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shortyes · Jun 9, 2005, 11:51 AM

Hi all, I am doing some research for REU @ my university. I am running into a problem in that one of my duties is to convert .mov file to .avi or .mpeg since not everyone at my school has a mac and we need to manipulate the information. Basically taking a movie file, parsing the frames from the movie into bmp or gif then manipulate the image, put them back into a avi or mpeg then to a mov format.

I have some .mov files that were created in 2000 I recieved from Boston university. The problem I have is that my mac can read it but the windows PC with QT can not. Says the format is not supported.

I have been using FFMPEGX to convert the .mov to avi/mpeg but FFMPEGx can not read the file as well.

I was wondering if there is any codex for windows Quicktime out there that will let pc users to read the file? or a way for ffmpegx to convert the file or a way to extract each frame from the file into bmp or gif using quicktime or something that can read the file?

Thanks all in advance

Jacke · Jun 9, 2005, 12:19 PM

Get info on the file (Cmd-I) in Mac Quicktime and see what the video codec is.

shortyes · Jun 10, 2005, 09:11 PM

Originally Posted by Jacke

Get info on the file (Cmd-I) in Mac Quicktime and see what the video codec is.

The information I got from the cmd i is that the video is using cinepak codex

I can not find one that will install on my windows machine. All the information I gather was from the 1996-2000

Nothing recent.

Can you help?

philm · Jun 11, 2005, 06:03 AM

Here's what I would do. Make sure both the Mac and Windows have the same recent version of QT - say 6.5. Open the movie on the Mac and export it to a new movie using a suitable codec of your choice. It should then open under Windows. I think.

shortyes · Jun 11, 2005, 10:54 AM

So I would basically need a pro version of QT? Since all the versions these days do not have the save or export options enabled.

I am trying to find a cheap method of getting around this without having to upgrade. My QT 7.01 on my mac can read it and I know if I get the QT pro version I can export it to a different format.

The professor in charge of the project told me to see if there is a way of getting around this and if not he will buy the pro version with some grant money but we have been trying to find an alternative solutions.

philm · Jun 11, 2005, 02:33 PM

Yes, sorry, I should have mentioned that you need the Pro version. You can probably get an educational version for a few quid/dollars.

JKT · Jun 12, 2005, 09:27 AM

Does it import into iMovie? If so, you may be able to get around buying QT pro. However, you may lose any sound track that the file has (in my experience of doing the same with .avi files).

Uncle Skeleton · Jun 13, 2005, 02:10 PM

QTAmateur is a free alternative to QTPro for fullscreen and exporting

shortyes · Jun 14, 2005, 12:35 PM

LOL, this research we are doing is based on sign language, seeing if we can create a program that will be able to recognize a person from a video, separate the person from the environment and then try to translate what the person is signing.

There will be no sound

shortyes · Jun 15, 2005, 07:35 AM

Thanks all for the help, QTAmateur did what I needed.