New MOV video format not recognised by Sonar

I have a video file that I wanted to import into Sonar but Sonar won't recognise it as a valid file.  It's in MOV format, but most movie players wouldn't recognise it either, although it played ok on VLC Player.  QuickTime only played it successfully after I upgraded to the latest QuickTime (version 7.6.9 upgraded from 7.3.1), so I guess that this must be a very new type of MOV file.

Does anyone know of any free software that would be capable of converting this file to a more usable format?

Ozz

Mpeg Streamclip will convert .mov files.

Thanks, but even the latest beta version of Streamclip will not handle this file.

tarsier

If it's a quicktime file, then quicktime is probably the best way to convert it. When you open it in Quicktime player and "Get Info" what does it say for codec?

Most of the menu items in QuickTime are greyed out.  Presumably they become available if you buy the Pro version.

Where is "Get Info"?

tarsier

...Window->Show Movie Inspector...
What does it say in the "Format:" section?

Format: H,264, 1148 x 646, Millions

I was working with a video crew last month and found myself backed into a corner where all the camera guys were saying "H.264 is a codec"... and I, the sound guy was saying "H.264 is a definition that is represented by many codecs"... and they said "no it's not"... so I say "I guess this means none of us know what codec we are using today"... and they say "yes we do it's H.264".... but we didn't know and I was the only guy on the set that knew we didn't.  :-(

Finding out what codec a video is using seems to be getting harder now that so many people seem to *know* what a codec is.

I'd recommend to the OP that he study up on the concept of codecs and wrappers and learn about "definitions" as well. It can be very difficult to learn about codecs because it is easy to become overwhelmed with misinformation.

I personally consider Tarsier very knowledgeable about codecs... he knows more about them than me.

One thing that continues to frustrate me is the fact that I have always found it difficult to have a discussion about codecs with the people who seemingly should know the most about them. It seems as if a lot of successful DPs and editors just know what is working for them in a specific work flow and never seem to look at the bigger picture.

As free lancers, the crews I work with have to plan for integration of our work product with various production house work flows. It can be a pain to have to insist on getting info about the codec that will be preferred because often times the client is unable to voice their preference with accuracy.

Life goes on. :-)


Anyways... the point is... learn as much as you can about codecs, definitions, and wrappers. It will help you deal with the situations as they come up.


best regards
mike

My last post disappeared after the site went down, so just to repeat:

Thanks again to Tarsier.  WinFF did the trick.

satyatunes

Which format did you convert it to?

I can't remember.  I tried several different formats before eventually succeeding.  Looking back at the files, the one with the latest timestamp is probably the successful one.  It's a MOV file.

WinFF uses ffmpeg to do the conversion, and the WMV files it produces are not quite up to the latest Microsoft WMV spec. If you want wmv files, use Microsoft's Expression Encoder.

But using WinFF to an avi using the "MS Compatible AVI" preset should work with Sonar