viewing ex1 .mov files without FCP at DVinfo.net

Phil Bloom · March 21st, 2008, 05:25 PM

sorry if this has been covered elsewhere but my frazzled brain cannot see it anywhere.

My director has my rushes from the doco shoot on a hard drive using a macbook. She doesn't have FCP and if she tried to open a file in quicktime she gets a white screen.

Is this possible without FCP?

Dennis Schmitz · March 21st, 2008, 05:37 PM

VLC should work!
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

regards Dennis

Phil Bloom · March 21st, 2008, 05:40 PM

i don't think vlc shows timecode. no way with quicktime?

Dennis Schmitz · March 21st, 2008, 05:41 PM

You will at least need a mpeg2@hl decoder.

Phil Bloom · March 21st, 2008, 05:43 PM

what is that?

Dennis Schmitz · March 21st, 2008, 05:45 PM

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/
But there should also be a freeware alternative to it.

Dennis Schmitz · March 21st, 2008, 05:47 PM

You could try this one.
http://perian.org/#detail

Phil Bloom · March 21st, 2008, 05:50 PM

isn't the ex1 codec different though?

Dennis Schmitz · March 21st, 2008, 05:51 PM

I haven't run into any problems with many different mpeg2 decoder yet ;)

Phil Bloom · March 21st, 2008, 06:12 PM

it's just i cant test it as have fcp on my computer so it plays fine...

Benjamin Eckstein · March 21st, 2008, 09:48 PM

I believe one of the codecs in the quicktime library can be dropped into their QT library so they can play them in QT. I had to give HDV files to a client and had to give them the HDV codec so they could play it in QT (they did not have Final Cut). Apparently one of the codecs in that folder is for XDCAM, although by name none of them seem obvious. You could just send them the whole folder of codecs that you have installed and try that.

B

Craig Seeman · March 22nd, 2008, 07:04 AM

Phil, I think you just discovered why some people say back up the BPAV folders. That plus ClipBrowser is cross platform viewable (not PPC Mac though).

BTW VLC086e could not play the MOV files on my FCP system.

MPEGStreamclip 1.9.1 can play them but no Time Code (FCP system though)
in Macintosh/Library/QuickTime the only codec the might be related to the EX is AppleMPEG2Codec.component.

You could do a "reverse" test by removing that codec to see if Quicktime then can't play the MOV file. If that's the result then just maybe handing that off to your director might help. It's 180KB so it's small enough to zip and email to your director as an experiment.

BTW once the files are converted to MOV Clip Browser can't seem to play them just in case you were thinking of that route too.

Sebastien Thomas · March 22nd, 2008, 07:53 AM

You can use ffmpeg as stated on my blog (http://www.lecentre.net/blog/archives/157). You will get plain Mpeg2 files, wut without sound and timecode (I think).

Latest solution is the Clip Browser, which is a good tol to have, but works only on intel's mac.

Michael Totten · March 22nd, 2008, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Bloom

sorry if this has been covered elsewhere but my frazzled brain cannot see it anywhere.

My director has my rushes from the doco shoot on a hard drive using a macbook. She doesn't have FCP and if she tried to open a file in quicktime she gets a white screen.

Is this possible without FCP?

Sony XDCAM makes software that is for viewing only (it's not the XDCAM Transfer)... it's called XDCAM Clip Browsing Software. No need for FCP with this. Works like a charm.

http://bssc.sel.sony.com/Broadcastan...ownloads.shtml

Craig Seeman · March 22nd, 2008, 12:02 PM

I believe the Clip Browsing software does NOT play the XDCAM files once they are converted to MOV and that is the predicament Phil is in.

March 21st, 2008, 05:25 PM	#1
Phil Bloom Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: London UK Posts: 1,939	viewing ex1 .mov files without FCP sorry if this has been covered elsewhere but my frazzled brain cannot see it anywhere. My director has my rushes from the doco shoot on a hard drive using a macbook. She doesn't have FCP and if she tried to open a file in quicktime she gets a white screen. Is this possible without FCP? __________________ Philip Bloom Cinematographer, Director, Filmmaker www.philipbloom.net

March 21st, 2008, 05:40 PM	#3
Phil Bloom Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: London UK Posts: 1,939	i don't think vlc shows timecode. no way with quicktime? __________________ Philip Bloom Cinematographer, Director, Filmmaker www.philipbloom.net

March 21st, 2008, 05:43 PM	#5
Phil Bloom Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: London UK Posts: 1,939	what is that? __________________ Philip Bloom Cinematographer, Director, Filmmaker www.philipbloom.net

March 21st, 2008, 05:50 PM	#8
Phil Bloom Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: London UK Posts: 1,939	isn't the ex1 codec different though? __________________ Philip Bloom Cinematographer, Director, Filmmaker www.philipbloom.net

March 21st, 2008, 06:12 PM	#10
Phil Bloom Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: London UK Posts: 1,939	it's just i cant test it as have fcp on my computer so it plays fine... __________________ Philip Bloom Cinematographer, Director, Filmmaker www.philipbloom.net

March 21st, 2008, 05:37 PM	#2
Dennis Schmitz Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Viersen, Germany Posts: 120	VLC should work! http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ regards Dennis

March 21st, 2008, 05:41 PM	#4
Dennis Schmitz Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Viersen, Germany Posts: 120	You will at least need a mpeg2@hl decoder.

March 21st, 2008, 05:45 PM	#6
Dennis Schmitz Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Viersen, Germany Posts: 120	http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/ But there should also be a freeware alternative to it.

March 21st, 2008, 05:47 PM	#7
Dennis Schmitz Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Viersen, Germany Posts: 120	You could try this one. http://perian.org/#detail

March 21st, 2008, 05:51 PM	#9
Dennis Schmitz Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Viersen, Germany Posts: 120	I haven't run into any problems with many different mpeg2 decoder yet ;)

March 21st, 2008, 09:48 PM	#11
Benjamin Eckstein Major Player Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 380 Images: 1	I believe one of the codecs in the quicktime library can be dropped into their QT library so they can play them in QT. I had to give HDV files to a client and had to give them the HDV codec so they could play it in QT (they did not have Final Cut). Apparently one of the codecs in that folder is for XDCAM, although by name none of them seem obvious. You could just send them the whole folder of codecs that you have installed and try that. B

March 22nd, 2008, 07:04 AM	#12
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	Phil, I think you just discovered why some people say back up the BPAV folders. That plus ClipBrowser is cross platform viewable (not PPC Mac though). BTW VLC086e could not play the MOV files on my FCP system. MPEGStreamclip 1.9.1 can play them but no Time Code (FCP system though) in Macintosh/Library/QuickTime the only codec the might be related to the EX is AppleMPEG2Codec.component. You could do a "reverse" test by removing that codec to see if Quicktime then can't play the MOV file. If that's the result then just maybe handing that off to your director might help. It's 180KB so it's small enough to zip and email to your director as an experiment. BTW once the files are converted to MOV Clip Browser can't seem to play them just in case you were thinking of that route too.

March 22nd, 2008, 07:53 AM	#13
Sebastien Thomas Major Player Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Paris, France Posts: 210	You can use ffmpeg as stated on my blog (http://www.lecentre.net/blog/archives/157). You will get plain Mpeg2 files, wut without sound and timecode (I think). Latest solution is the Clip Browser, which is a good tol to have, but works only on intel's mac.

March 22nd, 2008, 12:02 PM	#15
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	I believe the Clip Browsing software does NOT play the XDCAM files once they are converted to MOV and that is the predicament Phil is in.