MPEG TS a.k.a. microMV/.m2t

[Fioreg]

Well I figured that having some pretty good news I would start a new thread rather than having people go through all the posting of the old one.
While I still needto fine tune vlc usage for the conversion of the .m2t files obtained with DVHSCap videocapture I found that it is possible to use a new utitlity "DropDV" (download it at http://www.dropDV.com) and have the same .m2t file converted on the fly into a DV file with linked iMovie project.
Of course I still would prefer to have a lossless conversion rather than drop from mpeg2 to DV but I am sure that everyone that had to deal with the issue of handling MicroMV format (a.k.a. MPEG TS) will loe that with this 2 step procedure acceptable audio and video can be fed to the iMovie/iDVD editing.
So for all that have missed the old thread go there to read how to obtainDVHSCap from the Apple SDK site and download the DropDV software as indicated above.

This method is really simple and will please the many of you that have written to me to understand the previous and more complex conversion strategy.
Get me at the usual email if you need additional help!


Stefano

[Philgoy]

Thanks a lot about your answers,

I agree with you about the new formats. You are right, but my discontent comes from both Sony and myself. Sony for launched the project in such a lousy way. Starting a new format is risky and expensive. To have the Mac community behind would have helped as Mac folks are obviously ready to spend more for what they think is better and nicer technology. To have a decent and debugged editing software for Windows would have helped a lot. To have a lossless file converter from MMV to DV on both platform would have been a decent thing to do.

To me, Sony just showed off with DCR-IPs and MMV. Car makers build “concept cars” once a year to demonstrate their advanced skills, but they do not sell the cars to the public. Well, Sony just did that.

I have a lot of Sony products at home and have been increasingly disappointed. It looks like it went from a technology driven company to a marketing company. Actually, I am going to write a resignation letter (as a customer) to Sony Europe.

But I have also discontent with myself. I trusted Sony way too much. I could not believe they would not do what it takes to make the format stick.

I might buy some more MMV tapes. However, I might get a regular DV cam instead. The cheapest way to store films is on tape. If my IP7 dies, then all my tapes will too, unless everything taped is burned on DVD which is impossible to me now, or all MMV files at least are saved on DVD-Rs just in case someone in the future does something. I will not be able to play these MMV tapes anywhere. Do you have any idea about how many IP cameras have been sold worldwide ?


Technical Points

I am still trying to use MovieShaker 3.1.1 on PC with no luck. I can import the MMV files, make a “movie”, play it on the PC, but cannot export it, whatever the format I try, including feeding back the movie to tape, the sound is terribly murky. The music added to the movie from a mp3 file is fine. It is the video clip soundtrack which does not export properly. I tried on a Sony VAIO DeskTop P4 3 GHz, 512 Mb, Win XP, QuickTime 6.5. I am waiting for an answer from Sony “Tech Support” on this.

I have read the all “MPEG TS” thread and found it very interesting.
- I have not tried your import methods as I could import from the poor MovieShaker on PC. Are the .m2t files you get the same as the .mmv you get with MovieShaker on PCs ?
- I have tried the trial version of DropDV on a twin 866 MHz G4 for MMV files imported from MovieShaker on PC and successfully imported the DV files in iMovie 4. However, I find the quality too poor to qualify.
- I would be very interested in a solution to get DV files out of MMV files without loss of quality. What are your settings in VLC ?

PG

[Fioreg]

Hi,

I could not agree more with your frustration with Sony. I reached the same conclusion after repeated premature failures with TV sets, infolithium batteries etc. Similarly to your case I will not be shopping Sony products any longer.
As to the lossless conversion I'll be updating the threads at the end of the summer and possibly I'll be giving an update on the efforts of a developer that has promised to have an ad hoc program ready soon.
See you at the end of Septmber or so.
Truly,

Stefano

[philgoy]

I can't wait for your info. I will be glad to contribute if this programmer makes his/her soft as shareware. The perfect tool to me would be a tool to extract the files from the MMV tapes and convert them without any loss to DV files ready for loading in FCP or iMovie. A plugin for iMovie to import the files and work with MPEG2TS directly would be even better but would certainly be harder to code.

Meanwhile I have ordered a new regular DV cam. Next time I will let Sony inovate by itself for a while before getting into whatever expensive gadget they can think of. I am going to copy all my MMV tapes onto DV tapes through AV links.

MovieShaker :
I am glad to report that I have solved my MovieShaker problem: of course MovieShaker 3.1.1 is version dependent on QuickTime ! It was delivered with a version of QuickTime 5 (I do not know yet if Sony has made changes to the plain Apple QT version and/or added some exotic codecs). Apparently, the versions of DirectX or Windows Service Pack have no impact and it runs on both Windows 2000 and XP. However, some FireWire cards do not let me feed the films back to tape (they did let me import the files though).

I have contacted Sony Tech Support for that, requesting to be in contact with someone "knowing well MovieShaker" but I doubt such person still exists within Sony. And the one person is probably Japanese.

Updating to QT 6.x disable proper sound exporting in all file formats and to the MMV camera. Since Sony is dropping MMV, it is unlikely that they update MovieShaker for MMV. Therefore, users are left with permanenet deinstall and reinstall of QuickTime versions or having a special computer for MMV editing. Smart, very smart Sony. Actually, this is something I have noted and do not like about QuickTime : many aplications are version dependent and do not even start if they do not detect the QT version they expect, even newer versions.

I would be glad to get in touch with MovieShaker programmers. They could certainly provide useful info.

Have a nice Summer
Truly yours
Philgoy

[Fioreg]

Actually I would advise a different strategy for your problem.
I have had similar experience in the past, with a new version of QT not working properly [in fact was in regard to to the MPEG2 plug in that was not working any longer after upgrading from 6.4 to 6.5 (or may be was 6.3 to 6.4?)]. I contacted Appleand reported the bug (apparently I was the first to point it out) and they took immediate action and released an updated MPEG2 plug in in 2-3 days time.
Now I'll admit I was in an optimal situation since both pieces of code were in fact Apple proprietary pieces but I guess it is worth trying even in your situation. Just make sure you stress the relevance to expanding QT usage in all segment of PC interests and you'll probably catch their interest since 'the battle of the media players' is an hot issue for them and any other entity in the multimedia arena.
Just my thougths, I hope they may be of use to you.
BTW from which area of Germany are you?
I Plan to visit Berlin in the next 1-2 years but sometime I have conferences elsewhere as well!
Have a nice summer yourself.


Steve

[Fioreg]

Hello people!

I am still around after all! Yes. I missed to return as early as I had promised but I bring good news for a speedy solution to convert your microMV recording in viewable DVDs. I posted the details in the MPEG-TS post. Basically I am reporting in the fact that I could not do much with vlc 8.0 because it was not working well even on basic tests. Conversely, I found that the previously mentioned DropDV software that allows to transcode the .m2t files captured from the microMV device with DVHSCap has been updated to version 2.04.
I tested this new version and if the first one was good this is excellent (not a lossless transcode perhaps but definetely excellent!).
I had to cough 19.99 for upgrading my from version 1 to 2.04 but if you do not have any license will cost you 39.99.
I find the time saved and the quality of the end product are sufficient to put that amount in my "well spent" moneys.
But do not dispair if you hope to do everything with open source software,
I still want ot give it a try although I may want to wait until Tiger is out of the bag!
Truly,

Steve