Editing Canon .mod files in Vegas

InterceptPoint schrieb am 08.06.2008 um 13:47 Uhr
I'm about to buy the Canon FS-100 (SD-widescreen-SD Flash) for my 9 year old grandson and am looking for a way to edit the FS-100 .mod files. These are really just MPEG2 files but I'm having a problem getting Vegas 8 to detect the correct aspect ratio of a native 16x9 .mod file renamed to .mpg. It sees the file but thinks it is 4x3 and not 16x9. Ditto Windows Media Player.

Here is what I know:

1. VLC Player (.mpg renamed only) and Nero (.mod or .mpg) will play the .mod file in the 16X9 format.
2. Windows Media Player will play the file if renamed .mpg but in 4x3 format
3. Vegas will edit the renamed .mpg file but not with the .mod extension.
4. Vegas gets the 16x9 aspect ratio wrong - it shows as 4x3.

I'm hoping there is a Vegas solution but recommendations for a simple (9 year old simple) file converter that preserves quality and would let Vegas read the 16x9 aspect ratio correctly would be welcomed.

And a related question: Does anyone know the actual recording format pixel-wise for an SD camera recording in 16x9 widescreen mode?

Kommentare

InterceptPoint schrieb am 08.06.2008 um 23:20 Uhr
I finally found a workflow to handle Canon .mod files in Vegas:

A. Use MPEG Streamclip to convert the .mod file to .ts

B. In Vegas go to properties for each clip and set the pixel aspect ratio to: 1.2121 (NTSC DV Widescreen).

That did the trick.
reberclark schrieb am 09.06.2008 um 13:56 Uhr
I am using an FS100 - I will try InterceptPoint's idea but here is what I've been doing:

Pop out the SDHC card and put in a card reader. Transfer MOD files to the computer. Change the extension (I use a batch process) to MPG and drop each into DVDPatcher. Change the header to 16:9. Works great.
reberclark schrieb am 09.06.2008 um 14:04 Uhr
I just tried a modified version of Intercept's idea - changed the extension to MPG (Canon Techs told me the format is MPEG2) then imported into vegas and changed the aspect ratio in the clip' s properties. Much easier than what I had been doing!

Intercept - why change to .ts? Just curious.
reberclark schrieb am 09.06.2008 um 15:30 Uhr
"And a related question: Does anyone know the actual recording format pixel-wise for an SD camera recording in 16x9 widescreen mode?"

I'm no expert (please correct me) but I believe that in NTSC the format is 720x480 (just like 4:3) but the pixels themselves are rectangular (16:9).
InterceptPoint schrieb am 09.06.2008 um 15:38 Uhr
"Intercept - why change to .ts? Just curious."

I tried changing to .mpg but the tracks imported into Vegas 8 were video only - no audio. Any idea what I could be doing wrong?
reberclark schrieb am 09.06.2008 um 21:03 Uhr
Hmmm. What I do is right click on the MOD file (after copying it from the SDHC card via a USB SDHC card reader - never while it's in the camera) to my video folder or the desktop) and select "rename." I then change the extension to MPG. I then open the file in VEGAS like any other and the audio is there. So technically I'm not "importing" I guess - just treating it like any other media file.

BTW thanks for the "pixel aspect ratio" change in "properties" of the clip in VEGAS. That's saved me a lot of steps.
InterceptPoint schrieb am 11.06.2008 um 22:18 Uhr
I tracked down the missing audio from imported .mpg files that I was experiencing. This was an 8.0a bug that was fixed in 8.0b. I upgraded and all is well now.

So if anyone is missing audio from an MPEG2 file I suggest upgrading to 8.0b.