I've seen quite a few posts about poor video quality on the computer and not being able to hear the audio. Here are some tips to make sure your videos look, and sound, just as good on your computer as they do on DVD.

As most of you know, the .MOD files are actually mpeg 2 video. To play the videos, you really need to rename the .MOD extension to .MPG so your computer can understand what it is. Renaming is also necessary because the camera starts back at MOV001.MOD when videos are erased. I use this handy, and free, renaming utility so I can rename many files at once.

File Renamer

To view the files properly, you need a good mpeg 2 codec. If you have a software DVD player, such as PowerDVD 5 NE (included with camera), then you have an mpeg 2 codec installed. If you don't have a software DVD player, then I suggest you install one. This is handy to test your authored and burnt DVDs without having to use a stand-alone DVD player. If you don't like PowerDVD 5 NE, check to see if your DVD burner came with another software player. Here are some links to commercial software DVD players.

CyberLink PowerDVD
Intervideo WinDVD
DVD X Player

You also have the option to download a free mpeg 2 codec but your results will very. If you simply don't want to install a software DVD player, then you will have to spend the time searching for free codecs and trying them out. Some are good and others horrible, so you may have to try a few.

Next you need an AC3 audio codec. Everio cameras record audio in Dolby AC3 format. Just download and install this great, and free, AC3 codec.

AC3Filter

Now on to viewing the video files. You can view mpeg 2 files from the software DVD players but this is a pain. DO NOT use Windows Media Player. It renders the video with skips and jaggy lines when there is motion. The best player for quickly viewing your files is Media Player Classic. It's fast, easy on system resources and doesn't have a bunch of crappy "features" you don't need. Oh, it's also free.

Media Player Classic
NOTE: Media Player Classic plays mpeg 2 and AC3 natively so you don't need to install either codec unless you wish to view files with other players.

This should get you up and running. If you have any problems, just post in this thread and I'll try to help you out.

thanks for the great tips. The file renamer makes things a lot easier.

I've made this thread a "sticky" so it will be easily visible to users to this forum.

It appears to be a well written post.


Rich

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Actually there is no need for this, what I have done is just register the MOD extension to open powerDVD.

Right click on a file, select "open with...", select powerdvd from the list of available programs, check the "Always use this program..." and press ok.

Now windows will always use powerDVD when playing MOD files.
The same can be done with windows mediaplayer, however it does not support the 16:9 format.

/jox

Good tip jox. The problem I had was I wanted to view the files with Media Player Classic, because it loads fast and has an easy playlist editor, but wanted to edit the files with Womble MPEG Video Wizard. Womble wont see .MOD in its file open dialog. I don't know of a way to register a file extension to multiple programs, so renaming to .MPG was the only option I could think of. For those without these issues, your method is faster than renaming.

Hi my first post..
Great stuff...actually the re-namer has helped (although the screen fortmat is annoyingly all over the place) BUT I have a huge request.
Love the Everio and have accumulated tons of files.

Can now re-name them but is there a way they can be thumbnailed in the browser window as for all other mpg, avi, wmv files rather than either showing a MediaPlayer thumbnail or a PowerDVD thumbnail.

If the file can be thumbnailed (so it shows the first frame) then don't need to rename it for searching

BTW after they are re-named .mod to .mpg or .m2v they still aren't recognised as AV files (if you look at the properties summary) which ,may be linked to the above problem.
Drop them into Power Director and you get a thumbnail and the correct AV properties summary....but that's messy when searching for a particular video..(Open program, drop in files, wait...not that's not it...)

A thumbnail in the windows Explorere browser would be a great thing if anyone has any ideas???

Cheers!

The reason Windows doesn't show thumbnails of Everio video files is because it doesn't support the mpeg 2 file format at that level (even with an mpeg 2 codec installed). It does thumbnail some .MPG files but thats because they are mpeg 1 format. There should be a way to patch or hack Windows to display mpeg 2 thumbnails but I haven't found a way.

I've also looked at several media players that show thumbnails. All of them have the same problem with mpeg 2. Thats because most use Windows Media Player as a rendering engine.

If anyone knows of a way to get Windows to display mpeg 2 thumbnails or at least knows of a media player that quickly shows mpeg 2 thumbnails, please let us know. Many Everio owners would be very grateful.

My two XP systems display MPEG-2 (Named .MPG or .MPEG) thumbnails in Explorer. So does IfranView http://www.irfanview.com/ which is a free media player and can create and save thumnails in various formats and methods.

If other media players do not show thumbnails your windows may not be set up properly, look over this page:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/..._thumbnail.mspx


Rich

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I converted my mod files to mpg files. I tried importing them into Windows Movie Maker2 but got an error message. The message stated the files could not be imported, an interface has too many methods to fire events from. Any ideas??

Windows Movie Maker is not designed to edit MPEG2. Some people have claimed that they have done it by using the appropriate MPEG2 encoder but I was never successful. I use a different editor when dealing with MPEG2


You might read "Converting MPEG-2 Files for Importing" if you want to use Movie Maker: http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/P...EG-2_Files.aspx


Rich

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Hi, I am completely new to this forum thing but I just had to register and say a massive "thank you" to all members who contributed to this what-ever-you-call-it.....( i think you call it a thread???) ha ha ha. Anyway, I have the Everio G Series Camcorder and I found this forum through google as I was having trouble like all of you were initially. I can't thank you enough! You have really helped immensely. Cheers. Snes

I can't move the files on my Everio over to my pc. It tells me I have a parameter error. Anu suggestions. I have tried two different computers? Any help would be much appreciated.

ARe you trying to copy to your hard drive on the pc or cd/dvd? That error is more common with people trying to burn a file to a disk. Often it is caused by not choosing a write speed.

Adj

I am trying to copy it to the hard drive. I connect the camcorder to the pc then open the file with the MOD files. I then try to move them over to the hard drive and that is when I get the parameter error! I have trid to drag and drop, copy, etc I and I get the same error every time.

Komen1239, sometimes very long file path names can cause this error. Try saving the files to a short path such as C:\temp\. If that doesn't work, I cant think of what else it can be.