Quicktime to Windows Media Conversion Utility

[hitp]

Hi . . . a bit off topic here. Can anyone suggest a good Quicktime to Windows Media (MPEG?) conversion utility. We usually post or FTP Quicktime movies to clients for approval. Occasionally clients with Windows machines do not want to bother downloading a Quicktime player and just use the Windows Media Player on their PCs.

Is there a reliable way to convert our Quicktime files to Windows Media? I am assuming an MPEG conversion utility would work. Once the Windows guy downloads from our FTP all he has to do is double click and it should play the movie in Windows Media Player, right?

Our workflow usually starts with a med res Quicktime file usually made by using the "Make Quicktime Movie" command within Protools then compressing that Quicktime movie down with Sorenson Video Pro to make it an "internet friendly" size, then post it on the net or send via FTP.

Is there a way to do the same, starting with our original Quicktime file and using a utility on a Mac to make a small web movie configured for playback on Windows Media Player?

Thanks in advance . . . any suggestions would be well appreciated.

[froyo]

Hello. Maybe I am oversimplifying this too much, but I would think the client could just open the QuickTime file with the Windows Media player. I do it all the time and vice versa. The only caveat is that the QuickTime can't be a .mov file, because the WMP won't open that. Just save it to some other extension. Again, maybe I am oversimplifying this.

[hitp]

Hi Froyo!

Really . . . what file extension should I use? Please let me know so we can try. It will save a whole lot of time and money having to buy a Quicktime to MPEG encoder and learning to use it.

Say I already compressed my file with Sorenson video. I then open it in Quicktime and do a "Save As". What file extension should I change the .mov to so WMP can play it back? Most Windows clients insist on MPEG because that seems to be the default file format of WMP. Would changing the the extension to .mpg work???

Of course I should just try it out . . . right?

Your help is truly appreciated on this one! Thanks a million!

[hitp]

Hi again! Tried changing the file extension with a Save As . . . did not work with Windows Media Player in my PC. Changing from .mpg to .mov works in my mac though. Any one else with any ideas?

Thanks!

[soundbird]

Hi
The only actual conversion tool/utility that I can think of which may do that is an application called Cleaner - It's a pretty expensive way around it though.
I'm sure that there must be a simpler way through Quicktime - either that or if you have access to an avid then you can probably do it through there. Also - make sure that you have all the correct Quicktime drivers.

Good Luck!

[froyo]

Hello. Two things that will determine if this works or not for you. First off, make sure the client has the latest version of the WMP. It is the one that works well with most files (except .mov of course). Two, make sure you have QuickTime Pro. That is sort of a no brainer in my opinion anyway. For $20 you can do some pretty good stuff with QuickTime's. So, with QT Pro, open your source QuickTime file, then Export, QuickTime to AVI. A few seconds later you have a .avi file which the WMP will play with no problems. Works for me all the time.

You also have the free Windows Media Encoder. This will take any audio or video file and convert it into a Windows Media Video or Windows Media Audio file. Of course, it's only files that the WMP will work with to begin with, so .mov files are no good there. But it will conver anyt .aif, .wav, .mp3, etc into .wmv or .wma if the client needs that as a delivery format.

Good luck. It's fairly simple. It takes all of a few seconds for QuickTime Pro to convert it from a .mov to a .avi. From there, the WMP reads it with no problems.

[davip]

with QT Pro, open your source QuickTime file, then Export, QuickTime to AVI. A few seconds later you have a .avi file which the WMP will play with no problems. Works for me all the time.

I've done this many times, but the AVI files are always huge, much biggert than the MOV files I start with. QT Pro seems to offer only a limited number of compression options for AVI. Am I missing something?

[K.B.]

I've had RADTools recommended to me as a free video conversion utility. You can download it here.

I haven't tried this out yet, so I'd be interested to hear if it's any good.

[lacuevadeloso]

You can create an mpeg video file from Toast (Titanium only?).

Just select Video CD from the Other menu and drag a QT movie to it.
That's it! Nice trick, huh? Saves a lot of money on extra software.

Juan.