I've looked at a lot of the questions about converting MOV files to an AVI or similar. Most have said to try TmpegEnc, QT or Winavi, I've also been told to give RAD Tools a go, however Panasonic has told me that the Lumix I bought protects the files when using the USB cable to the computer. They claim the only way to convert so it can be edited etc is to put it through the TV and burn it onto a DVD. Can anyone tell me if the convertors above will fix this, or if there is any other way of converting it easily?

-- Cameron Selwood (cameron.selwood@suncorp.com.au), February 15, 2005

Answers

Can you download a .MOV file to your computer from the camera? If so, TMPGEnc, with the proper plugins, can read and re-compress a QuickTime file to a VCD file. Since the Lumix only records in 320x240, 10fps with sound (30fps no sound,) you're not going to get much that's useable. AVI is the best way to go then. Check the guides section of www.doom9.org or www.videohelp.com for more info.

However, if Panasonic has truly built DRM (protection) into the video stream, this complicates things. Most encoders aren't going to work. I'm not sure why they would do something like that, unless Apple gave them a break on royalties for doing so. If that's the case, I would suggest getting a better camera that doesn't use QuackTime. Most others use MPEG-1 for video.

-- Bryan (gryps-innocens@gryphon.zzn.com), February 20, 2005.