Importing .MOD files without having the .MOI files

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Importing .MOD files without having the .MOI files

Hi

I have a Panasonic sdr-s100 which records MPEG2 video in the .MOD/.MOI format onto sd cards.

Apart from the current 40+ restriction issue (see other posts), iMovie 08 imports new footage perfectly fine from my sd-card through my card reader.

The real problem I am having is with the older footage I recorded over the last year and a half. You see, I deleted all the .MOI files which were - until iMovie 08 got released - commonly regarded as useless once you had the movie/.MOD files on your hard drive. It was assumed these were only needed by the camcorder. How wrong we all were!!

So now I am having these neatly organized folders on my hard drive (100GB>) containing just the .MOD files, which iMovie refuses to recognize under File>Import. Copying the .MOD files back to an sd-card seemed like another option but iMovie 08 needs the accompanying .MOI files for the "Camera detected" message to pop up.

There is another thread (on which I have also posted), where we are trying to find some way to regenerate those .MOI files or use other similar methods, but none are really successful as yet. We also contacted JVC and Panasonic but it is not looking good so far. See here: http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=77489

Ideally, iMovie 08 would import my .MOD files straight from my hard drive without the need for .MOI files and simply use the .MOD's date modified info as the time stamp within iMovie 08. I do not wish to go via the DV route and re-import etc as it is way too time-consuming.

Has anyone got any other tips or similar problems? In the meantime I have sent this issue to Apple Feedback.

Message was edited by: RafDam

MacBook Pro Core Duo 2Gz, PowerMac G5, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Sep 9, 2007 5:28 AM

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Answer 1

RafDam Author

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Sep 11, 2007 8:48 AM in response to RafDam

Isn't there anyone with any suggestions? Please!!

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Answer 2

RafDam Author

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Sep 11, 2007 9:06 AM in response to RafDam

... even though I use a Panasonic sdr-s100, finding a solution this problem would help out many users who record with Flash-based camcorders, including the JVC Everio range.

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Answer 3

Jon Walker

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Sep 11, 2007 10:40 AM in response to RafDam

I do not wish to go via the DV route and re-import etc as it is way too time-consuming.

I don't believe there is any other solution than transcoding at this time. If your simply don't like the DV format per sé, then use a different compression format. Since HD would have endedup as AIC files anyway, you could convert to it. However, be advised that this format is more efficient and more highly compressed than DV and takes longer to convert. Also be advised to stay away from the Animation codec at this time. While it makes for very fast conversions and can be edited in iMovie '08, it is not properly exported at this time. You could also convert to MPEG4/AAC or H.264/AAC files. Of course, what you gain in small file size for editing, you lose in quality and/or conversion time. Lastly, if time is the only reason you do not wish to convert the files yourself, you should consider some local service that might be willing to do the job for a reasonable price.

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Answer 4

RafDam Author

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Sep 11, 2007 1:02 PM in response to Jon Walker

Actually, I did not state all my reasons why I do not wish to go via the DV route. Encoding time is only one element...

Apart from unnecessary conversion, I would also loose all my clips' timestamps when importing into iMovie 08 via DV. I find this really important as one of the main attractions for me was iMovie 08's ability to organize all my clips by events, by year, correct sequence of clips within events, etc. This is vital when you have thousands of little clips of 100GB>.

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Answer 5

F Shippey

Level 7

21,500 points

Sep 11, 2007 1:15 PM in response to RafDam

I had luck fooling iMovie '08 into thinking I was using a camcorder by taking an erased USB2 flash drive and putting the following folder structure on it:

MP_Root (at the root level of the card directory structure) and putting a folder 101PNV01 inside the MP_Root folder. I then put some mpg-2 file in the 101PNV01 folder, started iMovie '08, inserted the flash card and had the files recognized so I could import them.

Give it a try with some of your files.

F Shippey

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Answer 6

RafDam Author

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Sep 11, 2007 2:03 PM in response to F Shippey

I had luck fooling iMovie '08 into thinking I was using a camcorder by taking an erased USB2 flash drive and putting the following folder structure on it:

Thanks F Shippey

I will try that tomorrow. Am at work now 😉

Did you manage to import the .MOD files without an .MOI file? Did the timestamp work?

