Video Conversion
Because we are also planning purchasing the Kodak zi8 for work, I have been spending a little more time working on technical things than a Saturday should allow. Until I am fortunate enough to be given a MAC at work (working on it), editing the .mov files from the Kodak zi8 will require some work. I am limited by what my work PC can do. So, I am attempting to find a work around that will enable me to work on the videos with what software I have available to me or that is free. Since the software that comes with the camera is limited to only using the ArcSoft codecs, I need something else. Basically that means Windows Media Maker. For those video editors out there, I will wait for you to recover. I know, it is rough, but like I said, I’m working on it. If you are looking at a Kodak Zi8 and using a PC, there is hope. Here’s what I have ended up with.
So, we must convert the .mov file to something Windows Media Maker will accept. I was able to find a free piece of software that will convert to an AVI and still allow me to adjust the settings to keep some semblance of quality. What I found was the Pazera Free MOV to AVI Converter. No installation is necessary. Just unzip to a folder and run the movtoavi.exe file.
Within Pazera I changed the profile to the settings below (a sample) and saved them as Kodak zi8.ini for future use. The result was an .avi file that looked good and worked in Windows Media Maker 5.1. You can check the attributes of your file and edit the profile to match them. I hope this helps someone else. I was quite elated to find such a simple solution that still gives me the video quality I desire.
Output File Format: AVI
Video Options:
Video codec: WMV version 2 (WMP
Bitrate: 8089 kbit/s
FPS: 60
Audio Settings:
Audio codec: WMA v2 - Windows Media Audio 2
Bitrate: 732 kbit/s
Sampling freq: 48000 Hz
Channels: 2 - Stereo
Volume: 101%
Resolution: 1280 x 720 HD720
** Cross Posted from miftik.com **