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Play and Convert Mpg files

S

speedemonV12

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Hey guys, i just got my new MBP, and i have a lot of videos that are in mpg format, i was just wondering what was the best progam to go ahead and convert the files so that i can use them in idvd, i already know that i can play them using VLC, but i want to create DVD's.

Thanks!
 
I thought that QT (and iDVD) could play mpg files w/o needing any codecs or anything. If you do have to convert them, i suggest ffmpegX.
 
ok, i found that VLC can play them easily, but when using ffmpegX, what should i convert the file to? there are so many choices. I want to create a dvd, and be able to play it in a standard dvd player, what format should i convert to ?
 
To convert MPEGs to a DVD I'd recommend VisualHub. I know its not free, but its worth the cash. I tried for agesssss to get ffmpeg to convert my videos properly, but it ****s up the aspect ratios in a huge way (Or at least all mine did) and especially when converting a Widescreen MPEG, it was awful. The quality and ease of use is a huge plus for VisualHub as well, it does it all into a nice Image file when its finished, nay worries.
 
ok so i can use VisualHub for DVD's, thanks... but what if i want to create a data disk, filled with just individual files, not an actual dvd. What would the best format for my files to be in? so that it is compatible on both mac and windows, like i want to put the clips that i have on a disk, and then put it into a windows pc, and be able to play them, since you have to have quicktime to play mov files, and most pc computers dont have that... any idea what format i should put my files into ??

also, what is a good cd/dvd burning program?
 
speedemonV12 said:
ok so i can use VisualHub for DVD's, thanks... but what if i want to create a data disk, filled with just individual files, not an actual dvd. What would the best format for my files to be in? so that it is compatible on both mac and windows, like i want to put the clips that i have on a disk, and then put it into a windows pc, and be able to play them, since you have to have quicktime to play mov files, and most pc computers dont have that... any idea what format i should put my files into ??

also, what is a good cd/dvd burning program?
Click to expand...

If they're all .mpg files they'll work fine on Mac and PC.

To burn the files to a disc just as data, put a blank disc into the Mac, drag the files to the disc icon on the desktop. Then just drag the disc icon to the trash (it will turn into an eject icon) and OSX will burn the data to the DVD then eject the disc.

Doing it this way doesn't allow you to play them on a regular DVD player but they'll work fine on a PC.

As for getting them onto a DVD for playback in a standalone DVD player, Toast is probably the most popular program for this purpose. It's also a more fully-featured burning program if you need more advanced CD/DVD burning options but for regular file backup the built-in burning abilities of OSX are fine.
 
AVI would prolly be the best format for using on Windows and Mac, you can get a version of VLC for Windows as well. Also, VisualHub will convert to AVI for you. 🙂

Good CD burning software tho:

Disco
Roxio Toast

Neither are free, if you need free have a look on version tracker for 'Burn' thats not bad. Or you could use the OS X inbuilt Burn Folder, as Chundles said 🙂
 
vlc can play them fine... i have it installed... are you saying that once you have vlc installed, quicktime will also be able to play them?
 
speedemonV12 said:
vlc can play them fine... i have it installed... are you saying that once you have vlc installed, quicktime will also be able to play them?
Click to expand...

Quicktime can already play .mpg files. Well, at least every single .mpg file I've ever thrown at it.

avi is a different story because avi isn't a format - it's a container. The video inside the avi container can be in many different formats. You don't need to buy codecs for avi playback, there are plenty free ones about. I get by just fine using QT for nearly everything (with Flip4Mac installed for wmv playback) and VLC for anything QT can't handle.

But I'm yet to find a .mpg file it can't handle and I play a LOT of videos.
 
speedemonV12 said:
vlc can play them fine... i have it installed... are you saying that once you have vlc installed, quicktime will also be able to play them?
Click to expand...

It should do, mine did anyway. But yes, as Chundles also noted, quicktime should already have the ability to play .mpg files 'out of the box' as it were.

Maybe also downloading 'DivX' will help. I have DivX, Flip4Mac and VLC installed. SO far I haven't had any problems playing any files on my Mac.
 
well what is wrong with my computer then? i cant play mpg files in quicktime... it says

Error Openning Movie
The movie could not be opened.

and i have the option OK

thats all
 
speedemonV12 said:
well what is wrong with my computer then? i cant play mpg files in quicktime... it says

Error Openning Movie
The movie could not be opened.

and i have the option OK

thats all
Click to expand...

Maybe .mpg is also a container like avi and mov and the movie inside is in some sort of obscure format. Do you have a small file that's giving you trouble that you could host somewhere? That way we could have a look.
 
