Importing .mov files into Pro X2

atfleming · Post by **atfleming** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:46 pm

Hey guys,

Newbie here to Corel, I've looked around and can't seem to find the exact answer I'm looking for-

I recorded some video, but my pc wouldn't recognize my firewire card, so I ended up letting a buddy upload the footage to his mac, and he ended up giving me three dvds with .mov files on them for me to edit down.

How can I get these into Corel? I have software to convert them but I don't want to lose the quality. Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Drew

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:28 pm

Are the MOV files failing to open in Video Studio, or are you asking how to open an A/V file in Video Studio? (MOV files can sometimes be trouble, and I'm just trying to find out if Video Studio is not working with these files, or if you just need some help getting started....)

I have software to convert them but I don't want to lose the quality.

If the files were converted to MOV from something else, you may have already lost quality!

What type/format is your camera? If it's a MiniDV camara, it's really best if you can maintain the DV/AVI format and get those (large) files onto your computer, somehow.

What output format are you going to use, or what are you going to play the files on? (i.e. If you are going to play the files on your computer, MOV may be OK, but if you're making a DVD you'll need to convert them to MPEG-2.)

Post by **Ken Berry** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:39 pm

Doug -- I suspect the OP has a mini DV camera -- though notionally it could be a HDV model which also requires firewire. If it is indeed the mini DV model, then the Mac would have captured the video as DV/AVI *but* using the extension .dv and not .avi as on a PC. (I have a friend who only uses Macs, and who films on a mini DV camera...) I thought it would be a simple matter of just changing the extension from dv to avi... But that didn't work. And as it happened the only way to get it from the Mac platform to Windows was to convert it to .mov files. Video Studio could certainly import them, but I have to say that the quality was pretty awful. I happen to have a Pro version of Quick Time, so tried converting them to other formats there, but the quality remained low. I finally gave up!!

Drew: is your PC a desktop model or a laptop? I ask since it is relatively unusual for a Firewire card not to be recognised by a PC. But it takes very little technical experience to open up a desktop PC case press the firewire card firmly into its slot on the motherboard just to make sure it has not come loose. If that doesn't change things, then the next thing I would try would be to borrow your Mac friend's firewire cable and try that, just to make sure your own cable is not faulty. And failing all that, Firewire cards are dirt cheap these days. All you have to do if your PC is a desktop is unscrew the one screw on the back of your computer which holds the card in place. Then, with the case open, firmly pull the card out of the motherboard. There are no wires so nothing else is required. Then just slot the new card into the same space.

*That* will solve not only your problem with the current batch of video -- it will provide a longer term solution for future video as well.

atfleming · Post by **atfleming** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 1:05 am

Thanks for the replies gentleman!

My pc is a desktop that I built, running Vista Ultimate 64 bit. I bought a firewire card but have had no luck getting the pc to recognize my camera when plugged in. The PC will not recognize any firewire card I throw in. May be a Vista problem. (the cable and camera both work on other pc's).

I had a friend upload the video on his rig, and now I have a .mov of all my files, on my pc. I'm trying to get it into Videostudio to edit, then export to a DVD.

(I filmed a wedding and am putting together a dvd).

Should I convert the .MOV to .mpeg-2? Will that lower the quality?

johnrule · Post by **johnrule** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 1:29 am

I edit raw .mov files (720p) all of the time in Pro X2 on Windows XP (SP3 - 32bit) without any format problems. You should be able to import them right into the timeline...

JR

Post by **Ken Berry** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 1:43 am

The problem is that .mov as an extension can cover a variety of actual formats. And yes, you can certainly normally open .mov files in VS, but it depends what their original format was and whether your computer has the relevant codec loaded. 720p, for instance, is high definition video, whereas I think, as I said above, we are dealing here with DV/AVI which was (probably) captured as .dv format on the Mac and converted to a .mov container so that it could be seen on a PC.

But yes, you can convert the .mov to mpeg-2. The latter is, after all, the format required for a standard definition DVD. If you convert using the highest quality bitrate of 8000 kbps, then you should in theory at least get good quality. It's just that my own experience in this specific Mac > PC conversion suggests to me you might not be happy with the result. But you can only try it and see.

And that is curious about your computer not 'seeing' the firewire card. I have two computers, both running Vista Ultimate, but 32 bit. And they certainly don't have any trouble seeing Firewire (I absolutely need it for both my mini DV and HDV work). So unless there is some quirk with the 64 bit set-up, I can't think what the problem might be.

atfleming · Post by **atfleming** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 3:57 am

Hm it definitely started out as DV. What codec do I need to import it? (X2 Won't import it). Or what should I use to convert it?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 5:02 am

You could download the free Gspot codec checker for the relevant information on your video.

As for conversion, a lot of people here use another freeware program called SUPER (in capitals). It can be downloaded from www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html It's a bit opaque but worth looking at and can produce some good results.

As for your x64 Firewire problem, I did a quick Google search, and it appears that it is a well known and much complained about problem. The solution (suggested by Microsoft) seems to be to fool your computer into thinking that for the Firewire card, it is a 32 bit device. See the following Microsoft article: http://support.microsoft.com/default.as ... 7827/en-us It is not particularly user-friendly and somewhat opaque in terminology. Moreover, it does not refer specifically to 64 bit systems. But according to some of the 64 bit complainants, it works... see, for example, http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/56/856144

atfleming · Post by **atfleming** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 4:23 pm

That Microsoft article is a huge help, I don't know why I didn't come across it. I'm going to try that tonight for future importing.

As for my .mov file, I couldn't get X2 to import it at the capture screen, but I minimized corel, then dragged the .mov file into it and it dropped into the timeline-d'oh!

If i successfully get the Firewire card working via that article I'll repost to show my findings.