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Old Feb 15, 2005, 06:48 PM   #1
sandman42
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Importing muxed mpg1 into iMovie

Does anyone have a reliable method of importing the video *and* audio of muxed mpg1 clips into iMovie? I've tried using bbdemux to demux the clip; I get a .m1v video file that imports ok, but the .m1a audio file won't import into iMovie. The audio file plays ok in Quicktime and iTunes, but iMovie doesn't like it, and I get an error if I try to use iTunes to convert it to AAC or MP3.
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Old Feb 15, 2005, 06:55 PM   #2
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Have you tried exporting from Quicktime Pro to .dv (DV stream) then importing into iMovie?

That usually works fine.
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Old Feb 15, 2005, 07:02 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WinterMute
Have you tried exporting from Quicktime Pro to .dv (DV stream) then importing into iMovie?

That usually works fine.
No, I haven't sprung for QT Pro. Not that I have anything against QT Pro, and I'll buy it if it's what I need, but it seems like there should be a way to do this for free. Unfortunately for me, most of the files I want to use with iMovie are muxed mpg1.
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Old Feb 15, 2005, 07:06 PM   #4
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exporting to dv doesn't work. but i have a better solution, that's also free. go get mpeg stream clip: http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=MPEG_StreamClip

i use this all the time. it even will break it up into imovie editable clips, if it's bigger than 1.9 gig. hope that helps!
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Old Feb 15, 2005, 07:19 PM   #5
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Check out which formats iMovie uses as native import:

HDV (720p & 1080i)

MPEG-4 (Simple Profile)

iSight

DV

DV Widescreen

You need to get your MPEG1 files into one of those before it'll import cleanly, QT Pro will go MPG4 and DV, (plus widescreen I think). It's probably your cheapest option.
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Old Feb 15, 2005, 07:24 PM   #6
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QT Pro will not properly dumux mpeg1 content. you will get video without audio. so, you can export using QT pro to dv and then separately extract the audio with some other program, but other than that, QT pro is not a solution.
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Old Feb 15, 2005, 07:36 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by federalists
QT Pro will not properly dumux mpeg1 content. you will get video without audio. so, you can export using QT pro to dv and then separately extract the audio with some other program, but other than that, QT pro is not a solution.
I'm sure you're right, all the MPG1 I've converted has been for DVDSP, and the audio NEEDS to be de-muxed, but I thought I remembered exporting muxed too. My bad.
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Old Feb 15, 2005, 08:36 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by federalists
exporting to dv doesn't work. but i have a better solution, that's also free. go get mpeg stream clip: http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=MPEG_StreamClip

i use this all the time. it even will break it up into imovie editable clips, if it's bigger than 1.9 gig. hope that helps!
MPEG StreamClip is definately a go to, freeware, application. I've had some of those hard to handle MPEG1's where neither StreamClip nor BBDemux would work. In those cases, Audio Hijack has done the trick to get the audio.
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Old Feb 15, 2005, 09:44 PM   #9
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To make my problem more clear...

I don't have any trouble getting the video from my muxed mpg1 into iMovie. In fact, iMovie will import it directly, but it drops the muxed audio. What this means is that I get the video with no audio.

I tried using bbdemux to separate the audio and video, and it seems to do it -- I get two separate files, a .m1v video file that iMovie can import (again, with no audio), and a .m1a audio file that iMove won't touch. Quicktime can play it, as can iTunes, but iMovie says it can't open it.

All I need to do is find a way to extract the *audio* from my mpg1 files to a format that I can import into iMovie.

Or, another alternative (which would be even easier) would be if there's a program that will create a demuxed audio/video file that will import into iMovie.
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Old Feb 15, 2005, 10:24 PM   #10
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Use a tip in eyetv's support database

Quote:
Originally Posted by sandman42
I don't have any trouble getting the video from my muxed mpg1 into iMovie. In fact, iMovie will import it directly, but it drops the muxed audio. What this means is that I get the video with no audio.

I tried using bbdemux to separate the audio and video, and it seems to do it -- I get two separate files, a .m1v video file that iMovie can import (again, with no audio), and a .m1a audio file that iMove won't touch. Quicktime can play it, as can iTunes, but iMovie says it can't open it.

All I need to do is find a way to extract the *audio* from my mpg1 files to a format that I can import into iMovie.

Or, another alternative (which would be even easier) would be if there's a program that will create a demuxed audio/video file that will import into iMovie.
use bbdemux to separate the audio and video, than use this procedure I quoted from el gato's web site:

Quote:
For EyeTV USB:


The MPEG-1 streams that EyeTV produces have the audio and video intermixed, or muxed. Due to a limitation of QuickTime they cannot be directly edited.


There is a long and involved process to convert the MPEG-1 streams that EyeTV produces into something that iMovie can edit. You have to separate the audio and video streams, convert them into a different form, and then recombine them.


You'll need these programs:


SoundApp
(a free audio conversion program which works in Classic or OS 9)
http://www.spies.com/~franke/SoundApp/#download


bbDEMUX
(a free MPEG demuxer which is for OS X)
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/macbbdemux/


MAD
(a free audio conversion tool for OS X)
http://www.biermann.org/philipp/mad/


Do the following if you want to edit in iMovie:


Export a recorded program from EyeTV, by using the File --> Save as QuickTime command.

