First came Sony with their ridiculous proprietary Memory Stick. Now JVC is using the .MOD format for their HDD movie cameras. I have the JCV Everio GZ-MG130U. I like the camera but using the files is HORRIBLE. First they tell me that I have to buy some $20 MPEG-2 thing from Apple.
I don’t want to spend $20 to convert movie files into something usable so I’m searching high and low to find something. I bought found QuickTime Pro, but that isn’t helping.
UPDATE: Here is a quick how to convert your .mod files to just about any format for FREE!
1. Download ffmpegX (download).
2. Download necessary files. ffmpegX will prompt you and give you the links to the necessary files. I won’t link directly to the downloads incase they change.
3. Put Files (3 total) into a folder.
4. Select location of the files in the ffmpegX window.
5. Drop .MOD into ffmpegX.
6. Select desired format. Usually .MOV or .MP4.
7. Click “Encode”.
8. New file will be where the original file was.
That’s it! Like screenshots? Check out my 1334 Comic Life skillz.
Brandon, by the following statement I mean no offense since I really enjoy reading your blog. Having that said; Your posts relating to SEM and other types of marketing are amazing, but by writing to a digg crowd (a trend I’ve been seeing lately here, please correct me if I’m wrong) I believe you are losing your precious subscribers (like my self) who value your work and would consider purchasing what you endorse (unlike a stupid 14 year old digger with no life what so ever)
Brandon, screw digg, you don’t need them and they don’t deserve you! Go after the foxes and leave the dogs. Sincerely…
/some Muslim dude
Adam, sometimes it’s difficult to strike a balance between good content and interesting content. This particular post wasn’t necessarily for Digg, but that’s a good idea. It was meant for people struggling to find a way to convert mod files without having to pay for a simple fix.
I do agree with you that one needs to balance between the “starving masses” and the linkerati. I assumed the post was “diggy” like but I was apparently wrong. Anyhow, keep up the good stuff Brandon…
(PS, thnx for the e-mail. I may have not commented before but I’ve been reading this blog a lot ever since you posted “the great link bait about getting links” or as they say; “long time viewer, first time caller”)
You said download necessary files. I don’t know what that means?
And I downloaded the fuke but it is .dmg which apparently doesn’t open. Please help.
Muz, when you first start the program it will tell you what files you need to download. It even gives you direct links to those files. Start it up and you’ll see what I mean.
I downloaded ffmpegx and got it to the stage where i can drag and drop files into source format. Problem is, when I drop a .mod file it says it is “unrecognized”. How do I solve this problem? Help!
Emjay, is there a chance that it isn’t actually a .mod file? I haven’t had that problem at all. Maybe try reinstalling ffmpeg x.
It seems the files you recommended is for MAC. Any thing that I can with windows?
Kevin, I’m sure there are, but since I use a Mac I don’t know what windows programs would be helpful.
Brandon excellent work on this as for the “unrecognised format” problem I just renamed the .mod to .mpg then dropped them in and all worked well!!
Thanks for this site everything worked perfect with converting my MOD files.
I am using the jvc gz-mg130u 30gig hdd camcorder. The software included with the camera will not burn the .mod files from the camera onto a dvd.I have tried the little trick of changing the file extension from .mod to .mpg, .mpeg, and i get the files to be able to play with sound on the windows media player but the picture quality is degraded. Also the software that comes with the camera will not see the newly retagged vidclips. the software is power cinema ne for everio, powerproducer 3 ne, powerdirector 5 ne express.I just want to be able to create a dvd of my film footages and am stopped at every turn. I am getting ready to throw my brand new cam in the garbage and start bad-mouthing JVC to anyone who will listen. Any ideas? any help appreciated.
PS- I am using windows xp pro with 2 gigs ddr 667, amd 64 3000 fx. a 250 gig HD and an ati 1650pro 512meg pcie vid card.
Brandon, your tip is really useful, specially for who don’t live in one of the 25 countries (US already included) covered by Apple Store’s site. Due to unknow reason we can’t purchase the QuickTime-pro no matter you have international credit card, visa cash-passport or else. Thanks.
I have been searching and searching for a program and this worked like a charm thanks a lot
Iverio – the software also costs $20…
Hi, thank you so much for this. Been looking around for a FREE way to convert my JVC movie files then burn them raw to a DVD. I do NOT need/want to edit those movies at all. So I have a question, I am new to Macs so humor me if this sounds stupid but do you know how I could burn my movies to a DVD-Video playable in a DVD player?
JVC GZ-MG130U (30GB)
Macbook
2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Mac OS X v10.4.11
Joseph, have you tried iDVD that comes with OSX? It’s in your applications folder. That’s the only DVD burning software I’ve used.
THANK YOU
THANK YOU!
You have found the solution to my problem!
Hey there, thanks for the post… I’ve typically used CyberLink to convert my files. Here are some good instructions on how to Convert MOD Files to different file formats.
iDVD is not soemthing I’ve used before, has anyone had success burning with Nero?
Worked great! Thanks!
Brandon,
I’ve read all the posts and my problem is that I do not hear any sound. I have completely downloaded the software, along with its recommendations. Any advice. I have a panasonic HDD. The files I get are .mod .moi and .pgi
I dragged the .mod file and encoded as .mov mpeg4 and .mp4 mpeg4. I get the movie and still no sound. I NEED HELP!
THANKS!
Brandon,
I figured it out! Whewwww! I guess when you press play up in the right hand corner of the the downloading prompt, it only plays the video.
I got it working though! I used it in garageband, imovie, itunes. Works great!
Thanks for the software. Works like a charm: Lucky Charms!
Diaz
heya, this worked great except the vids have no sound now;( what am i messing up?
Thanks
Thank God for people who actually put usefull things on the internet. Things that will not empty your wallet instantly.
Thanks a lot, Brandon!
I had the same problem than Emjay with “unrecognized”, as recommended I renamed it into mpg and then proceeded with the encoding.
When I try to open the new file (mp4), I get “the movie could not be opened An invalid sample description was found in the movie.”
any clue on how I could resolve this?
Downloaded as instructed, moved three items into folder & “located” them, dropped .MOD into box, selected MOV for conversion, hit Encode and got a new box opened “Choose Application” and “Where is Progress.app?” …….
What? not mentioned in your instructions nor a error? Any thoughts?
Sorry, shouted too soon, took a guess & opted for Windows Media Player (? why), hit Encode and it did! Clicked on new item and it oopened – not in Windows Media, but Quicktime! Great bit of software – Cheers, John
Using the JCV Everio GZ-MG130U I tried my fist conversion and it did work in Windows media Player however how do you get all the files that are created to play in one complete video.
When pressing the stop and go recording button it creates mulitple files but for actually one specific video? After converting them all I click on one and it only plays just the one. I want to watch the whole video as a whole. Any Ideas ?
Any recommendations on a good converter for people who don’t own a Mac?
Brandon, I’m fairly new to this level of computerdom. I got 2 out of the three downloads to work. (the “locate” thing”). However, I pasted the first url, and it just takes me to a site with nothing but code. The second link immediately downloaded for me (both the mencoder and the mplayer, same link).
Am I doing something wrong with the other link?
Here is what I’m pasting: you’ll see what I mean.
http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/MacOS/mpeg2enc.intel
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.
Brad