Tuesday 30 December 2008

Panasonic SDR-S7, take Two!!

Well so much for getting a better video editing program. I tried to edit some video files from the SDR-S7 on a mates PC running Adobe Premiere and it wouldn't open the files. After further investigation it seems that Panasonic (and a few others inc JVC) while recording mpeg2 actually compress it and save as an .mod file which most 3rd party editing software can't read. As far as I can tell most Cardcams and HDDcams save as .mod and while there are ways to work around (changing the file association from .mod to .mpeg) there are one or two issues. I don't fancy having to rename a folder full of clips one at a time so it looks like I'm stuck with using the supplied editing software. No big deal I suppose given the intended use but it would have been nice if they had made it clear that although the camera can record mpeg it actually saves them as something else.

I did find one editing program that looks like it can handle .mod files but sod's law comes into play as it doesn't display Panasonic SDR-S7 file properly if you've shot in 16:9 format as Panasonic uses a non-standard 704 x 576 frame rather than the standard (IIRC) 720 x 576.

The program is Cyberlink's Power Director, there's a review of the software Here
at

4 comments:

  1. Killian8 January 2009 at 07:48

    I believe sdcopy.exe freeware can convert .mod to Mpeg2 and fix the wide screen glitch. Intend to try it tonight.

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  2. Mac E9 January 2009 at 00:23

    Hi Len66, thanks for the info, I'll have to investigate.

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  3. Dhaval Momaya19 January 2009 at 04:40

    If you're on Windows then you can use a DOS terminal to easily rename a folder full of .xyz to .abc

    Just hit the windows key + R and type "cmd" in the run dialog that you get. A DOS prompt will open up. Navigate to the folder that contains your mod files (type "E:" for eg., to switch to the E: drive. then navigate to the folder where the files are at, eg., if my files are in E:\videocap\project1 then I'd type "cd videocap\project1" and hit enter). Once you're in the folder with the files to be renamed, just type in "ren *.mod *.mpg" and voila!

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  4. kr0hm19 January 2010 at 02:54

    Old post comment sorry...
    Stumbled on your blog trough google when seching for info on the sdr-s7
    Don't know if you found a good solution but there is MPEG Streamclip from Squared 5. Freeware for mac/pc.

    http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-win.html

    read the requirement for windows before install.
    it can convert .mod and many other imput format.
    Worked great for me.

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