Demux the file that EyeTV produces. You'll get a video file which ends with .m1v, and an audio file that ends with .m1a

Use SoundApp to File --> Convert the .m1a file into AIFF format. You can also use MAD to convert to AIFF if you want to stay in OS X.

Use iMovie to import the AIFF file - it shows up as an audio track at the bottom of the screen

Then, use the QuickTime Player to File --> Export the .m1v file to DV.

Please note that the DV file size that iMovie accepts is limited to 2GB (9 minutes or less). Trim your video file into smaller segments before trying to import it.

Use iMovie to import the DV file - it shows up as a video clip on the top right of the screen

Drag the video clip to the bottom of the screen, and now the video is synched back up with the audio.

Edit the recombined movie to your specifications.



After editing, you can export your movie in QuickTime format, or keep it in DV for use in programs like iDVD.
note you do not need to export the m1v file to DV. Also, it may help to get Quicktime Pro anyhow because one thing it lets you do is put your de-muxed and decoded audio file back on to the video in a way that you can still import it, and quicktime will take care of the synchronization of the audio and video if, in quicktime player, you pick to open the m1v as 1 file, the audio (converted to aiff) as a 2nd file, edit>select all on the audio file, bring the video forward, edit>select all again and than pick edit>Paste(or add) scaled. I have found that the audio and video can fall out of sync unless you do what I state above. when you are done, play back the file to make sure you are happy with the result, than pick file>save as and make sure "allowing dependencies" is selected(do not delete the original audio or video files at this point, you can however delete the m1a if you wish). after you open iMovie, import the new quicktime file you made in to your project.
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Old Feb 16, 2005, 03:09 AM   #11
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Just the info I was looking for...

Thanks joshjohnson, you answered my question perfectly. In fact, it's funny cuz EyeTV files are what I'm trying to work with, primarily.

Still seems like a pretty cumbersome process. I wish I understood why iMovie can't deal with the muxed files, or why there can't be a one-step demux process.

Thanks again.
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Old Mar 1, 2005, 09:22 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by federalists
exporting to dv doesn't work. but i have a better solution, that's also free. go get mpeg stream clip: http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=MPEG_StreamClip
Drag your video to stream clip, and go to file > demux to .aiff then drag that into iMovie or FCP and then drag the .mpg file into the timeline. Its quick, cheap and easy.
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Old Mar 1, 2005, 09:27 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sandman42
I don't have any trouble getting the video from my muxed mpg1 into iMovie. In fact, iMovie will import it directly, but it drops the muxed audio. What this means is that I get the video with no audio.

.......All I need to do is find a way to extract the *audio* from my mpg1 files to a format that I can import into iMovie.
Just to make it clear, this is exactly what my problem was importing movies from my Sony DSC-W1. It drove me crazy until I used MPEG streamclip.
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Old Mar 1, 2005, 09:40 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by njmac
Just to make it clear, this is exactly what my problem was importing movies from my Sony DSC-W1. It drove me crazy until I used MPEG streamclip.
On rare occasions, there have been those "mean" MPEG1's from which even StreamClip couldn't spit out an audio file. Another good app is Audio Hijack. http://www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijack/
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Old Mar 2, 2005, 02:27 AM   #15
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I'm surprised no one thought about this earlier...

Have you ever heard of ffmpegX? Just try it. It handles audio and video of all Mpeg types perfectly. I have tried it countless times... You should try it too. Go to versiontracker, or just perform a google search.
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Old Nov 2, 2006, 12:27 AM   #16
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Apple's "Audio MIDI Setup" Fixes This

This is an old thread that helped me resolve the problem -- until I ran across a better and easier solution listed on another site just today.

Using Apple's "Audio MIDI Setup" fixed the problem I was having hearing sound from an MPG1 Muxed source: it insisted on ONLY playing through my bluetooth headset --even when all other sound went through my default output device. When I deleted the bluetooth headset, no sound was heard.

The solution that helped resolve my problem can be found here:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...26288#comments
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Old Nov 2, 2006, 07:27 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Yelsmek View Post
This is an old thread that helped me resolve the problem -- until I ran across a better and easier solution listed on another site just today.

Using Apple's "Audio MIDI Setup" fixed the problem I was having hearing sound from an MPG1 Muxed source: it insisted on ONLY playing through my bluetooth headset --even when all other sound went through my default output device. When I deleted the bluetooth headset, no sound was heard.

The solution that helped resolve my problem can be found here:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...26288#comments
It's of interest to me that you posted this. I've been having strange audio quirks where I get no audio or the audio goes to my USB headset when I have the system speaker selected. I have used a bluetooth headset with my computer, but I never do anymore and I'm sure it's still in my bluetooth panel. I'll try deleting it and see if it improves my audio performance.
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Old Nov 2, 2006, 12:50 PM   #18
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Yelm, thanks for posting that here. It's a quick and easy fix [worked great for me, and I had a similar problem to yours, only mine was a USB headset].

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