Message was edited by: RafDam

Message was edited by: RafDam

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Answer 7

F Shippey

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Sep 11, 2007 2:14 PM in response to RafDam

Did you manage to import the .MOD files without an .MOI file? Did the timestamp work?

My files were mpg-2 files created by an imaging application.

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Answer 8

RafDam Author

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Sep 11, 2007 2:33 PM in response to F Shippey

My files were mpg-2 files created by an imaging application.

So I assume they had the .MPG or an .MPEG extension? For iMovie 08's cataloguing feature, did it grab the timestamp from when the .MPG/MPEG file was created/modified? If so, that would be great!

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Answer 9

F Shippey

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Sep 11, 2007 3:29 PM in response to RafDam

You'll have to try and see what happens. Please let us know what happens.

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Answer 10

RafDam Author

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Sep 11, 2007 3:38 PM in response to F Shippey

Sure. Will do 🙂

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Answer 11

RafDam Author

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Sep 11, 2007 5:50 PM in response to F Shippey

MP_Root (at the root level of the card directory structure) and putting a folder 101PNV01 inside the MP_Root folder. I then put some mpg-2 file in the 101PNV01 folder, started iMovie '08, inserted the flash card and had the files recognized so I could import them.

Great. This works!

Here is what I did (and this should work for anyone who has old .MOD files but no longer has the accompanying .MOI files):

Like F Shippey stated

1) Create a root folder on your sd card (in my case, via a USB card reader) or USB stick (not tested) called Mp_Root.

2) Inside this folder create another folder called 101PNV01.

3) Rename the extensions of all your .MOD files to .MPG and copy them inside the 101PNV01 folder.

4) Restart iMovie08. It will now detect a new camera and import all clips using the date created/modified info as timestamps for perfect cataloging!

iMovie 08 does NOT re-encode the movie files, which is great cos it's very quick plus you retain 100% the original quality. It simply puts them in a .MOV container and creates a separate movie file for the thumbnails.

Thanks for your help F Shippey!

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Answer 12

ranum

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Sep 11, 2007 6:40 PM in response to RafDam

RafDam -

Thanks for being tenacious about finding a solution to this. I've been following this thread and the one over at osxhints to get ready for importing my MOD files into the new iMovie Events library.

I have on e question for you or F Shippey: When you import MOD files using F Shippey's method, iMovie converts the MOD file to a MOV file, right? Does the same thing happen if you transfer MOD files the "proper" way directly from he camera, or do the imported files from the camera stay in their MOD file format?

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Answer 13

F Shippey

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Sep 11, 2007 6:42 PM in response to RafDam

Glad it worked out for you. Thanks for letting us all know it worked.

F Shippey

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Answer 14

RafDam Author

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Sep 12, 2007 2:24 AM in response to ranum

I have on e question for you or F Shippey: When you import MOD files using F Shippey's method, iMovie converts the MOD file to a MOV file, right? Does the same thing happen if you transfer MOD files the "proper" way directly from he camera, or do the imported files from the camera stay in their MOD file format?

Exactly the same thing happens.

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Answer 15

Sep 12, 2007 3:33 PM in response to RafDam

RafDam,

You and I have been at this for a while now, so I am thrilled to hear that this solution works. However, you will have to pardon my cautious optimism. A few questions for you:

1. Does the audio play properly after importing with this method? .MOD has the dolby audio muxed in while .MPG usually doesn't have muxed dolby audio, so I am concerned that iMovie might be misled.

2. Does iMovie grab the date and time stamps from the modification date of the file? The JVC camcorders do not write to the original date, but only to the modification date, so I want to be sure that the date and time listed correctly.

3. Are the thumbnails generated just fine? You can "zoom in" and "zoom out" on the thumbnails (ie. 1s, 2s ... 30s thumbnails)?

If these three criteria are met, then I am sold on this solution!

One thing that would be nice is if it worked with a USB hard drive. Has anyone tried this? I have almost 200GB of video clips that have no .MOI files, and I only have a 1GB USB stick, so you can imagine that I would rather do 1 transfer with my USB connected external hard drive than ~200 transfers with my USB stick! Maybe I'm asking for too much though 😝

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