![]() Just download and unpack it to any folder you like. The best thing of all is that it is free and open source. It has all codecs built it and does not rely on DirectShow, Video for Windows or any other framework. The MPlayer/MEncoder combo is a powerful toolkit for playing and encoding digital video. MainConcept worked flawlessly in my tests and I was nearly convinced I would have to hand over € 290 to the manufacturer when I discovered a free alternative. The commercial AVS and Magix are limited to DVD resolution (720×576), which also applies to SUPER. But then it refused to read one of my video files which Quicktime played without complaint. At first, the free MP4Cam2AVI looked perfect. All are capable of reading MOV files and converting them to MPEG-2. I downloaded and tried out evaluation or free versions of the following programs. The resulting MPEG-2 file must retain the original resolution of 1280×720 pixels. Since I only want to convert the video format, downscaling the resolution was out of the question. Here is some technical data on the format: The video stream is encoded as MJPEG, a simple codec that creates large files since compression is low. That left me with the question of how to convert Quicktime MOV files to MPEG-2. Although these are soon to be replaced by Blue Ray Discs which employ a different codec, I am confident enough to be able to play and edit MPEG-2 even in 10 or 20 years time. ![]() I decided some time ago to store video footage in MPEG-2 format only. I do not want to be caught in a format trap, like, for example, owners of Video 2000 equiment (remember that?). I need a video file format that can be played and edited with different applications, both today and in 20 years. This essentially means that only Apple’s Quicktime software can play those files. For some reason Panasonic chose Apple’s Quicktime format. The major downside to the new LX3: the format in which video files are stored. Although I acquired it solely for its still image capabilities, I quickly discovered that it records video in very high quality, especially when compared to my digital video camera, a JVC model equipped with a hard disk on which video files are stored in MPEG-2 format in DVD resolution. I recently bought a new compact digital photo camera, Panasonic’s Lumix LX3. ![]()
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