Conversion of video to another codec format

[Aeneas]

My TV Tuner card generates Mpeg files which only VLC seems to be able to read and display. Thus, I cannot even read the file into Windows Movie Maker to convert or splice it because that generates an error:
"...cannot be imported because the codec required to play the file is not installed on your computer..."

Since VLC is the only program I have which is able to read and display the video and audio of these files:

Is there any way to use Videolan VLC to read the file and then feed it to another Codec in order to convert the file to some other standard format which is readable by other video tools ?

Looking at the binary preamble in one of the raw files in question, the following are the first few 40 hex bytes:

00000000h: 00 00 01 BA 44 00 04 00 04 01 01 9C 43 F8 00 00 ; ...ºD......œCø..
00000010h: 01 BB 00 0C 80 CE 21 04 21 7F E0 E0 E0 C0 C0 20 ; .»..€Î!.!àààÀÀ
00000020h: 00 00 01 BE 07 DA FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF ; ...¾.Úÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ
00000030h: FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF ; ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ

Mpeg data then continues at 800H:
00000800h: 00 00 01 BA 44 00 04 04 5D C3 01 9C 43 F8 00 00 ; ...ºD...]Ã.œCø..
00000810h: 01 E0 07 EC 80 C1 0D 31 00 01 96 07 11 00 01 7E ; .à.ì€Á.1..–....~
00000820h: 91 1E 60 E0 00 00 01 B3 28 01 E0 14 06 40 23 80 ; ‘.`à...³(.à..@#€
00000830h: 00 00 01 B5 14 8A 00 01 00 00 00 00 01 B5 25 04 ; ...µ.Š.......µ%.
00000840h: 04 05 0A 02 0F 00 00 00 01 B2 68 6F 6E 65 73 74 ; .........²honest
00000850h: 65 63 68 00 00 01 B8 00 08 00 40 00 00 01 00 00 ; ech...¸...@.....
00000860h: 0E E3 78 00 00 01 B5 8F FF FB 41 80 00 00 01 01 ; .ãx...µ

[funman]

starting from version 0.8.5, vlc has a wizard that let you easily stream to a network, or transcode a file.

that's what you want, transcode a file, i.e. change from one codec to another

for windows movie maker, i don't know what codec it uses, it should accept MPEG-2

[Aeneas]

starting from version 0.8.5, vlc has a wizard that let you easily stream to a network, or transcode a file.

that's what you want, transcode a file, i.e. change from one codec to another

for windows movie maker, i don't know what codec it uses, it should accept MPEG-2

Perhaps I need to upgrade to the current version.
However, I remember that when VLC 8 versions were released, there were some serious problems introduced with a reduced ability of VLC to play varying files. Then version 8 prevented me from reverting back to 7.
I had to reinstall Windows XP to retrieve the 7 functionality.
Also, as I recall, 8 would not immediately begin to play the video clip when invoked with a target file and extension association (e.g. when a series of downloads is occurring), and there was no ability to select this as an option.

I have been avoiding 8 ever since.
However that sounds like a good functionality, so the question is:
how do I revert back to 7 when I am done with this 8 functionality ?

Aeneas

[spline]

Hi,

install VLC 0.7 into another directory and create a new shortcut to this on your desktop.
As far as i know, VLC does install all files into the VLC directory.

Regards

spline

[DJ]

VLC is a stand alone player. It does not rely on Direct Show or install any dlls on your system. If you are having a problem between versions, the only thing they would have in common is the preferences directory which can be erased.

In XP, erase the preferences directory. C:\Documents and Settings\Owner (this is you)\Application Data\VLC Erase VLC, Application Data is a hidden directory so you will need to make it visible.

If you are using another operating system search "vlcrc" and erase the folder that contains it.

There are also many other utilities for working with video. See http://www.doom9.org or http://www.videohelp.com for more information.

To the best of my knowledge Windows Movie Maker will support anything there is a Direct Show codec for. Search GSpot on the web. This a utility that may be helpful in trying to find out what you need for Direct Show. Beware of codec packs as they can screw up a computer.

[Aeneas]

I will try deleting that Documents and Settings subdirectory in future transitions from version 8 to 7.
This is Windows XP Professional SP2.

By the way, what is a good application to use to interrogate an Mpeg file and display the required Codec and the video and audio bit rates, video resolution etc ?
Such an application would be most useful if it could be invoked in the Right Click menu of the problem Mpeg file in a Windows Explorer display.

It turned out that a video player demo I downloaded on Honestech's web site yesterday did recognize the file I was concerned about.
Of course, buying a video player for each problem file would be a waste of money.

I have been using the Satsuki Media Player Classic player recently, mainly because it has a simple feature to toggle pause and resume the playback with a single left click within the display window, and it seems to be able to display the same files as VLC 7.

Aeneas

[funman]

VLC can show you these informations, in the "informations" menu, but it won't be in _1_ click :/

[Clafoutis]

Hello!

How can I retrieve these informations from a movie with a command line (on mac) ?

Thanks!

[DJ]

View, Stream and Media Info... Advanced Information tab.

[Clafoutis]

View, Stream and Media Info... Advanced Information tab.

In the user interface, ok, but within my app, using command lines and parsing the result ?

Thanks!