[midwinter]

Hi all.

A friend has asked me to convert a VCD one of his clients has into a quicktime movie (mp4) for placement on the web, and I'm having a rough time of it.

I've got the .dat file demuxed, and while i can play both the audio and video portions of the video seperately, I can't add the audio track to the video track, and vice versa.

Can someone give me a hand?

Cheers
Scott

[nuckin futs]

stupid question...
are you using Quicktime Pro?

[midwinter]

Originally posted by nuckin futs:
stupid question...
are you using Quicktime Pro?

Yes. This is why this is so strange. I'm sure I'm just being a knucklehead....

Cheers
Scott

[nuckin futs]

Originally posted by midwinter:


Yes. This is why this is so strange. I'm sure I'm just being a knucklehead....

Cheers
Scott

i thought you just do an "add scaled" in the edit menu

[midwinter]

Originally posted by nuckin futs:

i thought you just do an "add scaled" in the edit menu

Everything in the edit menu is greyed out. That's the problem.

Cheers
Scott

Edit: the video track and the audio track are both listed as mpeg1, and I can't cut, paste, add, trim, etc EITHER of them. This is bizarre.

[dtriska]

You can't edit MPEG-1 files with copy, paste, etc. with QuickTime Pro anymore.

What you want is VCD Copy X. With this app, all you have to do is rip the VCD and then export the resulting QuickTime file into MPEG-4.

[midwinter]

Originally posted by dtriska:
You can't edit MPEG-1 files with copy, paste, etc. with QuickTime Pro anymore.

What you want is VCD Copy X. With this app, all you have to do is rip the VCD and then export the resulting QuickTime file into MPEG-4.

Hmmm...That link doesn't seem to work for me... I'm sure it's a network problem, though.

Thanks!

Cheers
Scott

[midwinter]

Originally posted by dtriska:
You can't edit MPEG-1 files with copy, paste, etc. with QuickTime Pro anymore.

What you want is VCD Copy X. With this app, all you have to do is rip the VCD and then export the resulting QuickTime file into MPEG-4.

Ok. I downloaded the app, but it doesn't actually produce any files...I create a new folder, and all I get when the app finishes doing its thing is an empty.

I suspect that this is because what I'm working with isn't a VCD proper...it's just the .dat file--there are no accompanying files.

Any help?

Cheers
Scott

[k_munic]

did you try

ffmpegX (versiontracker)

?

it has the ability to transform .vob directly into mpeg4...- probably whta you´re looking for....

[midwinter]

Originally posted by k_munic:
did you try

ffmpegX (versiontracker)

?

it has the ability to transform .vob directly into mpeg4...- probably whta you´re looking for....

Yes. It chokes on this file. All I have is he .dat file from a VCD. I don't have any of the accompanying files. I can't export it to another file format using QT Pro.

I have a PC...Is there a solution on that side of things? *shudder*

Cheers
Scott

[kingskel]

Maybe a stupid question, but did you try simply renaming the file from .dat to .mpg , opening it and choosing "export"? That should work.

[midwinter]

Originally posted by kingskel:
Maybe a stupid question, but did you try simply renaming the file from .dat to .mpg , opening it and choosing "export"? That should work.

I did export the .dat, but for some reason it simply produced an uneditable file that had no audio track. I eventually found an app on versiontracker that demuxed the file and left me with files I could export and then recombine.

Whew. This has been a real pain.

Cheers
Scott

[midwinter]

I spoke too soon. I have the video exported just fine, but now I'm stuck with an .mp2 that I can't export or transform! Grr.

Any ideas?

Cheers
Scott

[lucylawless]

iToons can convert mp2 audio files if they have no type/creator codes (or those codes conform to iToons)

[midwinter]

Originally posted by lucylawless:
iToons can convert mp2 audio files if they have no type/creator codes (or those codes conform to iToons)

Harumph. I tried that, but iTunes didn't appear to *convert* the file...it just seemed to play it. Oh well.

I wound up converting it on the PC side...I got tired of wasting time trying to find a solution on the Mac. It's a real shame that QT treats mp2 and mpeg like it does....

Thanks everyone for the help.

Cheers
Scott

[lucylawless]

in itoons 2, you could choose Advanced -> Convert To Mp3 and then choose a file. It looks like in itoons 3, you have to play the file, then choose Convert to Mp3 while it's playing (or selected). I assume it still works, but if it doesn't for some stupid reason, there's always SoundApp in classic...

[midwinter]

Originally posted by lucylawless:
iToons can convert mp2 audio files if they have no type/creator codes (or those codes conform to iToons)

Harumph. I tried that, but iTunes didn't appear to *convert* the file...it just seemed to play it. Oh well.

I wound up converting it on the PC side...I got tired of wasting time trying to find a solution on the Mac. It's a real shame that QT treats mp2 and mpeg like it does....

Thanks everyone for the help.

Cheers
Scott

[dtriska]

Originally posted by midwinter:
It's a real shame that QT treats mp2 and mpeg like it does....

Well, MPG is a delivery format, as in you are supposed to watch it, not edit it.

[midwinter]

Originally posted by dtriska:


Well, MPG is a delivery format, as in you are supposed to watch it, not edit it.

Really? I never knew that... Could you explain the rationale behind it? I'm really just curious. I'm not an AV guy...I just got into the habit of making quicktime movies of TV shows for a friend overseas and fell in love with the whole process.

Cheers
scott

edit: woot! 200 posts in only 16 months! I suppose this means I'm a complete addict, huh?