mp4 files

[judyn]

We have started saving files as mp4 on hard drives and watching them on Tivo or Google TV, or of course on a computer. Today I wanted to send a couple of files to a friend on a DVD and discovered that DVD Movie Factory 4 can't read my mp4 files. So I downloaded a trial version of DVD Movie Factory 7 and I still can't read them. Version 7 does show the mp4 files but reports "file format mismatch" when I try to open one.

I've used Movie Factory for many years, through a number of versions, and would be disappointed if it can't read the file format we are writing now.

I use two different programs for making mp4s, depending on where the file is from, and both of these fail to load with "file format mismatch."

I see there are patches but I can't install them in the trial. It says "Please upgrade to the retail version to install the patch."

[teknisyan]

When you rename the file and change mp4 to mov, does the same thing happens? Have you tried using VS X4? You can try downloading the trial at http://pnoy.me/coreltrials

[DVDDoug]

Whenever I've run into a "problem file", I use SUPER (FREE!!!) to convert to another format. SUPER has saved the day for me on a few occasions.

Usually the "less advanced" "less compressed" formats (MPEG-2 or DV) are the least trouble. Or, simply re-encoding the MPEG-4 with a different encoder might help. If you are making a DVD, the file needs to be converted to MPEG-2 (with LPCM or AC3 audio) anyway. (Which it should do automatically when everything is working right...) You can get the settings for DVD-compatible from your Movie Factory Project Settings, and then use these settings with SUPER (or other converter).

I see there are patches but I can't install them in the trial. It says "Please upgrade to the retail version to install the patch."

You can't be 100% sure that the patches will make Movie Factory work with your MP4 files. So, I don't recommend buying it unless you'll be satisfied with it working exactly like the trial version. That's my feeling about any trial software... It gets me when people say, "I wasted my money. I thought the real program would work better."

Oh, there is also a free trial for Corel Video Studio. It can also make DVDs, so it might be worth a try.

NOTE - If you download SUPER, follow the links on their confusing website and make sure you are downloading SUPERsetup.exe. Don't get fooled by the ads for other sofware on their website.

[judyn]

The point is I don't want to have to convert the files from mp4 in order to write a DVD and MovieFactory 7 claims to do this.

I renamed one to a .mov and MF7 didnt' recognize it at all -- doesn't know that file extension. It knows the mp4 extension but can't read them. Like I said, it is giving the same message for mp4's made by two different applications. I wonder if they are using an old standard which required a certain audio standard, which is not what I'm using. I'm not converting the audio

I'm not interested in debugging their product, just writing a DVD. Surely there is some product out there that will do what I want.

[judyn]

It's not the audio. I've now tried to read basically three kinds of mp4's. With audio in AAC and AC3 and made by two different products. Same error. It is installed on a Windows 7 Pro 64-bit computer.

[BrianCee]

Why don't you just copy the files from your hard drive to the DVD using Windows - you do not need to use any video editor to just copy files to a disc.

[judyn]

If you want it to work in a DVD player, you cannot just copy mp4 files to a DVD. I want it to be a "real" DVD, with table of contents, etc. That's why we buy MovieFactory, no? Otherwise surely every computer comes with something that you can backup files to a DVD.

[BrianCee]

you never said before that you wanted to play the files in a DVD player - you talked about having them on a hard drive and playing them through Tivo and your computer - if that's all your friend wants to do then you can just copy the file to the DVD and your friend can copy them off again onto their hard drive.

I should just add that my DVD player is quite happy to play mp4 files just copied to a DVD - it also plays them from an SD card so it is possible just to copy files from hard drive to disc and play them.