Source format size 720x480 is confusing me?

gloubu · #1 04-07-2019, 02:22 AM

I've been asked by a friend if I could edit together there footage they shot on some cheapo camera.

So I have a source . MOD video shot straight on an SD card.

I want to convert it so I can edit it. My issue is the format size is confusing me.

In QuickTime, the inspector says the format is 720x 480 (654 x 480)
Handbrake says the format it 720x480 (853x480)
In Wondershare Video converter it says the source is 856x480
and finally in MediaInfo it says 720x 480, 16:9

What am I missing?

I guess I don't understand DV and SD... I just want to keep everything same as source but in a format I can edit. This will be going onto a DVD, I did read that the aspect ratio pixels are different on DVD vs on computer screen.

Thanks in advance.

lordsmurf · #2 04-07-2019, 02:42 AM

Most programs are really stupid when it comes to AR.
- Handbrake is stupid, probably the worst I've ever seen at correctly reading source specs.
- Quicktime is stupid
- Wondershare is not only stupid, but it octopus installs like malware, terrible software

Trust MediaInfo. It almost never screws up AR data.

The images are obvious to me as 16x9 DAR in 3x2 SAR. MediaInfo is accurate.

gloubu · #3 04-07-2019, 03:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

Most programs are really stupid when it comes to AR.
- Handbrake is stupid, probably the worst I've ever seen at correctly reading source specs.
- Quicktime is stupid
- Wondershare is not only stupid, but it octopus installs like malware, terrible software

Trust MediaInfo. It almost never screws up AR data.

The images are obvious to me as 16x9 DAR in 3x2 SAR. MediaInfo is accurate.

What is a video conversion program you trust?

lordsmurf · #4 04-07-2019, 03:44 AM

Convert what format to what format? The answer changes based on that.

gloubu · #5 04-07-2019, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

Convert what format to what format? The answer changes based on that.

Well immediately I need .MOD to MP4 or MOV

and when I get my PC running to capture VHS... I'm believe I should archive with .AVI and if I wanted to put it on DVD .AVI to MPEG?

Also if this .MOD file says it is 720x 480 in MediaInfo should I convert it to 720x 480 .mp4? I'm getting different aspect ratios after converting...

sanlyn · #6 04-07-2019, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gloubu

Well immediately I need .MOD to MP4 or MOV

and when I get my PC running to capture VHS... I'm believe I should archive with .AVI and if I wanted to put it on DVD .AVI to MPEG?

Also if this .MOD file says it is 720x 480 in MediaInfo should I convert it to 720x 480 .mp4? I'm getting different aspect ratios after converting...

Wondershare, Handbrake, QuickTime......why do people continue to be suckered into garbage like this?

720x480 is NTSC anamorphic standard-spec format for DVD and standard def BluRay. Both formats are interlaced. The display aspect ratios allowed after encoding are either 4:3 or 16:9. 720x480 is the frame format prescribed for 16:9 display video in DVD or SD-BluRay. DVD is MPEG only. BluRay can be MPEG, h.264, or VC1.

.MOD?????? Why?

The quality standard for VHS capture is lossless capture in YUY2 color to AVI media using lossless high-speed compressors such as Huffyuv or Lagarith. For most post-process and restoration purposes VHS is captured to 720x480 frames with uncompressed PCM audio. Don't capture to lossy MPEG or other lossy codecs if you intend to modify the images, as this would be a serious quality hit. After editing or other modification encode the video to MPEG2 for DVD, with AC3 (Dolby) audio.

You've posted several mistakes here. You cannot use MP4 containers for DVD or BluRay. The file container for MPEG video has the same file name (.mpg or .mpeg). The file container for authored DVD is .VOB. The file container for BluRay is m2ts or similar naming depending on the BluRay encoding and authoring program. 1080p30 is not valid for Bluray. And VHS blown up to HD frames looks pretty crappy and is the sure sign of a newbie.

If you're going to take on video work for friends or clients, you owe it to them to find out what you're doing and to be familiar with standard delivery formats.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

Trust MediaInfo. It almost never screws up AR data.

The images are obvious to me as 16x9 DAR in 4x3 SAR. MediaInfo is accurate.

MediaInfo is correct, but your SAR is not. 720x480 is a 3:2 SAR (Storage Aspect Ratio), not 4:3. The video's DAR (Display Aspect Ratio) is 16:9.

hodgey · #7 04-07-2019, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanlyn

Wondershare ......why do people continue to be suckered into garbage like this?

Wondershare SEO spam google and forums, so if someone googles convert x to x or searches app store for video converter that (or one of their other rebrands) tend to show up high in the result.

Granted I don't know how it's even allowed on the app store since they seem to violate the licenses of ffmpeg, x264 and other software.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanlyn

.MOD?????? Why?

Presumably from an older camera using SD cards as storage, some of them store video as mpeg2 .mod files for whatever reason.

Just for viewing they can probably be converted losslessly (e.g without re-encoding adding additional compression artifacts) to mp4 file. .mp4 and .mod are "container" formats, like a box that can contain different things, in this case a video and an audio stream. A .mp4 file can contain the video and audio format that is in the mod files, so converting losslessly from .mod to .mp4 would basically be like putting it in a different box.

I don't think either of handbrake, wondershare or quicktime can losslessly convert stuff. They will re-encode the video and add additional compression artifacts. Whatever program you used in your second post seems to not have respected the aspect ratio of the video, and also significantly reduced the quality judging by the mediainfo screenshot. Instead you can use e.g avidemux. To avoid re-encoding the video select copy under video output and audio output. Runs without issues on macos.

Alternatively, if you are comfortable with the command line, you can download and run ffmpeg in a terminal like so:

Code:

./ffmpeg -i file.mod -c copy file.mp4

Preparing for DVD will be a bit different, as you may need to re-encode the video and you will need a program to create the DVD structure. They may or may not already be encoded to be DVD-compatible too but it's hard to tell from a screenshot, if so one may also be able to put them on a DVD without re-encoding. DVDStyler is one free option, that let's you put it on a DVD without re-encoding if it's compatible. Others here may have other suggestions.