[vmpaul]

I have a few avi's that I got from a family member (on a PC of course) that I'd liked to convert to .mov files so I can edit in QT Pro. I have access(through a friend) to cleaner 6.01, but being a newbie, am confused as to which encoding codec to use. These probably won't be used to burn to either a DVD or VCD until I get a new machine later this year.

These are the ones listed in cleaner Settings pull-down. I've seen 3ivx D4 4.0.3 so my instinct is to use that.

Any suggestions? Recommendations?

3ivx D4 4.0.3
Apple Animation
Apple BMP
Apple Cinepak
Apple Component Video YUV422
Apple DV PAL
Apple DV/DVCPRO NTSC
Apple DVCPRO PAL
Apple Graphics
Apple H.261
Apple H.263
Apple Motion JPEG A
Apple Motion JPEG B
Apple MPEG4 Compressor
Apple None
Apple Photo JPEG
Apple Planar RGB
Apple PNG
Apple TGA
Apple TIFF
Apple VC H.263
Apple Video
JPEG 2000 Encoder
0n2 VP3 Video Compressor
Sorenson Video 3 Compressor
Sorenson Video® Compressor
ZyGoVideo

[Mark E]

what sort of editing are you doing? just cuts? if so, you should be able to edit in the current format, save as a dependent quicktime file (the file size will be 2 or 3k), and then load the resulting file into cleaner.

if you can't do any editing in the original AVI format, then convert to a DV format.

as for the actual means of encoding, if you want to make DVDs, will be mpeg-2, or mpeg-1 for VCD. but there seems little point in encoding the files for DVD or VCD at this stage, when you don't know what format you'll be using.

if you have the drive space, then convert to DV, and leave the files on the hard drive until it comes to the time to convert them for DVD/VCD.

-Mark

[vmpaul]

I'll be doing cuts and joining.

What benefit would converting to a DV Stream give me? Would that mean I have more flexibilty with importing the files to iDVD or iMovie?

If I do convert to DV then do I still need to choose a codec or is that only for .mov files?

[Uncle Skeleton]

You can do those edits in QTPro. If you can't hear the audio in QTPro (it's not mp3 or uncompressed, or you don't have Divx 5.0.6), use Divx Doctor to make a lossless conversion to mov. Then if you're removing parts, save as Self-Contained.

You want to avoid recoding to a different format whenever possible. Since that is Cleaner's sole function, don't use Cleaner. You'll have to recode at the final step to MPEG, but don't do so before then. This includes DV. If you were to recode to DV, it would be easier on iMovie, but not iDVD. But you don't need iMovie just for cut-and-paste work, just for adding transitions, etc.

[vmpaul]

I've tried Divx Doctor and editing in AVI format but I keep getting error messages. I think it has to do with the audio some how. That's why I was trying to convert them for more flexibility.

I guess I'll try the 3ivx codec for now unless someone has any other suggestions.