videos in .mov format taken with Canon digital camera not synched to iphone 4

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Geneve999 Author

Level 1

5 points

videos in .mov format taken with Canon digital camera not synched to iphone 4

Hello all, this is my first post!

I have taken videos during my vacations with two different devices:

- I used the standard "Pictures (Photo)" application of my iPhone 4G

- I used a Canon digital camera that can also takes videos

I then copied all the video files from above two sources to the "photo" folder on my computer (that is where I keep my pictures) and started synching via iTunes to my iPhone 4G. Result: only the video files that had been taken with my iPhone 4G got transferred to my iPhone 4G. The videos taken with the Canon digital camera did not sync to my iPhone 4G.

Now, the strangest thing is that, even though the videos were taken with two different devices (an iPhone 4G, a Canon digital camera), the video files look really similar: they have of course different sizes and names, but:

- they all have a ".mov" extension

- they are all associated with QuickTime and can all be read with QuickTime on my computer.

- They all have the same attributes and security settings.

So the million dollar question is: why would the videos taken with my Canon digital camera not sync to my iPhone through iTunes, when the ones taken with my iPhone 4G video app are synched?

Thank you in advance for your assistance!

Kind regards to the Community

Geneve999

iPhone 4, Windows Vista, iPhone v.4.3.2, iTunes v. 10.2.2.12

Posted on May 5, 2011 11:39 AM

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Answer 1

Geneve999 Author

Level 1

5 points

May 9, 2011 1:56 PM in response to Geneve999

It seems my issue is related to the file format of the video files that I shot with my Canon PowerShot SX20 IS camera: they may not be compatible with iPhone supported video format. However...

I also read a very useful post here https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2705618 and contacted Cannot Support Center. Here are the technical details:

My Canon PowerShot SX20 IS shot video files in H.264 (.MOV format) + PCM (audio), 640 * 480 pixels (30 frames per sec).
According to the Apple web site, iPhone vVideo formats supported are: H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

So my conclusion is that the video format shot by my Canon camera IS compatible with the iPhone. So why would those video files not upload to my iPhone when I sync my iPhone thorugh Itunes?

Thanks in advance if you can help! This is mind-boggling to me! 😮

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Answer 2

Geneve999 Author

Level 1

5 points

May 16, 2011 11:02 PM in response to Geneve999

Problem solved!

Thanks to a video utility named "Free Video Converter" (www.koyotesoft.com) , I was able to seamlessly convert my Canon videos to what the utility proposed as default video codec for the iPhone: MPEG-4 codec, 640*480, 25fps. Therefore it seems like the H.264 Canon video format was somehow not compatible with Apple (even though they say the opposite) and conversion to another codec MPEG-4 was necessary...

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