MP4 converter?

[george formby]

I recently got myself a Gopro & now I want to do the full Spielberg.
Downloaded Windows Movie Maker which has terrible reviews but is free only to find that it will not recognize MP4, so..... I need a converter which seems a pain in the butt or a better, FREE, editing suite.
Any suggestions?

[riffer]

Freeware:

M4A to MP3 converter.

http://www.maniactools.com/soft/m4a-to-mp3-converter/

This is what I use and it's excellent.

If it's movies you want to do, try Pazera Free MP4 to AVI Converter

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Encoders-Converter-DIVX-Related/Pazera-Free-MP4-to-AVI-Converter.shtml

[george formby]

Thank you.

I knew I was getting into something over my head...

[sil3nt]

If you can score yourself a copy of Sony Vegas. You can edit the MP4 files directly which saves a bit of time.

This version here is fairly cheap and will allow you to do basic video editing. It also has an inbuilt upload to youtube feature.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/moviestudiohd

[scracha]

I recently got myself a Gopro & now I want to do the full Spielberg.
Downloaded Windows Movie Maker which has terrible reviews but is free only to find that it will not recognize MP4, so..... I need a converter which seems a pain in the butt or a better, FREE, editing suite.
Any suggestions?

Nero is worth the money IMHO.

Otherwise DVDFlick, IMGBurn and one of the MP4 converters that have been mentioned.

[Kendog]

I am using MPEG Streamclip, really easy to use and it's free.
I haven't tried joining clips together, as I have only edited race footage i.e. chop out the beginning warm up and end ride back to the pits.

Here is an example of what it looks and sounds like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCEiwdvQexc

[george formby]

I am using MPEG Streamclip, really easy to use and it's free.
I haven't tried joining clips together, as I have only edited race footage i.e. chop out the beginning warm up and end ride back to the pits.

Here is an example of what it looks and sounds like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCEiwdvQexc

Ahh, the Holy Grail.

I have downloaded AVC to convert MP4 files for Windows Movie Maker which does not like them. Sooo, I convert my test vid to AVI & try to put it into WMM. Computer says NOOO! Needs a codex, enable automatic codex doo hickey, still no joy. The journey continues, I hate being a thick sometimes.

[Buyasta]

You'd be a lot better off using a video editing suite that is able to read mp4 and h264 - although some converters out there may do a simple stream copy into a different container format, the majority will transcode the video and possibly also the audio, which is to be avoided.

If that sounded like gibberish, I'll have a shot at giving a simple and easy to understand explanation here.
With a single video file, there are generally 3 main things that will limit how easy it is to play back, these are the video codec, the audio codec, and the container format.
The video codec is the way the video is encoded, and in the case of the GoPro, it uses H264.
The audio codec is the way the audio is encoded, and in the case of the GoPro, it uses AAC.
The container format is basically the way that the file is packaged - the video and audio streams are interleaved, determining the way the file is composed - at the beginning you have a header that tells whatever application opens it how the file is packaged, and frequently an index to make seeking within the file quicker, and at the end you have a footer, while the space in between is made up of an alternating pattern of chunks of audio and video stream.

So people often refer to the container format believing it to have some connection to the video and audio codecs being used, which is not the case - a file using the mp4, mkv, avi, wmv, or whatever container can contain any mix of video and audio codecs, although generally there is a combination of video and audio codec and container that is preferred, and therefore more common.

So what I was saying with my first sentence was that most mp4 converters will not just convert the container to a different format without making any change to the video and audio codecs, the majority will instead transcode both to different codecs, which is to be avoided if at all possible.

Essentially when editing video or audio, the trick is to avoid conversion between lossy codecs whenever possible, as you will lose some quality each time - so ideally you record the video, edit it from the original output, and once you've done all the editing, do a single transcode to whatever your desired output format is.
Some people may find it easier to do a couple of transcodes in between those steps, but the quality of the final video will suffer for it.

[george formby]

Aha! Clear as porridge.

Just kidding, I actually got the gist of that Buyasta, thank you.

After a frustrating morning down loading a plethora of converters, editors & tool bars it looks like I should really put my hand in my pocket & buy some software, any suggestions?
Simple & cheap is the priority.

[Kendog]

Aha! Clear as porridge.

Just kidding, I actually got the gist of that Buyasta, thank you.

After a frustrating morning down loading a plethora of converters, editors & tool bars it looks like I should really put my hand in my pocket & buy some software, any suggestions?
Simple & cheap is the priority.
If my free suggestion is not cutting the mustard, answers to all your questions can be found in the go pro forum
http://goprouser.freeforums.org/questions-problems-and-observations-hd-gopro-only-f4.html

[SMOKEU]

I hope you have a fast processor if you want to be doing video encoding.

[Buyasta]

Aha! Clear as porridge.

Just kidding, I actually got the gist of that Buyasta, thank you.

After a frustrating morning down loading a plethora of converters, editors & tool bars it looks like I should really put my hand in my pocket & buy some software, any suggestions?
Simple & cheap is the priority.

If you just want to do basic editing Avidemux (http://www.avidemux.org/) is FOSS (Free and Open Source Software), but it's fairly rudimentary - you can easily use it to join clips and make cuts, but if you want to add text or effects, it doesn't have those capabilities. Incidentally, you can also use Avidemux to convert from one container format to another without transcoding the video and audio - just set the video and audio formats to "Copy", and then set the container format to something your favoured editor can read, and tell it to save.

I assume you're using Windows?.. I know of several FOSS video editing tools that are quite good, but none of them run on Windows, you'd need to be running Linux.

I'd advise trying a few different editors before buying one, as these things often come down to personal preference, and they generally offer a 30 day free trial so you can give them a try and make sure they do what you need them to, and have no ease-of-use or stability issues before spending any money.

