07.04.07
DV to MPEG4
Recently, a friend asked how to convert video from his Sony camcorder to his Motorola Q phone. I wrote a short primer on MPEG video and figured I’d just post it here.
The first thing to realize is there is a difference between compression methods and file formats although most people don’t distinguish between the two. This has led to a lot of the confusion among consumers.
MPEG1 was used for laser discs (remember them?). MPEG2 is used for DVDs and broadcast HDTV. Blu-ray discs use MPEG4, more specifically MPEG4 AVC H.264. All discs store video in TS (Transport Stream) file containers.
Most consumer video cameras record in DV (Digital Video) which is a unique standard using DCT intraframe compression and not directly related to MPEG. Some HiDef cameras use HDV tapes which is like DV but it’s MPEG2. Few, but growing, cameras record in MPEG4. Some create DivX AVI files. Some create MP4 (aka. Quicktime MOV). Some create AVCHD TS files. Obviously, the MPEG4 market is much more fragmented than MPEG2.
If you have a DV camera, it probably came with software that converts those files to MPEG1. What you want is software that goes directly from DV to MPEG4. Ideally, you’d go directly from DV to MPEG4 SP in a 3GP file. Alternatively (and probably better) would be to go from DV to WMV. Either of those would play on on a Motorola Q. Let’s try Google… “dv to wmv”.
- Convert Video from DV(Digital Video Cassette) to WMV(Windows Media Video) with River Past Video Cleaner
- How to convert DV to WMV using Windows Media Encoder
- DV MPEG4 Maker is a software tool that helps you create MPEG4/DIVX/AVI/WMV video clip files from your digital camcorder
I’ve never used any of these. My camera records in AVCHD. That’s much harder to deal with. There are few applications that can read AVCHD files. However, I did manage to find some Mac OS X command line tools that can convert AVCHD to DivX.
Kelvin Tam said,
December 13, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Is AVCHD the same as MPEG4?
I am planning to get a AVCHD camcorder. I plan to archive my home videos to a portable drive and use a Digital Media Player which connects to the portable drive and stream the video to an HDTV. Most of the consumer units that I found do play WMV, MPEG2 and MPEG4 but not AVCHD. I am trying to avoid having to converting from AVCHD to WMV or AVI.
Is AVCHD the same as MPEG4 or is AVI the same as MPEG2 or MPEG4?
Thank you.
wfrantz said,
December 13, 2007 at 6:10 pm
No, they aren’t the same.
MPEG4 is a big standard that includes (among other things) lots of video compression algorithms. One of those is H.264 which is found in MPEG4 Part 10.
AVCHD is a standard file format that includes video compressed using the H.264 algorithm.
So there is some overlap. The MPEG4 standard says nothing about the AVCHD file format but it does define the AVCHD video compression algorithm.
Many companies advertise ‘MPEG4 playback’ but that actually has very vague meaning. What they probably mean is that the device can play DivX files or MP4 files. It’s unlikely to include AVCHD. However, most (all?) Blu-Ray DVD players can play AVCHD files. You’ll probably want a Blu-Ray player or you’ll have to convert your AVCHD files into some other format.
santiago said,
January 24, 2008 at 2:14 am
Would you tell us which command lien tools you found to convert AVCHD files on Mac OS X???
I’ll be interested on that…. many thanks