How to convert iphone movies to SD MP4?

MrThrifty

Right, I'll resist the urge to complain about the default camera and video app that comes with the iPhone, but this is difficult! Anyway, I've shot a whole load of movies and want to upload them to a website. Issue 1 is that they're all in .mov format (thanks Apple) and issue 2 is that they're very large as they're all HD.

So basically I'm looking to convert them to SD MP4 videos, ideally having the option of defining the area of interest as there is generally deadspace around the edges of the videos. Can someone point me in the right direction? I'm currently downloading a few free converters but none of them seem to do all of what I'm looking for. Finally, on principle, I do not want to pay a cent for any app or software

donmaga1

Try downloading free studio manager. There are loads of differant options on convertions.

The Big Gig

handbrake.fr

Bellu

Well, Handbrake is ok, you can try it first, it is also my top choose, but as it doesn't handle DTS audio tracks or single VOB files. If have a DVD-ROM with random video files saved on it (AVI, MPG, WMV, MOV, etc), Handbrake won't be able to convert these files, so I got iFunia video Converter to be one of my complement, and they are really a great combination.

If Handbrake can complete the converting, you could try iFunia Video Converter.

kjl

you could always download iMovie and save it in SD format.

curly.bert

Handbrake is the job, but it's hard to look past the iMovie app. For less than a fiver, it's an amazing piece of software.

Here's what I'd do. Edit everything together on the phone in iMovie, export a HD movie, copy to a PC and then downconvert with Handbrake.

MrThrifty

Just to update folk on this, I ended up trying out around five different converters downloadable 'free' from the web. Several of these weren't really free in that they left the developer's watermark on the converted videos while another didn't have the conversion options I was looking for. I did actually find handbrake to be the best one but then ran into big trouble with it after a while. Essentially I found that with the same conversion settings, the end file size would occasionally jump all over the place depending on when you converted. E.g. I noticed this initially when an end file was 26MB which was a problem when sending it to an eircom email account and so ran the conversion again but with a lower output resolution. Bizarrely the output file size increased. I then reconverted the original file to the initial output resolution and found that the end file was now 37MB!! I viewed both output files and the resolution was the same!! I then restarted the program a few times, rebooted the PC a few times but found that really crazy stuff was happening. E.g. when I selected a crappy unusable output resolution of say 240 by whatever, the output file size would be greater than if I had selected something like 720 x whatever. Taken to the extreme of selecting an output resolution of 1x1 pixel however, the file size did reduce! I'm not an expert on video formats and the encoding process, but to me there seemed to clearly be a bug somewhere in the software. And no, I wasn't doing anything stupid like mixing up the original and converted files etc. In the end (1am in the morning!) I lost all confidence in handbrake and vowed to deal with this whole conversion problem at source (i.e. via an alternative video recorder app or maybe the iMovie app if possible!).

The Big Gig

MrThrifty wrote: »

Just to update folk on this, I ended up trying out around five different converters downloadable 'free' from the web. Several of these weren't really free in that they left the developer's watermark on the converted videos while another didn't have the conversion options I was looking for. I did actually find handbrake to be the best one but then ran into big trouble with it after a while. Essentially I found that with the same conversion settings, the end file size would occasionally jump all over the place depending on when you converted. E.g. I noticed this initially when an end file was 26MB which was a problem when sending it to an eircom email account and so ran the conversion again but with a lower output resolution. Bizarrely the output file size increased. I then reconverted the original file to the initial output resolution and found that the end file was now 37MB!! I viewed both output files and the resolution was the same!! I then restarted the program a few times, rebooted the PC a few times but found that really crazy stuff was happening. E.g. when I selected a crappy unusable output resolution of say 240 by whatever, the output file size would be greater than if I had selected something like 720 x whatever. Taken to the extreme of selecting an output resolution of 1x1 pixel however, the file size did reduce! I'm not an expert on video formats and the encoding process, but to me there seemed to clearly be a bug somewhere in the software. And no, I wasn't doing anything stupid like mixing up the original and converted files etc. In the end (1am in the morning!) I lost all confidence in handbrake and vowed to deal with this whole conversion problem at source (i.e. via an alternative video recorder app or maybe the iMovie app if possible!).

You were probably using the presets and resolution really has little effect on file size. The bitrate is the big determining factor.

curly.bert

With Handbrake you can specify a desired output file size. However if you click on any of the preset targets after setting that, it will be overridden. Seriously, Handbrake is the job.

I'd have to ask you why you want to email video around though. It's a very inefficient way to get large files around the Internet. I'd recommend setting up a dropbox account and pushing a video of decent quality to the cloud and then sending out a link. When you sign up at dropbox.com, there's a tutorial that explains how to do all of this.

Oh yeah - Dropbox is free for a basic account too!

MrThrifty

Reason I have to email is that I'm not the person who looks after the website involved and so FTP'ing etc. isn't an option.

Incidentally, thought I'd mention a good video converter that I came across after - it's at http://www.free-media-converter.com/index.html and basically appears to be more simplified than Handbrake (less options etc.). Interestingly though it has trimming options in the free version which I presume work unlike what I found to be the case with Handbrake (which would crash out when converting if you tried to trim the video).

Sticky Fingers

If you have a Mac, download Miro Video Converter from the Apple App Store. It handles and converts most file types.

McFry

Prism is pretty good, although this thread has taught me that iMovie can do file format conversion, which is great! Handbrake is also useful. http://www.nchsoftware.com/prism/index.html

Bellu

Then I think maybe a HD covnerter is what you need, turn to a HD video converter such as iFunia to do a try.
Hope good luck!