Thanks for all comments and suggestions!
This is a long shot, but I have the
WFH Components by Wowfunhappy installed, and as long as it is encapsulated in a Quicktime .mov file I can play HEVC in Quicktime 7. I have Lightroom 4 installed, and while it does import and play in the Library view, it displays in the wrong aspect ratio with a white square on the side. Worth a try maybe.
Thanks. I gave it a go (after installing the WFH components, restarting the computer and opening Lightroom again. I think I had to "Synchronize folder" in Lightroom in order to reload the (previously unreadable) videos as well.
Unfortunately I'm experiencing similar issues to yours: the previews are in the wrong aspect ratios with a white border on one side. In addition they're black/white. The videos also play back with the same shortcomings, so I see this more as an emergency solution rather than the ability to view those videos.
Otherwise Handbrake also has a sort of overlooked batch-mode, where you select the folder containing the files, then "Add titles to queue".
Cool! I gave it a go and indeed -the converted videos are playable and recognized in Lightroom, but (in my case) cropped and completely wrong.
I assume this is because I need to reconfigure Handbrake (I occasionally use it to convert DVDs to files which is much more convenient than playing an actual DVD disc). Do you have any suggestions for which preset (or custom settings) to use for converting these files?
You should be able to use Handbrake to convert these videos, however, be aware that because you’re recompressing videos that are already compressed, there will be quality loss. It will likely also be extremely slow.
Oh, I see.
Well, I guess there's no way around that, but as long as the converted videos are of acceptable quality I'm OK with that. Obviously I want the best quality as possible (as close to the quality of the original files) and I don't mind if the converting in Handbrake takes a long time as this will only be done once.
Converting your HEVC and HEIC to H.264 and JPEG respectively will result in quality loss. No two ways about it! And assuming you at least have a current version of Apple's Photos app, then just use THAT? Simply drag and drop to the desktop, a folder or whatever, et voilà, converted. No need to overthink matters or go for random, inferior third party apps.
You hit the nail on the head!
Yes, I had originally transferred the photos/videos from the iPhone over to the
Photos app on my Mac (version 4.0), and that's where I had taken them from, but your comments here urged me to look further into this.
I've now learnt a few things:
.HEVC "live photos" files from an Iphone
The (unreadable in Lightroom) HEVC encoded videos are actually "Live photos" in the .HEIC file format. And select the photos, then "drag & drop" them from
Photos to a folder in the Finder window I just get .
JPG photos in the new folder.
If however I select the photos I want, then go to the menu
File-Export-Export unmodified originals and select a new folder I end up with the original
.HEIC files
and .MOV files in that folder!
The
.HEIC files can be opened with
Preview (version 10.1), but only as a still photo (unless there's some hidden feature which plays the short "live photos" video clip).
The
.MOV files are apparently a converted copy of the
.HEIC file, and open fine in
QuickTime Player (version 10.5) where I can play the video clip. By selecting
Window-Show movie inspector I can see that it's
HEVC encoded.
.MOV "videos" files from an iPhone
Then there are the normal video files (i.e. "Videos" in the
Photos app):
Selecting them in
Photos, then doing a "drag & drop" to a folder in a Finder window results in videos that can be played with QuickTime player on the Mac.
QuickTime Player's Window-Show movie inspector reveals that they're H.264 encoded.
Fortunately they show up and play perfectly in Lightroom!, but..... their capture time/date are all wrong in Lightroom as they show today's date (when I dragged & dropped them from
Photos).
The ones which I exported (
File-Export-Export unmodified originals) from Photos on the other hand
do have the correct capture dates/times in Lightroom, but are near useless for viewing (same problems as described with the converted HEIC files resulting in distorted black/white videos) -but due to having the "WFH components" plugins (see beginning of this reply posting) I am at least able to see the files in Lightroom (without the plugins they weren't even available as previews).
So in conclusion it appears I have to do the following, for Lightroom compatibility:
Solution (so far) for transferring HEIC "Live photos" to Lightroom
- do a "
drag & drop" of the "Live photos" from the
Photos app:
for JPG photos showing one frame of the video clips. They have the correct capture dates/times.
- do a "
File-Export-Export unmodified originals" of the "Live photos") from the
Photos app:
for HEVC encoded videos (which are NOT campatible with Lightroom!), but do have the correct dates/times.
- for Lightroom compatibility: convert somehow (I will have to look into this some more). It should ideally also keep the capture dates/times after the conversion to H.264.
Solution (so far) for transferring MOV "videos" to Lightroom
- do a "
drag & drop" of the "Videos" from the
Photos app:
for H.264 encoded videos that are compatible with Lighroom. But with incorrect capture dates/times!
- do a "
File-Export-Export unmodified originals" of the "Videos") from the
Photos app:
for HEVC encoded videos, with the correct capture dates/times. But but not compatible with Lightroom!
- for Lightroom compatibility: convert somehow (I will have to look into this some more). It should ideally also keep the capture dates/times after the conversion to H.264.
So I'm sort of back to square one with the converting from HEVC encoded videos over to H.264.
