Back from holidays and the problem now of looking at all the images.

[Mr Felix]

I've been away on holidays and come back with about 32 GIG of images and movies.

Some RAW/JPG but mostly just JPG. Then there are the movies.

I did a few "Panorama" shots - lots of stitching there.

Some HDR shots.



Anyway, I need help.

The movies taken with the Nikon "Point 'n' shoot" camera I down converted to PAL WIDESCREEN ok. I think they were taken in 1080P mode.

My PVR plays them back in native mode ok, but for the sake of allowing me to send some on to other people I am down converting them.

Anyway, the Nikon ones are ok.

The movies taken on the Canon 550D, well: They are another story. They just won't load.

I am using AVIDEMUX to downconvert them, and I see some weird things:

Both movies from both cameras I get a message saying they are "Synced on the B frame, which will cause stuttery playback" - which the Canon ones exhibit on the PVR. The Nikon ones are ok. Though in some long ones I lose sync on the audio and have to rewind and bit and start playing again to regain sync.


Why would both cameras use B frame sync if it has such inherant problems? Just wondering.


But my main question is what "format" are the Canon ones in? They are wrapped in .MVI wrappers, but that is accademic, as I can't find anything to play them.

VLC player has a good go, but stuttery would be an understatement. They are UNWATCHABLE!

Yes, the camera plays them back ok - well I am 99% sure it does. Maybe I should try. The cards are class 4 and above. Some class 10 and some 130+ meg a second. All these specs, sheesh!

Even the short ones won't play back smoothly. My machine is 10+ years old, 2.8 Gig 133 FSB. So downconverting them is probably a must do.

But the PVR side of things.... Well it plays the Nikons perfectly - well appart from the sound 5 minutes into a shot - but the Canon ones from the get go are just unwatchable.

Thoughts?

[MarkChap]

Firstly the codec is completely different for the 2 cameras, the Nikon one uses AVCHD (Audio Visual Codec High Definition), to produce a finished and usable file, playable on most any machine.
The Canon is basically a RAW video file that needs to be rendered to a usable file format.
Something like Adobe Premier (elements will do), I use Pinnacle Studio, will be needed to used to render the files to a format for which you want to use the video.

Also if your machine is 10 years old, you may have trouble any way regardless, I would imagine it could take days to render a HD video from the Canon files on a machine that old, if indeed it didn't just crash

[Mr Felix]

Well, with the Nikon and AVIDEMUX it sits there for how ever long and it simply (bad use of word) down converts them to the specs I put in.

Sure it isn't quick, but it does it.

So I am confused why it won't have a bar of the Canon format. All I get is a blank window.


P.S.

I can down convert MKV files ok on the machine. As I said, it just takes a bit longer.

[ricktas]

Well, with the Nikon and AVIDEMUX it sits there for how ever long and it simply (bad use of word) down converts them to the specs I put in.

Sure it isn't quick, but it does it.

So I am confused why it won't have a bar of the Canon format. All I get is a blank window.


P.S.

I can down convert MKV files ok on the machine. As I said, it just takes a bit longer.

Have you installed the software that came with the camera (usually on a disk)? Quite possibly there is something on the disk that is what you need.

[Mr Felix]

I shall have to look and see.

When I got the camea I thought I installed what I needed in the way of codecs.

[MarkChap]

Because it CAN'T READ the Canon file, it is produced basically as a RAW file and needs to be converted to a file that your program can read in the first place.

Basically the techy gurus that make the decisions have decided that if you use a "point and shoot" camera, then chances are that you will want to use the video file straight off the camera, hence the AVCHD codec to produce a usable file with NO OTHER processing needed.
Where as the techy gurus at Canon, decided that if you are using their DSLR's to capture video, then you are going to want to edit that video BEFORE you want to share it in a usable file format, so they record and code it in basically a RAW format.

It is no different to being able to shoot still images in JPG - Usable and able to be shared straight out of camera or RAW - must be edited to produce a final usable and shareable product.

Point and Shoots = JPG
Canon DSLR = RAW

[MarkChap]

Have you installed the software that came with the camera (usually on a disk)? Quite possibly there is something on the disk that is what you need.

You would think so wouldn't you Rick, but actually - NO - there is no software on the Canon disc to support the video files

[ricktas]

You would think so wouldn't you Rick, but actually - NO - there is no software on the Canon disc to support the video files

damn. That is a bit stupid on Canon's part then