.mov file conversion

[flyinhigh]

Just done my first imovie on an old version imovie 4. Many hours, slide show with mixed sound. Love it. Came to the end point of finding out quicktime.mov file wont play on other computers. Can't share. Have upgraded quicktime player. Not at all happy with quality of export as MP4 or AVI. Is a file converter my better option? Any suggestions on best file conversion software available. Will conversion keep quality? Preferably free!
thanks.

 

[huntercr]

Just done my first imovie on an old version imovie 4. Many hours, slide show with mixed sound. Love it. Came to the end point of finding out quicktime.mov file wont play on other computers. Can't share. Have upgraded quicktime player. Not at all happy with quality of export as MP4 or AVI. Is a file converter my better option? Any suggestions on best file conversion software available. Will conversion keep quality? Preferably free!
thanks.

What do you mean no one has quicktime? If they have itunes, they have quicktime. Did you mean they didn't have the codec you used?

Export it as the H.264 codec with a manual setting of the bitrate, and make it large... 3000-5000kbit and you'll love it. ( it will be huge of course, you can fine tune it down to the best bitrate of quality vs size )

I suggest taking a 30 second clip from your film to help settle in on the bitrate instead of encoding the whole movie.

Hope this helps!

 

[flyinhigh]

thanks hunterc

Out of interest, the original quicktime file imovie saved was reading as '..not a movie file' when I took it across to my G5 (from my emac). However, have done as you suggested. Didn't have this knowledge, you saved the day. Love collaboration! One thing I notice though is that 'fade ins and outs' aren't operating nearly as cleanly on the coded file as in the imovie original. Yet other transitions like cross fades and pushes and effects are working just as well. Appreciate your thoughts on this. Much thanks.

 

[huntercr]

Out of interest, the original quicktime file imovie saved was reading as '..not a movie file' when I took it across to my G5 (from my emac). However, have done as you suggested. Didn't have this knowledge, you saved the day. Love collaboration! One thing I notice though is that 'fade ins and outs' aren't operating nearly as cleanly on the coded file as in the imovie original. Yet other transitions like cross fades and pushes and effects are working just as well. Appreciate your thoughts on this. Much thanks.

Re: "not a movie file", I don't know what would cause this. If you still have the original movie on the emac, open it with quicktime and press Apple-i and tell me what it says the "format" is.

I'm so glad I could help you. How are you going to be using this file on the other computer? Will someone else be editing it too? What I had you do ( using the H.264 is a "final format" codec... meaning you're not supposed to edit it again. Are you embedding it in presentations and the like?
If you're collaborating with this video where someone else will be editing it, I have a better work flow fo r you.

Re: Fades

This is a factor of the bitrate and the compression program likely. H.264 is not perfect... no "lossy" algorithm can be. You can increase the bitrate even higher, and it might fix it.

Can you give me more on what the nature of your collaboration is?
( also what OS version each system is )

Hope I can help!