How can I convert this video? Only plays in VLC... Apple Mac?

Question

I have video footage of a concert I shot with some 3rd party camera operators. The footage I got from one of the camera operators plays well but the other will not open up in FCP, QuickTime, Compressor, or MPEG Streamclip BUT I can play it in VLC Player...I just can't convert it to a usable format. I really need this footage...what's the solution?

The erroneous video file:
QuickTime Movie
1280 x 720
Codecs: HDV 720p30, Integer (Big Endian), Timecode

What I want to convert it to: Apple Pro Res 422 or any usable Apple Intermediate Codec
But I can't even open it in my video conversion software!

I get the following error message when I open it in...
...QuickTime Player: The movie could not be opened. An invalid public movie atom was found in the movie.
...Final Cut Pro: File Error: Unknown File.
...Compressor: Alert: Error trying to open source media file
...MPEG Streamclip: File open error: unrecognized file type.
Open Anyway? Yes: audio only/no video

When I open it in VLC Player, I can play the video with no problem, and it looks great. But how do I convert/save the video in a usable format? HELP!!

Answer 1

A QuickTime problem with HDV-encoded movie files has been posted in the last 6 months or so in several video forums – the problem seems to be Apple's QuickTime 7.7 update (not QuickTime Player!). As a workaround, people have resorted to use a Mac system with an older version, or downgraded their QuickTime framework, e.g. to 7.6.9. Someone suggested logging/capturing the material directly from the camcorder/tape in Final Cut Pro, which transcodes the video directly to ProRes.



To check what version your QuickTime is, open Applications > Utilities > System Profiler.app view the list of all software frameworks installed.



If Apple hasn't fixed the problem in 7.7.1, a quick&dirty alternative would be converting the file using one of those ffmpeg-based converters (Handbrake, ffmpegX) which compress the quality video down to MP4 with H.264 – technically, a miserable detour that comes with some data (=quality) loss. Hopefully, the timecode is kept in tact in this process (assuming the camera people did use some sort of syncing) editing a multi-cam recording of a lengthy stage event without timecode/syncing can be next to impossible.

Answer 2

Try Movavi Video Converter - http://videoconvertermac.movavi.org (CUDA-powered, fast, PC/Mac versions, consider using the entire video suite)

Answer 3

i recommend you to try this convert for a test, download from the list below



http://www.videoencodermac.com/downloads/pavtube/mac/videoconvertermac_setup_r592310.pkg



it can process Apple Pro Res 422 very well