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2004 DV-format kenundrum. On a deadline!
Ok.
I’m doing a retrospective, so some material is from 2004, but I can’t seem to solve the codec. I installed every codec on my mac that I could find, and earlier this has solved all issues. But these files I can’t figure out. Trying to open them in anything (quicktime, vlc etc) would result in “this is not a movie file”.
A tiny breakthrough came when I added .dv to the files. They would open in quicktime and show the first few frames of the clip, but then just end up in a colorful mess soon enough:
Dropping the files into Mediainfo would show this:
Any suggestions?
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7 Replies
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havebyou tryed to add a .MOV instead of .dv?
Massimo Alberto Croce
Video Editor, Colorist, Pro Tools Editor
massimoalberto.croce@gmail.com -
Where did you get the files? What extension did they have to start with? For instance, if .avi then Canopus was popular back then and they had their own codec.
Maybe try converting to .mp4 using the free HandBrake software
Thanks
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers -
One of the things I was looking at was to see if it was the dreaded miniDV LP mode, which would show a 32kHz audio sampling rate. But your media info does not show that; it shows 48kHz, which is as it should be.
Did you digitize from the original material? or did someone give you the files?
There were three common forms of DV – miniDV (consumer/prosumer), DVCPro (Panasonic), and DVCam (Sony).
DVCPro had a slightly wider video track width. Most DVCPro decks could play back DVCam tapes, sometimes as simply as flipping a switch before inserting the tape. But DVCam decks could not play a DVCPro tape.
Is it possible someone tried to transfer DVCPro tape using a DVCam deck? I am just coming up with a few wild theories.
System:
Dell Precision T7600 (x2)
Win 7 64-bit
32GB RAM
Adobe CC 2014 (as of 7/2015)
256GB SSD system drive
4 internal media drives RAID 5
Typically cutting short form from HD MP4 and P2 MXF. -
Possible types:
Video For Windows –
Canopus, Matrox, Pinnacle , DVSoft and Main Concepttype 1 DV files or Type 2 files
Microsoft AVI (VfW)Can you get your hands on an old PC from 2004 windows xp or even 98se? It might have native dv codecs that don’t exist anywhere else or work for that matter. then, very carefully render them to png/tiff image sequence. png/tiff hasn’t changed in 20 years. There are so many dead codecs now that were called “dv” back in the day.
Or heck, use the power of the internet, upload and challenge people to decipher the particular codec.
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Yes, no luck.
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Thanks for your suggestions, guys.
Adding .mov does not help, and the files won’t even open in handbrake.
I don’t know too much about how it was digitized. The people who worked on it back then do not work here anymore.
One editor here suspects it might be dvcpro, but the metadata doesn’t say codec. Can you force codec metadata on to a file?
I pretty sure it was imported and edited on a mac using some version of fcp. I have an iMac g5 at home with an old tcp on it, I will bring the disk home and try there. Good idea.
Also uploading a file and letting the internet try to crack it is an excellent idea. Thanks.
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Here is the link to one of the files if anyone wants a crack at it:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2pzo944snondjh7/4.5.2%20A%20OSS%20Ragnar%20ser%20p%C3%A5%20elv.dv?dl=0
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