Well I just tried a .MPG on my standard, comes with iTunes, version of Quicktime (On Windows, mind) with no codecs, extras, etc, etc installed and it works fine. So I can only see it being what was suggested ^^^ If we could see the file, that was be nice.

Edit: Will try it now. I know Chundles is on 56K like.

Edit Edit: Well, it doesn't work in my Quicktime either. Works fine in Windows Media Player (Version 10 I believe *Shrugs*) It wont play in iTunes either, but then I didn't expect it too. I have nothing here to get anymore info im afraid. I'm at work now like.
 
i read something on the apple site about how it cant play AC3 audio..... maybe that is it... how would i find out if it has that kind of audio?
 
Markleshark said:
Well I just tried a .MPG on my standard, comes with iTunes, version of Quicktime (On Windows, mind) with no codecs, extras, etc, etc installed and it works fine. So I can only see it being what was suggested ^^^ If we could see the file, that was be nice.

Edit: Will try it now. I know Chundles is on 56K like.
Click to expand...

Thanks mate - 20mins to download that little file. Bugger that.

Stupid dial-up god I hate you Telstra.

EDIT - So it didn't work eh? Must be a video encoded in some version of Windows Media enclosed in a .mpg container. Naughty naughty.

Sorry speedemonV12 sounds like you've got some very obscure video files there. MPG files should playback in Quicktime no worries but when the video itself is encoded in something strange then yeah, QT's gonna have some trouble.

Have you installed Flip4Mac (free from microsoft.com/mac)? It's a wmv plugin for QT that allows it to playback most (but not all) wmv files. It's possible that the video in the mpg file was encoded using a Windows Media codec and Flip4Mac may enable playback.
 
Chundles said:
Thanks mate - 20mins to download that little file. Bugger that.

Stupid dial-up god I hate you Telstra.
Click to expand...

Nay Worries. Just a shame I can't do anymore. I have no access to anything. All I can say is it wont play on a standard install of Quicktime. I can't see of anyway in WMP to see how its all encoded either, not really being much help 😱

Maybe .mpg is also a container like avi and mov and the movie inside is in some sort of obscure format.
Click to expand...

I would say thats the problem. Try using ffmpeg/VisualHub to convert to something else, if it will...
 
haha .. sorry.. its the smallest one that i have.. do you have any idea what progam i would use to see if a file has AC3 audio?

edit: wow there most be something seriously wrong with my files.. i just used Visual hub to convert it to mpg lol... and i could play that new mpg in quicktime...something is wrong with the original files... weird... i had been taking the files off of TIVO, and putting them in mpg format in windows, so one of my settings must have been wrong... anyway thanks for the help, and sorry it was such a simple problem lol... quicktime does play mpg !! yes!
 
Markleshark said:
I would say thats the problem. Try using ffmpeg/VisualHub to convert to something else, if it will...
Click to expand...

iSquint is also a good option for the conversion. It's free and easy to use. Those other programs are shareware and I can't for the life of me get consistent results from ffmpegx.

Download iSquint and use it to try and convert the files.
 
the get info showed it as an mpeg-2 file... and as i said n my edit, there was something wrong with the original mpg files, i used VirtualHub to convert to mpg, and the files then played in quicktime...

and Quicktime does play mpg files by default for me, i didnt have to download any codecs after i converted it to mpg

Chundles - do you like isquint better that virtualhub?

edit: just checked out iSquint and looks nice, but only converts to ipod format, so ill stick with Virtualhub
 
speedemonV12 said:
the get info showed it as an mpeg-2 file... and as i said n my edit, there was something wrong with the original mpg files, i used VirtualHub to convert to mpg, and the files then played in quicktime...

and Quicktime does play mpg files by default for me, i didnt have to download any codecs after i converted it to mpg

Chundles - do you like isquint better that virtualhub?
Click to expand...

Well there we go, it's mpeg-2. That answers a lot of niggling questions. Quicktime does play mpg files out of the box but it can't playback mpeg-2 encoded mpg files because they're primarily used in the creation of commercial DVDs - there is a component to allow mpeg-2 playback in Quicktime but it's going to cost you.

I was under the impression that VisualHub was shareware? Is that incorrect? iSquint is free which is why I use it and it's really simple to get video into iPod-playable formats.

I reckon these threads are a lot like an episode of House. Lots of different, sometimes harmful diagnoses are given during the solving of the problem until a tiny bit of information finally appears that solves everything in one neat little package.

*hobbles away on cane*
 
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