The VideoLAN Forums

This is the first time I've needed to convert a file with VLC.
I have a high quality AVI file, don't know what kind, since OSX gives no clue of its properties and VLC doesn't seem to give any info either. How do you find out a file's format?
When I play the video, there are lines across the screen, and when I select any of the deinterlace options, they disapper. That's great, but how can I save the improved picture? The Help file provides almost no info about transcoding, and since I don't even know which format I'm starting with, I'm really not sure what I should be transcoding to. Should I transcode to the same format or another? Quicktime won't play it, even with Perian installed, but I wouldn't mind converting it to a file that Quicktime would play.

I'm sorry, but you can't store deinterlaced images. These are an on-the-fly filters only for now.

However, you can still transcode it to something qt-compatible. Have a look here: viewtopic.php?p=87368#87368


You can find out a file's format with VLC's information panel's advanced info btw.

Thanks for the answer, but:
1. I went through the advanced preferences while a video was playing, and I saw nothing that tells me what format the video was, or audio info or anything. Where should it be? Seems to me there should be a very simple "Get Info" option in VLC's File menu.
2. I read the post in the link you provided, but the person who tried it (andrefrancis) couldn't get it to work.

1) Have a look at the "Information" entry in VLC's "Window" menu. Please read my post a bit more in detail. I didn't mention the preferences, but the information panel which got an "Advanced" _tab_ showing the used codecs and some other info. This info panel can also be accessed by right-clicking on the currently playing item in the playlist btw.

2) I'm currently working with him on the issue. I've got the feeling that he did something wrong, since this works flawlessly here in precisely the way I described.


BTW. If it's just about getting something iPod (and therefore QT as well ) compatible, iSquint might be an easier solution for you. It isn't as flexible as VLC though and partially slower.

Upload the Video into QuickTime 7. Under the "Window" Menu, select "Show Movie Info"....