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

__________________
FireWire Survey

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

__________________
FireWire Survey

Hey poncho, I have one XP home and two XP pro systems and none of them display mpeg 2 thumbnails. I tried Irfanview and it doesn't display mpeg 2 thumbnails either. Could it be that Irfanview works this way on your systems because the thumbnails show up in your Explorer views?

The Microsoft link you gave tells how to switch the folder view to thumbnail but that's not the problem. The mpeg 2 thumbnails do not show up in thumbnail, filmstrip, or any other folder view.

Can you think of anything you installed on your systems that is allowing this? I've been through every Windows setting so I'm thinking it has to be something extra added to Windows.

Thanks for your help.

Thanks Graphic Dragon and Poncho...
At least I know why the thumbnails aren't being displayed (and why some mpegs (1) do and some mpegs(2) don't.

To say that this is would be handy for the Everio users is a understatemt..I've accumulated about 100 short clips in the month or so that I've had the camera (combination of young kids and enthusiasm) and it's a nightmare searching through (and re-naming...accurately) the clips.

I've contacted Cyberlink (who designed the mneat thumbnailing for the camera - which is what spoilt me ) and I'll post any reply.

Graphic Dragon...thanks for saving me the tme to download irfanview.
I'm guessing we need a mpeg2 plug in for windows so that it recognises the format as I mentioned originally windows doesn't even pick up the audio and video properties and treats it like a regular file??

Any further clues or suggestions still greatly appreciated

Hey billc3, I got it to work. What I did was download and install Stinky's MPEG-2 Codec 1.2.0.79. It's a silly name but I chose this one because it's small (in filesize), cleanly installs/uninstalls, and it's free.

I can't comment on how good this codec is for actually viewing videos because I use Media Player Classic for that and it has its own mpeg 2 decoder. It DOES make thumbnails of Everio videos show up in Explorer views so that's all I care about. You just have to make sure to rename .MOD to .MPG and set your folder view to thumbnail.

I thought having a software DVD player should allow for thumbnails in Explorer but I guess I was wrong. Well, at least this "thumbnail issue" will stop bothering me.

Yes, it has to be some setting in XP.

I can't think of anything I installed except possibly my MPEG2 encoders. I don't like the MPG thumbnails, most of my MPEG2 videos I edited all show up as black squares as I usually have 1 or 2 seconds of black screen at the beginning and end of each video...


Rich

__________________
FireWire Survey

Works a charm! Between the filerenamer utility and this codec, I'm set. If Cyberlink get back to me...I'll post here and hopefully feedback to them that using the same name M00v1.mod, M00v2.mod etc is a pain as you keep downloading the same file names to the PC.

GD I owe you a big favour...you have saved what little is left of my hair from being torn out.

Sorry to bother you...and many thanks
I would have thought so too. Obviously Poncho just happened to have an appropriate codec installed.....thanks for your help guys...now I will be recommending the Everio to everyone!

I can't find the emoticon for a big kiss...maybe it shouldn't be there..."not that there's anything wrong with that"

Oh and Poncho, if this is a sticky, I would add "thumbnail" to the title to make it a bit more obvious and easily searchable/findable...JMO

...and my other tip is to never set the camera to fade in recording etc because then you will always get a black thumbnail, but it also slows down the start up for recording etc and really limits your options when (and if) you are editing latert

Your very welcome billc3. I've gotten sooo much help from this forum, I'm just trying to give back with what little I know.

Oh, when I said "Well, at least this 'thumbnail issue' will stop bothering me", I didn't mean you. I was wanting to find a solution even before your post and not finding it is what was bothering me. Feel free to ask questions anytime and I'll do my best to help out.

See a french soft Converio (with english version).