How would I convert mov.DV to AVI.DV

[Sir_Loin]

Hi.

I have a bunch of historical files that were captured as QuickTime DV files.
A client would like to use these as windows (avi).DV files.

Im on a mac and have been testing the old QuickTime pro as an export tool. When i converted a 60 min file to avi, and tried to watch it back, I could only see around 7mins of it. I certainly exported the entire file so Im not sure why i can only see 7mins. The files size is close to the original at 14gb.

Is that the best way or can the file be demuxed without having to transcode it? The client is using Premiere to edit the videos.

Thanks

[jagabo]

ffmpeg -i input.dv -c copy output.avi

https://ffmpeg.org/download.html#build-mac

or ffmpegx: https://www.videohelp.com/software/ffmpegX

[Sir_Loin]

Thanks Jagaboo. Ive just downloaded it. Is this to re-encode my quicktimeDV to windowsDV.avi? I can's seem to work out how it will help.
Thanks a lot

[jagabo]

It just wraps the DV data into an AVI container.

[Sir_Loin]

Hey Jagabo. For some reason the GUI version could not rewrap the DV file to avi. So i tried the terminal version and it worked. Thank you so much.
I have 32 files that vary from 1hour to 2hours long. Can ffmpeg cue up all the files to DV.avi and if so how?

[jagabo]

You can do it with a batch file. I know how under Windows but not on a Mac. For all *.dv files in a folder:

for %%f in (*.dv) do ffmpeg -i "%%~dpnxf" -c copy  "%%~dpnf.avi"

Each dv file is remuxed into an AVI with the same base name, eg, FILE.DV ---> FILE.AVI.

[smrpix]

Did your client try using your Quicktime dv files? I ask because I've found basically all of my PC software is agnostic as to whether dv files are wrapped in mov or avi. Macs are more fussy. Do you know what software your client is using?

7 minutes sounds like you may be hitting an ancient avi 2GB file size limit -- that the file isn't being recognized beyond that point.

[Sir_Loin]

When i exported a 60min QTDV clip out of QTpro7 to DVAVI, I could not play more than 7mins. Neither could my client, who installed QT on their machine and is using Premiere to edit. He said the vision in QT looked terrible. VLC said there was something broken and did i want to fix it. I thought it could be a 2gb size limit, but did not know how to test for this.

When i exported the same file out using FFMPEG on terminal, not only was it blazingly fast, but my client could view the entire 60min clip. So could I. My client says the file info shows DVSD as the codec, My QT file info shows its DV.

Anyway, for now, it all works & Im looking at batching the next 31 videos.

[Sir_Loin]

You can do it with a batch file. I know how under Windows but not on a Mac. For all *.dv files in a folder:

for %%f in (*.dv) do ffmpeg -i "%%~dpnxf" -c copy  "%%~dpnf.avi"

Each dv file is remuxed into an AVI with the same base name, eg, FILE.DV ---> FILE.AVI.

Jagabo, how do i instruct ffmpeg to search/batch a particular folder? My inexperience with code can't work out where the folder name would be placed.

In your previous code for a single file, i just dragged the file into terminal at the points where you indicated "input.dv" & "output.avi".

I understand you have provided a windows code. Im just hoping that it works for terminal aswell.

[jagabo]

ffmpeg isn't searching for the files. The batch file is searching for the files and passing each one to ffmpeg, one at a time. I'm sure you can do something similar on the Mac.

[Sir_Loin]

Ok, so what you are saying is that somehow in terminal, i have to locate the folder, and then run a command similar to what you have written in windows?

[jagabo]

Yes. A quick search found this example using ffmpeg to convert avi files to mp4 files:

https://pressanykey.simplyahobby.com/2021/06/06/using-ffmpeg-on-macos-to-correct-avi-i...onvert-to-mp4/

for f in *.avi; do /Applications/ffmpeg -i "$f" -c copy -vcodec h264 -acodec aac "${f%.avi}.mp4"; done

You should be able to change the ffmpeg command line portion of the batch file to mux your dv to AVI. I think it will look something like:

for f in *.dv; do /Applications/ffmpeg -i "$f" -c copy  "${f%.dv}.avi"; done

The batch file should be in the same folder as all the DV files. You'll probably have to change the path to ffmpeg from "/Applications/ffmpeg" to wherever ffmpeg is on your computer. I'm not sure about the final output name "${f%.dv}.avi", it might have to be "${f%}.avi".

[Sir_Loin]

Jagabo, thank you so much. This worked exactly as I wanted.
I really appreciate your help.