Assistance requested: media library

[dvanha]

Hello Friends,

I recently purchased my mac (MBP April 2010) and I have enjoyed the experience thus far. This post constitutes my first reach-out towards the online mac community. I appreciate any and all assistance that may be provided.

At the moment, I have approximately 900 to 1,000 assorted video clips. I have them organized in folders but I find it troublesome to browse through the finder.

I have been a loyal member of the itunes store and have spent hundreds of dollars buying TV Shows. I would like to consolidate my assorted video clips and my TV shows into itunes.

Because I was a previous windows user, my assorted clips are in AVI format. From what I understand, quicktime can play these files using perian (as outline din the sitckied guide), but will not allow them to be imported into the itunes library.

The only way, from what I gather, to import them into itunes, is to convert them. I have Quicktime 10 and I was going to upgrade to Quicktime Pro, when I realized they are distinctly separate and Quicktime 10 is able to convert AVI to MOV.

I have tested it and this works brilliantly, but I do not have the time to sit at my desk and convert 900-1,000 files from AVI to MOV. Is there a quicker way to do this?

Keep in mind when I purchased my MBP it came with a rather small hard drive. I have since upgraded to a 1TB internal drive. I sit at 700GB used and 300GB free. I cannot simply convert all my files as I would run out of room, they would need to be done in batches or preferably deleting as the MOV file is created.

Does anyone have experience in dealing with this kind of situation? Help would be appreciated. Although i'm biased towards itunes, I have open ears.

 

[rdowns]

HandBrake is free and will convert in batches. It will convert your .avi files to .mp4 so you can import into iTunes.

 

[Makosuke]

I'd probably use Handbrake too, but another alternative is an Automator action to do a Quicktime conversion. I don't have the file (or where I got it) on hand now, but I know I downloaded an action that was essentially "convert video with last settings", around which I built an Automator task to allow me to drag and drop large numbers of files for conversion.

That said, if you have no experience with Automator (and/or similar batch-processing scripting systems) Handbrake is probably going to be easier.

 

[Relentlos]

I'm not sure automater can do it, and isn't Handbrake only for DVDs?

MPEG Streamclip is a good conversion app that can use quicktime to convert batches. Add all your files to a list, set it up and let it go. You may require quick time pro for certain features though. Mpeg streamclip is free though

 

[dvanha]

Thanks for the replies guys!

When I tried to convert using Quicktime, each file took approximately 10-30 seconds depending on the length. If I read correctly, this is because it only makes a container file and doesn't actually convert the video file?

In either case, when I used handbreak a 50 minute video was ETA'd at 30 minutes. It would not be viable considering the number of files that I have.

I also found that I have to manually add each video through the menu, not being able to just command + A or drag?

The automator script sounds interesting. But, I do not have any experience with the software. I will look into it as soon as possible.

 

[dvanha]

Sorry for double post, wanted to post my solution in case anyone ever comes up to this page by search.

The solution was rather simple, not sure why it was overlooked: front row