It's been a long time since I've done any video editing myself, so I can't really make a recommendation, but I can give you the names and links of a few editors that are fairly popular and I've heard good things about. In most cases you'll find that the same company will make two versions of the same piece of software - a cheaper and often easier to use one, and a more expensive but more feature-rich version.

Corel, formely Ulead make Video Studio, with express (http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1175263344580#tabview=tab0) being $40USD, and pro (http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1175714228541#tabview=tab0) being $100USD.

The Sony Vegas range (http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegassoftware) has a bunch of different versions ranging from $45-600USD.

Ahead Nero have Nero Vision, which is available by itself (http://www.nero.com/ena/vision-xtra-overview.html) for $86NZD, or bundled (http://www.nero.com/ena/nero10-overview.html) with some of their other tools for $140NZD if you're in need of burning and backup software.

Adobe have the Premier range, with Express (http://www.adobe.com/products/premiereel/) costing $80USD, while Pro is only available as part of the CS5 suite.


So yeah, if I was you, I'd try the free trials for the cheaper versions of Corel Video Studio and Sony Vegas and see if those meet your needs, and if not and you require something a little more expensive, Adobe Premiere Express is the top selling video editing software in the world, presumably for a reason, and I would imagine is probably one of the better choices out there.

[scracha]

Again, Nero Vision gets my vote. Seems to handle pretty much any format I gave it, doesn't crash (a lot of stuff I tried did), has sensible defaults (good menus, not too tacky special effects), is easy to learn and is very well priced.

http://www.nero.com/enu/downloads-vision-xtra-trial.php

If you're doing 720p or above then SmokeU is right. A Core 2 Duo and $100 fanless Asus or Sapphire Radeon video card will give you a good stable system with good bang per buck. Obviously you can spend more. Otherwise a shite old Sempron 2400 with 1GB does the job for lower resolution stuff....just be prepared to wait an hour to "finalize" the video. Blue-ray....well...just forget about it unless you've got an i5 or above. Instruct your antivirus software to exclude the video and music folders it uses or just disable it during the post processing.

[SMOKEU]

If you're doing 720p or above then SmokeU is right. A Core 2 Duo and $100 fanless Asus or Sapphire Radeon video card will give you a good stable system with good bang per buck. Obviously you can spend more. Otherwise a shite old Sempron 2400 with 1GB does the job for lower resolution stuff....just be prepared to wait an hour to "finalize" the video. Blue-ray....well...just forget about it unless you've got an i5 or above. Instruct your antivirus software to exclude the video and music folders it uses or just disable it during the post processing.

Benchmark competition, anyone?

[Ronin]

Benchmark competition, anyone?

Once I finish the one I'm building at work your on :innocent:

[SMOKEU]

Once I finish the one I'm building at work your on :innocent:

You better not be building a dual CPU rig, that's cheating!

[Ronin]

You better not be building a dual CPU rig, that's cheating!

right. All done. What software you want me to run?

[george formby]

You better not be building a dual CPU rig, that's cheating!

Ha. I had been advised that processing speed was the real bottle neck so I'm working on the guy who looks after my computers to make me a dedicated hard drive for video.


If my free suggestion is not cutting the mustard, answers to all your questions can be found in the go pro forum

Cheers Kendog, I became frustrated yesterday as everything I downloaded was zipped, needed plug ins, codex's or quick time. I naively hoped to jump straight in & have a tutu. Oh well, best laid plans of mice men.

[Kendog]

Cheers Kendog, I became frustrated yesterday as everything I downloaded was zipped, needed plug ins, codex's or quick time. I naively hoped to jump straight in & have a tutu. Oh well, best laid plans of mice men.

Tell me about it, I got an Ipad 2 and thought it would accept raw Go Pro video for imovie editing..... wrong.

[SMOKEU]

right. All done. What software you want me to run?

The Passmark performance test would be a good start. Have a look at this link here http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html to make a comparison. With my i7 2600K at 4.8GHz I can get just over 12,000. I haven't benched it at 5GHz....yet.

You can download the performance test here http://www.passmark.com/products/pt.htm

Do you want to bench the video card(s) as well?

[Ronin]

The Passmark performance test would be a good start. Have a look at this link here http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html to make a comparison. With my i7 2600K at 4.8GHz I can get just over 12,000. I haven't benched it at 5GHz....yet.

You can download the performance test here http://www.passmark.com/products/pt.htm

Do you want to bench the video card(s) as well?

Bastard. You win and I havent benched it. i5 2400. What vid card you have?

[SMOKEU]

Bastard. You win and I havent benched it. i5 2400. What vid card you have?

Radeon 6970. When I get the cash I will be going Crossfire.

Now I'm just waiting for my SSD to arrive in the mail and I should have a killer rig.

[Ronin]

Radeon 6970. When I get the cash I will be going Crossfire.

Now I'm just waiting for my SSD to arrive in the mail and I should have a killer rig.

GTX 460 1 Gig here. Just running tests now

[SMOKEU]

GTX 460 1 Gig here. Just running tests now

The GTX460 is a pretty good card. In SLI mode they will kill a GTX480.

3DMark 11 is probably the best bet for benching video cards. The free trial version is all you need.

[Ronin]

The GTX460 is a pretty good card. In SLI mode they will kill a GTX480.

3DMark 11 is probably the best bet for benching video cards. The free trial version is all you need.

The horror of owning your own computer store is that the temptation to build the ultimate machine eats away at you...

[SMOKEU]

The horror of owning your own computer store is that the temptation to build the ultimate machine eats away at you...

Hmmmmm..... a water cooled 2600K with a Crossfire 6990/ SLI GTX590 and them new OCZ Revodrives in RAID 0...... giggity giggity giggity!!!!!!