point , I wouldn't waste any more time , and just use a lossless (or near lossless) intermediate with any video converter

[andrewgerm]

Again, thank you all for all the help. Most appreciated.

The 'sort of' success I've had was to use ffmpeg (as per poisendeathrays suggestion and command line). Then running the resultant file through Any Video Converter got a file (without audio) that I could use, but at what seemed like a lower quality (meant to be HD, but I can not view the original to compare)

I have now just tried vReveal to convert to an SD AVI (process took a while, so will test the output shortly)

Agree though. This has taken way too long. For that I thank every one. Have learnt a ton too, which I hope I can impart to others

Will post any results I find back here!!

[poisondeathray]

weren't you able to convert the file directly with any video converter ? You said you made a low quality mpg ?

Instead of using mpg, use uncompressed AVI, or lossless compression like huffyuv. Even mpg is ok if you use high enough bitrate

I guess another question is did ffmpeg convert the file successfully (i.e copy the video stream) ? but only you couldn't open it in vegas? was the file approximately the same size as the input video (minus audio, but add transport stream overhead) ?

[aedipuss]

were you able to cut a sample of the original HDV with the program i uploaded? what you pasted of the log looks like it should be HDVA - 720 50p.

[andrewgerm]

Good morning everyone, and again many thanks

So vReveal ran for a long time, and spat out a 15GB AVI file. Audio was a little over twice the length of the video when importing into Vegas. I was only using the free version of vReveal, so the video is 480p.

@poisendeathray:
I wasn't able to convert the file directly in Any Video Converter, but used your suggested ffmpeg method. From there I was able to run that file through Any Video Converter to output an MPEG file (minus audio). This was then rather compressed, as it was MPEG-2. Picking another format gave an error in the program.

@BigMeanie
My second post with the .mov URL http://www.samdb.co.za/videos/disputedfaith_0.mov is the sample at 20MB.
However, DGIndex stops about 20 / 30 secs in, with a 'mb addr inc error' message.

Are those messages indicative of a corrupt file perhaps?

MediaInfo stats current framerate 25fps / original 50fps

General
Complete name : G:\Faith.mov
Format : MPEG-4
Commercial name : HDV 720p
Format profile : QuickTime
Codec ID : qt
File size : 1.35 GiB
Duration : 18mn 3s
Overall bit rate : 10.7 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2011-10-30 13:17:15
Tagged date : UTC 2011-10-30 14:36:39
Writing library : Apple QuickTime
Media/UUID : ACDD23B6-95CA-49C1-954A-D63347DA461A
Video
ID : 1
Format : MPEG Video
Commercial name : HDV 720p
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@High
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=12
Codec ID : hdva
Duration : 18mn 3s
Bit rate : 9 148 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 18.3 Mbps
Width : 1 248 pixels
Original width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 702 pixels
Original height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Original frame rate : 50.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.418
Stream size : 1.15 GiB (86%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2011-10-30 13:17:15
Tagged date : UTC 2011-10-30 14:36:39
Color primaries : BT.709-2, SMPTE 274M, SMPTE 296M
Transfer characteristics : BT.709-2, SMPTE 170M, SMPTE 274M, SMPTE 293M, SMPTE 296M
Matrix coefficients : BT.709-2, SMPTE 274M, SMPTE 296M
Audio
ID : 2
Format : PCM
Format settings, Endianness : Little
Format settings, Sign : Signed
Codec ID : sowt
Duration : 18mn 3s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 536 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Stream size : 198 MiB (14%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2011-10-30 13:17:15
Tagged date : UTC 2011-10-30 14:36:39
Menu
ID : 3
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2011-10-30 14:36:39
Tagged date : UTC 2011-10-30 14:36:39

[aedipuss]

looks like the cut sample is corrupt. but even so the drag drop convert will remove the video and create a vlc playable file. vegas won't accept it but premiere pro does and identifies it correctly as 720 50p. it's possible if you used the complete file it would create a vegas readable version.

[Khaver]

Using this mencoder command line I was able to re-wrap the 20MB mov sample to a usable HDV .m2t file.

mencoder.exe disputedfaith_0.mov -ovc copy -oac copy -ffourcc MPG2 -o disputedfaith_0.m2t

Also, if you have ffdshow installed with Mpeg2 in avi enabled you can use this command:

mencoder.exe disputedfaith_0.mov -ovc copy -oac copy -ffourcc MPG2 -o disputedfaith_o.avi

This avi file opened and displayed correctly in Virtualdub so should open in Vegas.

[aedipuss]

mplayer creates a file vegas won't accept also.