So you shot the perfect video footage with your handy dandy camera. You got it on your computer. But now you can’t seem to pull out just the small clip you want or get the .mov quicktime file into the flash .flv format.
Kodak camera users BEWARE! The .MOV files created on many Kodak cameras are non-compliant and require the purchase of Quicktime PRO and special steps. This tutorial will not work for you.
Thanks to all the feedback from readers since this tutorial was first published, it is now apparent that this conversion process is more art than science. Due to variations in systems and cameras, consider this tutorial a basic guide and by all means EXPERIMENT.
Required Software: (All Free)
- You will need to have Quicktime.
Required to play, edit, etc. quicktime in Windows. - You will need Rad Video Tools
Required to convert some .MOV to .AVI. - You will need AviDemux.
Required to edit your clip and convert compliant .MOV to .AVI.
- You will need Riva.
Required to convert .AVI to flash .FLV. - You will need a sample MOV. File One File Two
File One is a sample from my Kodak. File Two is a sample from an IPod.
I know that seems like a lot, but thats only because it is. Seriously! I have worked with video on Amiga, Mac, and PC systems and admit that it took me by suprise just how unfriendly the PC is to the Mac .MOV format. “From my cold, dead hands” is the phrase that comes to mind.
Quicktime
Play the .MOV clip just to make sure it looks and sounds correct. If not install Quicktime. Wow! That was easy.
AviDemux
Start AviDemux:
Click open and select the .MOV file to edit. If this doesn’t work then you will need to perform the Rad Video Tools step below first and then click open and select the .AVI from that step. When the preview opens it might have an odd color shift but that is ok. Use the slider at the bottom to move to the spot you want your finished clip to start. Press the A button to set the start position. Now move the slider to the spot you want your clip to end. Press the B button to set the end position. Under Video I changed Copy to MPEG4-ASP(Xvid4) also known as DviX. Under Audio I changed Copy to MP3. Click the save button at the top and select where to save the file. This is where you might have to experiment with different Video and Audio settings. Make certain you type the full name AND extension (.AVI) when you save the file as it does not set the extension for you. I normally add -e to my file names so I know which one is the edited version. So, myvideo.avi becomes myvideo-e.avi. Once again, play the video to check quality.
Many options for advanced video editing of .AVI files on the PC exist but are beyond the scope of this tutorial. I prefer Adobe Premiere, but have used Windows Movie Maker.
Rad Video Tools*
This step is not required for all MOV files. SKIP this step if an .AVI file was successfully created above with AviDemux.
Second, start Rad Video Tools and you should see something similar to this:
Use the top drop down to browse to your file and click the convert button at the bottom. That will bring up the file convert window:
Make sure your .MOV file is listed at the top. Feel free to try various settings, but remember at this stage we are not aiming for small file size, we want higher quality. Just make sure that the convert audio option is checked. In the convert output format section, I normally use 44100 or 22050 as the rate and 16 bit/stereo to keep the sound quality high. Click the convert button. Now comes the tricky part. A window will pop up allowing you to select the codex from those installed on your PC. Select Full Frames Uncompressed (or experiment). The file will be large, but is the most compatible. Watch the progress bar. Now play the new .AVI file to make sure it looks and sounds correct.
Riva
Start Riva:
Click the Browse button to select your edited video from the previous section as the input video. Now on the right you will notice a Preset dropdown. My video blog is done at 320 x 240, 29.97 framerate, deinterlaced, and a bitrate of approximately 160 which was not in the drop down. Just set these how you need them and click save. Give your settings a name, I used youTube, and now your custom settings will be just a click away next time. Now click the .FLV Encode button, progress bar, done and done. If you get an error on encode, you will need to try different Video and Audio settings in AviDemux. You now have an edited flash video to post on your video blog.