Converting Digital Video Files

By Lorraine Grula

Converting Video with Stream Clip Software

I love digital video more than ice cream. BUT, incompatible digital video file formats can by a royal pain in the bazookie.

I heard from a reader the other day who bought a Sony HD video camera then was sorely disappointed to learn that the video format the camera recorded in was incompatible with video editing software. In other words, he could not capture the video he shot on his new camera into his video editing software.

This is a very common problem. He thought he had to run out and buy another camera, one that will record in a video editing friendly format. Not necessarily, I said.

Here's the deal. Many cameras today record in mpeg2 format. MPEG2 is a great format. It is what works with DVD players. When you rent a Hollywood movie from Blockbuster, it will be on a disc in MPEG2 format. Almost all commercial DVD discs are MPEG2 format, making it extremely common.

So naturally, MPEG2 does not work with most video editing software. It does not work on the internet.

Yup, a pain in the bazookie. Video camera manufacturers decided that more people were interested in playing their video on their home DVD unit than they were on editing their video on a computer. So, trying to please the masses, many camera manufacturers opted to record in MPEG 2 format. That way, you can immediately play the video disc you just shot in your DVD player. But you can not capture it in your computer and edit it. Incompatible digital video file format.

Conversion software to the rescue. Every software incompatibility has its corresponding software conversion fix. If you have MPEG2 video you need to convert in order to edit, you need some conversion software called Stream Clip. It is free. You can download it from the Squared 5 website. There are versions for both Mac and Windows.

Using stream clip is easy. You open the program, open your file, and then export it in any one of several formats. DV stream and quick time are probably your best bets for editing. AVI should work too.

When you open the MPEG2 files, you will notice that the video is distributed across multiple file folders. Open the VOB file, choose yes to opening all associated files, and then export it.

Stream clip also converts back into MPEG2 from any of the other formats.

So if you need to convert your video into a format compatible with editing, chances are good that stream clip is your answer.

If you are buying a new camera, keep this in mind. If you know you are going to be doing a lot of editing, make sure your new camera does not record in mpeg2 unless you do not mind converting it every single time.

Check out Best Video Editing Software here.