Need assistance with bringing files into Avid MC6.

[Neil Patience]

I came across some of these .MOD files a while ago. As I understand it they are just MPG files that have a modified file extension. I think just a handful of JVC, Panasonic and Canon cameras used it for a while.
If I remember correctly you can simply change the .MOD file extension to be .MPG and then MPEG Streamclip will be happy with them and you can convert them to whatever Avid codec you want to work with.

Sorry I am slightly vague on this but as I remember thats all I had to do to make it work – I hope I am right.

best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv

[Tricia Stunden]

Hey there,
thanks for your help.

So I managed to get MPEGStreamclip to work on my computer. I had to uninstall QT and install QT Alternative.

MPEGStreamclip allows me to open the .MOD files without changing the .MOD to .MPG, but what would you suggest to be a good format to convert to that would not lose quality? I tried a few QT formats but I didn’t really like them.
I want something that keeps the quality.

Also, is this the only way to get the footage to work in Avid? I recently went on a 6 week long trip to Ghana and I collected an excessive amount of video footage, and it is going to take forever to convert it all using this method.

I have another question as well. I have another hard drive with footage on it, I haven’t gone through all of it, but there is one clip that I have found that wont open in Avid and it also wont open in MPEGStreamclip.

here is the MediaInfo on this file. If you have any advice I would really appreciate it. Thank you!

General
Complete name : C:UsersTriciaDesktopBoris’ Reel Project-HIRES FINAL-MPEG-2 6.4Mbps 2-pass 43.m2v
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
File size : 381 MiB
Duration : 9mn 50s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 5 421 Kbps

Video
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Format settings, GOP : Variable
Duration : 9mn 50s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 5 421 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 7 500 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Bottom Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.523
Stream size : 381 MiB (100%)
Alignment : Apple MPEG-2 Encoder v481-20050412 [6400000 17692 R7500000 w3 e2s E2 s0x10002 I V0x0]
Title : Apple MPEG-2 Encoder v481-20050412 [6400000 17692 R7500000 w3 e2s E2 s0x10002 I V0x0]
Writing library : Apple MPEG-2 Encoder v481-20050412 [6400000 17692 R7500000 w3 e2s E2 s0x10002 I V0x0]
Color primaries : BT.601 NTSC
Transfer characteristics : BT.601
Matrix coefficients : BT.601

[Neil Patience]

All of the files that you have are MPEG based and are not ideal for directly editing in Avid. (or FCP for that matter) So you need to convert them as you have already been trying to do.
It looks like they are all standard def files. The .M2V file that you mention here is an MPEG video stream that would usually be used for DVD creation. It will only contain video. You should be able to open that in Mpeg Streamclip. I wonder if perhaps you do not have any Quicktime Mpeg playback component installed ?
You may need something like this https://store.apple.com/uk/product/D2189Z/A/quicktime-mpeg-2-playback-component-for-windows
There are free versions around too but I would look in that area if you find you cant playback MPEG based files. This may explain why Quicktime would not play the files.
Have a look at this page here https://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/How_To/en350179

It explains various ways of using MPEG files with Avid. Click on the link to the Avid MPEG Workflow Guide Jan 2010.pdf That gives you lots of advice on various ways of working with MPEG files in Avid.

I hope that helps.

best wishes
Neil
http://www.patience.tv