Quicktime to MPEG conversion - one that works, please!

[Rick123]

Talk about frustration. I've been trying to track down anything that can convert a QT .mov file to either an .avi file or directly to .mpg VCD format. No such luck ... and yes, I've tried the mov2avi program. I'm afraid it would only work for the very early versions of Quicktime (3?), which is next-to-useless for today's QT5.

I've also attempted to use the internal QT players Export facility which supposedly outputs to .avi in whatever compression you wish for (albeit only Cinepak or Intel Video or uncompressed). However, this also has trouble with many of the QT files I'm attempting to convert, where it mostly stalls or crashes due to some ugly calculation error.

I only wish to make these into valid VCD files so that I can play them back on my DVD player. Can anyone help me (and the rest of us) out with this dilemma? At least let me know if you've had success of any kind, even with something that I've already discounted myself. Many thanks.

[ha13may]

Hi !

I always download my movie trailers in highest resolution quicktime available. Anything around the 480 resolution will be brilliant. Once converted the trailers play beautifully on my pioneer 444 which I got a couple of days ago. Even now as I am posting this reply, I am converting the spiderman trailer from quicktime to vcd mpeg.

Download the quicktime movie and open it in tmpgenc. Before doing so make sure you have the qtreader file unzipped in the tmpgenc folder. I am using tmpenc 2.54 and the pal vcd template. Browse the video source to the file. The audio will automatically be located and should be the same file. Finally hit 'start' and the encoding should last about 15 minutes for my trailers.

If you are having crashing problems download the program and necessary files again. Make sure you have installed latest updates for drivers and operating system. If all else fails try reinstalling you system from scratch. This will eliminate any corrupt files and viruses you might have gathered over the months. If you have a big hard drive try installing another os like windows 2000, which I find very stable.

Sorry about the lengthy reply. If I missed anything do ask.

[MaDmiZe]

OK ..I'm not sure if this will help...but...I use TMPG for everytyhing and never had a problem till I was trying to convert some mov files to mpeg1 for vcd's. TMPG would run a bit then give me some "illegal" error.
So I search for ways to convert...tryed every program I had then down loaded a few more ...this was the best guide:
http://nickyguides.digital-digest.com/mov2avi.htm
It worked where the 3 others I p[icked off the net failed.....in short download radvideos tool....Use it to convert the mov to an avi....then use your encoder (i use TMPG) to go from avi to mpeg1. Any problems see link above...for radvideo tool see link above .....

[Pied-Piper]

TMPGEnc with QTReader.vfp converts any mov file to vcd mpeg. Download that file and extract it to your TMPGEnc folder.

[Rick123]

Thank you all for your replies ... I am currently exploring all these options and it seems that the RadTools option might the best of them so far (since I've never heard of it before and figure it's worth a try . I'll let you know what my experience of some of these suggestions has been for me just now.

Firstly, I've installed the latest TMPGEnc with the supplemental VFP provided but there is no mention of a QTReader plugin. You didn't tell me where to get it from, but I managed to locate it at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/4942/svcd.html , however the latest driver was in March 2001. So far it seems to be working on my latest QT5 test movie (yay!) without crashing (double-yay!), but I have yet to try it with an older QT file. I think the very latest TMPGEnc v2.56 has helped in not letting it crash unlike the previous versions I've used before. Thx Pied-Piper.

Secondly, I have never heard of RadTools before and from the looks of the nickyguide you gave me it seems very functional and robust. Just has a go with it and it seems a lot more versatile in the features department (especially when you want to know everythng about the source file, as well as tweaking the settings for the output file). The only immediate niggly that I've had with it is that when I press the 'delete' key on the file (which I assumed was just to remove it from the lister), it asked me if I wanted to put it in the recycle bin (which meant deleting it, duh!). Just pointing out that this lister is the file loader/destroyer, not just a viewing table - make sure you don't do what I do and say 'yes' to delete . Thx MaDmiZe.


Also, here's a another question from myself. I've been attempting to convert some NTSC video sources (LD/VHS) to PAL VCD, but I've been getting this terrible jerky frame playback. It's actually the making of Star Wars S.E. The interview sections are acceptable, but when the film proper is played the jerkiness is unbearable, often repeating frames or jumping ahead of them which makes me nautius to say the least.

I've read something at http://forum.vcdhelp.com/userguides/78178.php which says to convert the frame rate (and thereby the audio to be time-stretched) which I want to avoid doing atm. Can anyone suggest how I can possibly 'merge' the frame information so that a 30fps can become 25fps with slight blurring, instead of what seems to be a straight frame-for-frame encoding with constant jumping between missed or added frames? Any help greatly appreciated.

[Rick123]

Damn. Just found out something else about RadTools. There's no option to do a straight MPG (VCD) output, just AVI and pics. Just be aware of this if you want to create a VCD, but it will allow you to create DivX avi's directly from QT mov's so long as you have the proper codecs installed.

Again, many thanks for all your help so far.

[JamieBecks23]

Do wha the dude says. Get the latest edition of tmpgenc which eliminates that illegal crap. Get the qt plugin and convert it to mpg. Then burn. EASY!!!!!