An ongoing problem when using Flip Mino’s, Kodak Zi8′s and Creative Vado type camcorders is that when editing the footage from these HD cams computers have a tendency to implode and become reduced to a smoking pile of rubble.
Ok, maybe that’s exaggerating but let’s face it, MP4 or H.264 video files can still be a royal pain in the butt to deal with.
There can be any number of reason for this, from conflicts with other processes running in the background on the computer to insufficient resources available.
But even after addressing these issues some people still have problems regardless of the software they are using.
The root cause of the problem really is that these cams record in MP4 (H.264 .mov etc) and it just seems to be the nature of these files to be problematic. Remember, they were developed as distribution formats, not editing formats. So the very structure of the files and the way they achieve their compression is working against you from the start.
Combine all of the above with footage that has been produced on a cam that is as tiny as these and there is ample opportunity for error. In fact one of the main sources of error is in tiny corruptions of the original video file. This type of corruption does not interfere with playback but does make editing a nightmare because when the editing software is trying to do its thing it hits these tiny errors and chokes.
If you have had problems with this type of file in the past and have done most of the stuff listed on these pages for video editing computer maintenance then there is still hope!
You can use a free video conversion software called Handbrake to process the files and in doing so it will correct any internal errors (especially time codes) and maintain the quality of your footage. Hopefully after that you can edit with ease.
Go to www.handbrake.fr to get a copy of the software and install it.
Open the software and use the “Source” button to navigate to the files you want to correct.
Next look for the “Destination” button and use that to select where you want the processed files to go.
Underneath those you will see a series of tabs. Select the “Video” tab, look to the right and you will see a slider control that has some radio buttons. Select “Constant Quality” and the slider will become active.
Move the slider to about 70%. There is no quality advantage in going higher than that, just choose 70% and your file will retain original quality.
That’s it! Even though there are numerous other settings the beauty of Handbrake is that all the defaults are just fine for this purpose.
Finally hit the “Start” button top left of the window and let it run.
When it has finished load the newly processed MP4 files into your editor of choice and you are all set.
