MPEG 2 JVC Everio help please

[iRhyknow]

My sister just switched from windows last night (woo hoo!), however she also just bought a JVC Everio video camera. I can not get the camera to work in iMovie for some reason. It wouldn't let me play from the camera like mine does which is a mini dv camera.

She doesnt live near me so this is making it even more difficult 😱 as I am now back at home.

So she took it to best buy where she bought the camera and the tech support person (for lack of a better term) told her that her videos are in MPEG 2 files. She just needed to buy QT Pro so she could use the MPEG 2 .mov files on the mac book pro, and that the problem was that iMovie just couldnt recognise them as MPEG 2 😕 .

Can QT Pro do that?

Any bit of advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

[LethalWolfe]

If she just bought the camera I would take it back and buy a MiniDV camera. Higher quality images and much easier to edit with.

If she can't/doesn't want to return the camera then do a search for "MPEG2" or "miniDVD" and you'll find a ton of posts w/instructions on how to convert the MPEG2 footage into something iMovie can edit. This topic comes up about once a week.


Lethal

 

[Victory]

You can also google "mpeg streamclip". I have a Sony DVD cam and I use Streamclip to convert my viedo footage into dv format.

 

[mikey.c]

I have an Everio, The file on the Envio is a MOD file, The only way
for it to work is to convert the MOD to MPEG.

The Program that came with the Everio (Capty MPEG Edit EX) can
do this for you, Open the Capty program and click on "View" then
"Combine Files", Then "ADD" the MOD file you want to convert, then click on "Create", then select which file you want (MPEG, DV, Quicktime)
and then it wil be converted. then you just use that in iMovie.

The other program (Mono) that comes with the Everio will burn the MOD
file directly from your Camera to the DVD and it will burn MPEG (systum Stream).

I hope this helps

 

[johnniewalker]

I've also just moved to a mac and got a everio mc500 and had the same problem!

I tried both 'DropDV' and 'MPEG streamclip' and have since found out that MPEG sreamclip apparently does a better job of converting to DV and it's free😀

The bundled software is apparently c**p at converting the files and gives poor results, although I never even open the packet that the cd-rom came in so can't say for sure.

There is a very interesting thread about all this here:
http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/t119778.html

 

[RobertHana]

Solution (use MOD files with better converter $15)

Ok listen up people. I got a pretty good solution for this problem but it can cost $15. Not bad to get a perfect result. So get the app ffmpegX at

http://ffmpegX.com/

This app will require you to download 3 other files and register them with the app itself. But in the end the conversion from the MOD file to a DV stream (or other formats) is perfect (at least it was for me).

Here were my exact steps after I installed ffmpegX:

1. connect my JVC Everio 20GB HDD camera via USB and see the HD mount
2. copy specified .MOD file to ~/Movies
3. rename .MOD file to .mpg
4. open ffmpegX
5. drag .mpg to the From box on the left side
6. select DV on the To box on the right side
7. click Encode button
(look in the 2nd field from the top to see where it went)
8. open iMovie
9. drag resulting .ff.dv file into a clip area

Good luck to everyone. I hope it works out for you all as well as it has for me! 🙂

BTW: Hardware specs - MacBook Pro Dual Core Intel OS X Tiger 🙂

 

[Lebowski]

i would take it back and get miniDV.

its the most common format for consumers right now, everywhere has media, and its the easiest to work with as far as editing and burning.

one of the big problems with technology that is a pain to deal with, is that you dont ever do anything with it.

so many people have digital cameras, yet lots of them dont print the photos, post them online, make slideshows etc... the just sit on a computer. with easy to use apps like iLife, it takes the "tech" out of it, and leaves you with the fun parts.

 

[albank]

On Imovie, about trimming

Please,

I have a question about trimming. I went in the "help section" of Imovie and try to apply a trimming as it was shown in the tutorial. Well, I couldn't find any precision editor button in the little logos on my time-line. There is exposure, cropping, sound, but no precision editor. Why? Does anybody have an answer?

Other question.

Is final cut express a good start or is it better to just stick to Imovie?

Thank you, and sorry if I didn't ask my question in the right section, I'm new to forums and do not really understand where I should ask my questions.