Copy Protected MOV to AVI

[RedwallMouse]

I had some Quicktime MOV files, but when I went to export them, they had been created with the copy protection flag switched on. Exporting to another format was not permitted. I tried Nicky's Guides using RADTools, but they failed to work correctly.

Then I found MOV2AVI.EXE. It's a command line DOS program, and it's very slow, but it can copy the MOV to AVI and eliminate the protection.

The downside is the quality. It isn't the greatest. I think some of that is related to whatever new compression you choose. At the command line, include the -i switch. You can then select the compressor, quality, frame rate, key frames, etc. Although I had DIVX installed, it didn't show up in the list of available codecs. I had to convert to Cinepak, then to DIVX.

The program also doesn't rip the audio the first time. The solution is not to use GoldWave or TotalRecorder, both of which cause some stuttering on the playback device if the CPU is too slow (less than 500 mhz). However, you can use MOV2AVI to also rip the audio, buy using the -w switch, and select the bit rate, channels, etc. This will rip the audio to a PCM WAVe file. This file can then be multiplexed with the video rip using VirtualDub. If anyone has any better ideas, let me know. Thanks!

[RedwallMouse]

Better Quality MOV to AVI

Just found a better way to convert those copy/export protected MOV files to AVI (IE better quality that MOV2AVI).

The solution is to use TmpGenc with the QuickTime plugin. However, it's a multi-step process, but the quality is really good.

Use TmpgEnc with the QuickTime VPAFI plugin to load in the MOV file. The files I was trying to convert were not a standard size, so I used the cropping features of TMPGEnc to clip the frame, and resize it to a standardd 320x240. It also fixed the aspect ratio that was off in the QuickTime files. Strangely, the MOV file was 12 fps, but TMPGEnc had to encode it to 24. (I later decimated it back to 12 in VirtualDub). I did NOT rip the audio at the same time. It came out all screwed up when I tried it. Anway, I applied a sharpening filter (horizontal sharpening, slight color adjustment filter,and the crop), set the MPEG-1 output to 100% Constant Quality, max bitrate of 3000 kbps, minimum 0, 320x240, system video only, I used the CG/Animation quantization matrix, and a GOP of IPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP. It took about 2 1/2 hours process the video in an MPEG-1 file on my 233mhz laptop. The original MOV file being approx 22 minutes (so about 6 seconds per second of video).

Then I used MOV2AVI to rip the audio, using the following command line:

mov2avi filename.mov -w -r22 -s16 -h2

to get the Wave, 22khz rate, 16 bit size, 2 channels

then loaded them both into Virtual Dub, decimated the framerate (see above as to why), and compressed the video to DIVX, and the audio to MP3. The video looks great, the sync is perfect, and I'm thrilled that it isn't a MOV. In fact, it looks better than the MOV, if that's possible after all those conversions. The best part, of course, is the file is no longer copy/export protected.

[rpalma]

Maybe later, but trying to help others

The most easy way i found to convert protected mov files, is with mainconcept mpeg encoder, in one step video + audio, the quality is pretty decent, but it takes a lot of time.

I used lot of times to convert protected movs to vcd compatible mpeg.

even can encode several files to one joined file.

i hope it helps.