A video format question

[Los Palmas 7]

Took some video of some friends today doing the white-water rafting thing on my Panasonic LX3. The videos came out really well (HD and all that) and I'd like to splice the clips together to make a bit of a movie.

However, the LX3 saves videos as "*.mov" files, which MS Movie Maker doesn't recognise.

How can I change the videos to something that MS MM will accept?

[GetCarter]

It's a faf. I have a leica which does the same. Luckilly I have a Mac which likes .mov

On a PC there are various bits of software that you can get which will convert mov to avi (or wmv). I have not yet found one that is free! I thought I had, but it stamps TRIAL all over the fottage so you have to buy it.

Google .mov to .avi

Edited by GetCarter on Monday 1st June 09:50

[Simpo Two]

It's an interesting point. I bet few people about to buy a still camera for its video abilities (that's still fitting a square into a circle for me) wonder what format video files it records in?

Do they all produce .mov (Apple Quicktime) files? PCs just don't like them in my experience. Maybe they'll do a menu where you can select .mov, .avi, .wmv etc?

[fergusd]

ffmpeg/ffmpegx ?

Free to try indefinately (very cheap to use) but you do need to know what you are trying to do . . . been using it recently to transcode between mpeg2 and h.264/aac on a mac but the same works on 'doze . . .

Would be very surprised if it wouldn't do .mov to something a PC likes . . .

Fd

[clonmult]

Depends on what format you want to eventually send out to.

I'm normally outputting to DVD format (dropping resolution, what a pain), and have found the free app DVD Flick able to handle darned near any format I've sent it. Okay, its basic, but if its your home movies being converted, then its more than adequate.

[Fordo]

not sure what format win movie maker likes, but quicktime pro (pc version), if its anything like the mac version, should be able to transcode .mov files into a variety of different formats. might be worth a look.

if you get really stuck, burn the .mov files onto a data dvd, and post them to me, and i can change them into any format you like. (i work for a video production company, and have all sorts of conversion software at my grubby fingertips)

[Los Palmas 7]

Thanks for the advice/offers chaps. I've downloaded a program called Pazera which promises to do the job. We'll see.

Simpo Two said:

It's an interesting point. I bet few people about to buy a still camera for its video abilities (that's still fitting a square into a circle for me) wonder what format video files it records in?

I didn't buy the LX3 for its video abilities, it was just a bonus. The fact that it records videos in HD was a bonus bonus. Despite the fairly fast lens, its low-light video performance is a little disappointing though

Simpo Two said:

Do they all produce .mov (Apple Quicktime) files? PCs just don't like them in my experience. Maybe they'll do a menu where you can select .mov, .avi, .wmv etc?

In the multitude of menus, sub menus and sub sub menus on the LX3, you can adjust every possible aspect of how the camera does what it does; how many megapixels you want, jpeg or RAW or both, choose 4:3, 3:2 or 16:9 format, enter the name and age of your baby/pet dog etc etc etc...

What you can't do is change the file type that videos are saved as. The Quicktime logo on the box should have given the game away. The PC "likes" them in so much that it plays them (albeit with some sizing issues) but heaven help you if you want to do more than just watch them.

Edited by Los Palmas 7 on Monday 1st June 15:12