converting quicktime movies to mpeg1 for vcd

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I have a Mac G4 running imovie, I want to be able to make vcd's but cannot locate an application that converts Quicktime movies to MPEG 1 format that actually works. I found one application called Movie to MPEG Converter, but was very slow and in the end didn't work.

Does anyone know of any programs that will do this and where I can get it.

Thanks

Da

-- darrin engelhardt (darrin@senet.com.au), December 17, 2000

Answers

Be prepared to spend some big dollars to TRY and make vcd's with a mac. You should get a different computer if you are serious about making vcd's. Differen't computer meaning (not an apple). Look at ANY software and you have 100 versions for windows and 1 or 2 for an apple. Current news articles mention apple has "have not made a leap forward at all in this new age of computers." A g4 is made for surfin the internet, checking email, etc. Apples are for newbEZ'. Ask a hardcore mac fan and they will tell you the opposite. Apple advertising was succesful in making them feel like some elite dork for having an underpowered machine. I am a system admin for a small company and was SO HAPPY when I got the ok to toss our ENTIRE COMPANYS mac crap. Went to a unix server running sun solaris serving windows based workstations. (We had a hard time just finding someone to TAKE our apples away.) You can say your computer case looks neato though huh? ;o)

-- Oz (macs_will_die@free_source.org), December 17, 2000.

Now that we had that wonderful informative answer, there are two places that I know of. To get your feet wet, try the demo at http://www.netviewdisc.com/ they have iDisc Writer, which takes QuickTime converts it into audio and video MPEG streams then burns it to CDR. That's what I'm playing with right now. Then there's Astarte M.Pack which requires Toast. The only problem with MPEG1 is the quality, it's not so good, it's about 1/2 the resolution of DV.

-- Chris (diw@mac.com), December 17, 2000.

Just like I said. Look, you have only 2 to choose from. And from what I hear Mpack is no longer being sold! LOL Were is the shareware stuff? NONE!!!!!!!!!!

-- Oz (macs_will_die@free_source.org), December 18, 2000.

well if you dont mind going to an avi first, then just usethe quicktime saoftware itself, make sure you have the full version of quictime and it lets you import and export quictime movies to avi.

-- Doug (mazinz@aol.com), December 18, 2000.

And I wonder what our Anti-Mac friend would say if you pointed out that a large number of the graphics companies (still and video) do ALL of their work on Macs.

Another program (one that I find much superior to now defunct M.Pack) is Cleaner. Version 5 has Video CD settings in it. The buzz that I heard is that they will be Toast-compatible once they lastest upgrade is finished (I think the number is 5.1.? maybe 4). I don't have a definite date but I'm sure someone will reply if they have the answer

-- Arcadia (arcadiaproductions@swbell.net), January 04, 2001.



The Macintosh rules, every design and video software works better in MAC.

Im working with Cleaner 5 and its great, Im try to getting a serial number to use idisc writer and try as it is, Im also using M.Pack 3.0.2 and works fine, it has toast ready. I download the previous version of Toast Titannium and this software encode your movie files into mpeg. Good luck everyone, except OZ, i hope you got fired

-- Mario Fdz (guaguama@hotmail.com), February 10, 2001.


In response to the last comment about graphics working better on a MAC......NOT TRUE..... FACTS 1. MAC just recently with the new $$$G4 is now running at 133mhz bus.......PC machines were there and are at 400mhz bus. 2. ATI has poor and behind the times technology. So apple just hooked nVdia.....Still at a lower perfoemance. Apples AGP is still at 2X........While you can get 4X on a PC platform. 3. A dual Celeron 512mb of ram (still cheaper then any G4) is faster at video editing.......While AfterEffects on a PC platform willl ram preview faster as well...... 4. Most Design houses (that are reputable) will have both platforms......It comes down to what you prefer (basically what you know how to use)..... 5. MAC OS just doesnt have what it takes.......I dont care for MAC OS X.......because you know it wont run properly until MAC OS X.5.4.3.2 and so on..... Back to the topic.......BY A PC.......eally you'll save money,time, and a big headache...I used to be a die-hard MAC guy....now I own 2 NEW DELLS and finding shareware and user groups with no prblems..(SINCE MOST PEOPLE TRYING TO DO WHAT YOU WANT ARE ON PC)........But I must agree.......they do sure look pertty pa.......

-- loopy (dwilson@cybersight.com), February 23, 2001.

This will do it...

http://www.win.ne.jp/~juan/misc/mpg/Movie2MPEG0.1d5.sit.hqx

but it's SLOW.

Andrew

-- (a@b.com), August 25, 2001.


I have both an iMac G3 500 MHz and an athlon 850 MHz running windows 98. I capture video exclusively on the iMac since it does such a nice job. VCD encoding I have to agree is best done on a PC with TMPGEnc and then transport the VCD compliant mpeg file back to the Mac for burning with toast titanium which places a ".MOV" short-cut file on the VCD for easy playback in Quicktime. One word about the speed differences between the PC and Mac--I've had a chance to test out the DVD encoding and burning capabilities of iDVD on the 800 MHz iMac G4 (through some friends at our university bookstore). From start to finish, 1 hour of DV video takes 4 hours to encode and burn a DVD (5 hours including the capture time). The same encoding alone process on my Athlon takes approx. 18 -24 hours with the TMPGEnc which does a great job at the highest quality setting, but when the video is compared to the video from iDVD, there is no difference in quality. Keep in mind that this is encoding alone on the athlon. Surprising results considering most macPhobes only compare MHz when assessing performance not results. Final word, if one wishes to create home-DVD's and not spend most of the time figuring out the pros and cons of different PC configurations, buy some flavor of G4 with a superdrive. Expensive Yes, but you won't regret it.

Gary

-- Gary (succcawgl@yahoo.com), September 16, 2002.


Interesting to note that in the DVD extras of Episode 2, you see a LOT of the behind the scenes stuff at ILM, and ya know, there's a BOATLOAD of Macs in every shot.....

-- Greg the Godly (duntrune1@yahoo.com), January 28, 2003.


Both macs and pc formats have their advantages. It is personal preference, I don't believe you can criticize either platform until you work with each thoroughly.

-- JJ (buckmasterjon@yahoo.com), February 27, 2003.

go to macupdate and download ffmpegx.I cant get it to work but if you do let me know how, it has a lot of controle. I moved over to mac because i was tired of reinstalling,formating,and pulling my hair out, because video destroyed the hard drive again. If you flee to ibm use studioDV, its clean.

-- mark (mwood@picturepeople.com), March 03, 2003.

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