Dot MOV; no vision

[Ben Longden]

Heres a curly one for Vegas and HD users...

A client of mine shot and cut a HD vid and saved it as an dot MOV (quicktime) file. its 200Mb in size and runs for 60 sec.

Nothing will open the vid.. not Quicktime, not Windaz Media Player nor Vegas - which is format agnostic.

Opening the file I get audio but NO vision.

Any ideas?

(I changed the file extension a couple of times but to no avail...)

Ben

[Edward Troxel]

It all depends on what codec was used inside that MOV file. It appears you do not have whatever codec was used installed. MOV files are just like paper sacks - you can put anything in them. You just don't have what it takes to read it.

[Perrone Ford]

Yes, and Vegas is not format agnostic. It needs the codecs installed like any other program. So ask him what he used EXACTLY to create that video.

[John Rofrano]

If your client did this on a Mac, chances are the video codec used was the Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) which is not available on a PC. Your client will have to render it to a format that is available on a PC like the Apple ProRes422 HD codec. They could also render to an MXF file which Vegas can use.

~jr

[Ian Stark]

Would G-Spot help Ben identify the codec? GSpot Codec Information Appliance

[Perrone Ford]

Absolutely! I use it all the time.

[Brian Luce]

Originally Posted by Ian Stark

Would G-Spot help Ben identify the codec? GSpot Codec Information Appliance

Cool! Never heard of this one! Not always THAT easy to determine a codec.

[Joe Parker]

I've never had any luck with .mov files in Windows. Just have him render it to something more mainstream like mpeg2 (.mpg).

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Joe Parker

I've never had any luck with .mov files in Windows. Just have him render it to something more mainstream like mpeg2 (.mpg).

I'm sorry but this is AWFUL advice. MOV is a container. It says nothing about the compression scheme of the file contained inside. MPEG2 is a hugely lossy codec, even at high bitrates. The MOV container can contain lossless codecs and can work on windows just fine. I use them nearly exclusively because of the advanced codecs they support, like jpeg2000, DNxHD, the Blackmagic/AJA codecs, and others.

[John Rofrano]

Originally Posted by Brian Luce

Cool! Never heard of this one! Not always THAT easy to determine a codec.

GSpot is one of those little tools that you wonder how you lived without once you try it. For AVI files it will even let you know if the codec is installed. For mov files it just lets you know what codec was used.

For mov files, you can also just open the file with the Quicktime player and use Ctrl+I to bring up the inspector windows where it will tell you what codec is being used.

~jr

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by John Rofrano

For mov files, you can also just open the file with the Quicktime player and use Ctrl+I to bring up the inspector windows where it will tell you what codec is being used.

~jr

This presumes that you can actually open the file in quicktime. This is not always true.

[Mike Kujbida]

Originally Posted by Perrone Ford

This presumes that you can actually open the file in quicktime. This is not always true.

In his very first post, Ben did say that QuickTime couldn't open it :-(

[Joe Parker]

Originally Posted by Perrone Ford

MOV is a container. It says nothing about the compression scheme of the file contained inside. MPEG2 is a hugely lossy codec, even at high bitrates. The MOV container can contain lossless codecs and can work on windows just fine.

Thanks for the clarification, even if it's a bit contradictory. I did not mean to imply that everyone has ridiculous amounts of trouble with .mov files in Windows. I only said I did.

However, you completely confuse any point you're trying to make by first claiming mpeg2 is (not "can be") a "hugely lossy codec", then pointing out that's what could actually be inside a mov file.

I stand by my advice. Why screw around with mov containers when it isn't necessary? The friend should be able to render a perfectly good mpg file, most of which won't even be re-rendered and thus will be original quality (assuming he knows what he's doing). There's no advantage at all to using a container like .mov , or the Windows container .avi.

[Perrone Ford]

Originally Posted by Joe Parker

Thanks for the clarification, even if it's a bit contradictory. I did not mean to imply that everyone has ridiculous amounts of trouble with .mov files in Windows. I only said I did.

However, you took your lone experience and extrapolated it as a cure-all for the OP. Regardless of whether that is a viable solution or not.

Originally Posted by Joe Parker

However, you completely confuse any point you're trying to make by first claiming mpeg2 is (not "can be") a "hugely lossy codec", then pointing out that's what could actually be inside a mov file.

Mpeg2, by it's nature is lossy. At common bit rates available in most NLEs it is HUGELY lossy. Not can be, *IS*. I did not point out that Mpeg2 could be inside a .mov container. I said that an MOV container could house lossless (or nearly lossless) codecs. Mpeg2 is not one of them. Uncompressed is, Cineform is, DNxHD is, JP2K is, etc.

Originally Posted by Joe Parker

I stand by my advice. Why screw around with mov containers when it isn't necessary? The friend should be able to render a perfectly good mpg file, most of which won't even be re-rendered and thus will be original quality (assuming he knows what he's doing). There's no advantage at all to using a container like .mov , or the Windows container .avi.

Why screw around with mov containers? Because that container currently is the most universal one with the best video codecs available. Period. Rendering an mpg regardless of container WILL be lossy. Not can, WILL. Why fool around with losing quality when its' totally unnecessary?

And how do you know what will or won't be re-rendered? This is unknowable without knowing what the native format of the video is. The camera that was used for the shoot was never mentioned.