Convert .m4v to .mov

Question

Convert .m4v to .mov

We had some Super8 that was put on a DVD. I used Handbrake to convert to .mp4 which does not work with iMovie. How can I convert .m4v to .mov so that I can edit the footage in iMovie?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Jan 8, 2010 4:59 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 8, 2010 5:41 PM in response to Michael Jones23

Check to see if handbrake included any chapter markers. iMovie will not import if there are chapter markers or other text tracks. But m4v should be fine. If you still can't get it going, rename the file as .mp4 and try again.

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Answer 2

Jan 9, 2010 8:50 AM in response to AppleMan1958

Thanks so much! I renamed to .mp4 and I was able to put it into iMovie. I also saw that in Handbrake there is a tab re: chapters and it was marked. So I unmarked it and the previous problem should not reoccur.

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Answer 3

Jan 21, 2010 12:50 PM in response to Michael Jones23

I also came across this problem. iMovie wouldn't let me import the .m4v video through the Import/Movies... tab but it did let me drag and drop from Finder. Go figure. I used HandBrake to convert my .vob file to .m4v, after dropping into iMovie, everything works just like normal. Hope that helps someone.

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Answer 4

Jan 21, 2010 11:07 PM in response to Michael Jones23

This may be a little off topic, but may be of interest to owners of the Western Digital TV Media Player. I have the "Live" version of this player, which can be networked wirelessly or through an ethernet connection.

I found that .m4v video files would play on the WD Media Player, but would not _fast forward_. The files were mostly encoded as H264/AAC. So I simply _changed the file name_ to .mov (which is only a container, not a codec) and found that the video could then be fast forwarded. No re-encoding was necessary.

What I haven't figured out yet is how to get the WD Media Player to recognise my iMovie chapters, which I always insert for DVDs. Anyway, at least I can now fast forward!

Sorry to hijack this thread, but my experience with the Media Player may be of interest to other users looking for a simple way to convert .m4v files to .mov - however, it may not work in all situations.

John

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