On Jan 18, 2008, at 2:18 PM, geoffdgeorge wrote: > So, I recently took a trip to San Francisco, and I wanted to use some > footage from old tourism videos of the city that I found on the > Internet Archive. Most of the videos there are either MPEG-4 or MPEG- > 2 files, and here's where the problem comes in: > > I edit with Final Cut Express. When I try and import the MPEG-4 > files, the program tells me it's an invalid file type. When I try and > import the MPEG-2 files I get the video, but I lose the sound. Do I > have to convert the MPEG files to .MOV files? Is there a free way to > do this, or do I have to purchase Quicktime Pro? The solution to this > problem may be fairly obvious, but I am not tech savvy, so any help > would be appreciated.
which of the archive mpeg4 files are you using? you probably know, but be sure it's the one that ends with "_edit.mp4" in the url (the so called 'hi-res' version) i have not had any problem editing these with quicktime pro or in imovie. i don't know about FCP, but lots of folks here have utilized these videos, so someone here should be able to relay experiences using FCP. i've also accessed the mpeg-2 files using quicktime pro with the mpeg-2 addition (yet another QT tax). this was unsatisfactory for two reasons (1) the apple addon is for playback only, not editing and (2) most of the mpeg2's on archive suck in quality (imho). the mpeg4 edit versions are more recent and seem to have been created with more care than the mpeg2's. In fact, the mpeg2's often don't even open in anything (after a 2GB or more download!!!); just a bad file in those cases. alternatively, you could look at the "other" internet archive where they *sell* the high quality versions of these. both are run by the same folks. markus [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
