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batch convert with quicktime?
we have a large amount of avis on our system that we want to convert to movs. ive noticed that if you open an avi in quicktime, then save it as a mov it seems to save it very quickly, as if it’s a re-wrap rather than a re-encode.
we want to convert a lot of avis, but as far as i can see there’s no batch tool in quicktime, and i couldn’t find anything in automator that might do the same thing. we’ve got mpeg streamclip but i feel like putting it through that will re-encode them, which will take longer, lose quality and maybe even make larger files.
just wondering if anyone could shed any light on any part of this conundrum.
thanks alot
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10 Replies
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Have you tried a batch export from FCP? I think it might be nothing more than what QT does…
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer
Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here
8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO, CD’s
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If you own Final Cut Studio (which I assume that you might since you’re posting in the FCP forum), you can use Compressor for batch conversion.
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it seems to crash alot when dealing with large numbers of avis, and i managed to get a few out and they came out as final cut pro movies.
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they are mixed sizes, some are had and some arent. in quicktime, exporting just retains all the sizes, it will take a long time so sort through all these, separate them, and then i’m not sure what setting to use in compressor, we dont want h.264 because we want to edit with them, uncompressed will be too big surely. i was hoping there’d be a way to do it that was as simple as opening it in quicktime and then saving it repeatedly.
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Final Cut Pro Movies are nothing more than QT movies… they’ll work in any QT compliant application… nothing special about them other than a designation they were created by FCP. You can select them all and get info, then change them to always open in QuickTime if you’re wanting that to happen.
Batch export is exactly what you are looking for…
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer
Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here
8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO, CD’s
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Compressor works too for this, and you can transcode anything to anything with it.. it’s not just H.264 compressions.. look in the “advanced format conversions” presets for what you need to transcode to.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer
Author: “Jerry Hofmann on Final Cut Pro 4” Click here
8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO, CD’s
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I dont want to transcode though, that takes alot more time, space and hassle than should be neccessary. i know that you can re-wrap avi to mov, and it doesnt take any time, i just need to know if there’s a way this can be done with automator (as far as i can see there isn’t without spending a lot of time on learning applescript) or final cut media manager (which is currently stuck) or mpeg streamclip which seems to work very well except that the videos come out looking interlaced. this doesnt makes sense to me, you can see when it’s converting them that it’s not re-encoding them because it doesn’t say “XX mbps” and it goes at a speed comparable to quicktime’s rewrap speed.
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damn, it just freezes every time is start a batch, says “writing audio and video…” and the bar stays at 0%. cant find any information on this problem.
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So what did you find as a solution?
Jerry
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I do lots of converts and exports of different aspect ratios, and I’ve found QuickTime Pro to be my best tool.
I’ve used an AppleScript to sense the aspect ratio of the original, and to export at that ratio in the new size(s) and format(s) that I want. Unfortunately, you can’t directly script the settings for QuickTime, so I have to save a “quicktime settings file” for each size and codec that I’m likely to encounter. The script then exports “using settings” from the settings file I’ve told it to use.
All a bit long-winded to set up, but works very well after that (until someone changes the codec or sizes they want, and I’ve got to export another bunch of settings files!)
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