Trouble with .TOD videos and JVC HD Video Camera

March 19, 2008 3:39 AM

I have a JVC GZ-HD7 Everio HD Camera and I’m having some trouble using the video. I download the video from the camera and it looks great however to use it anywhere requires me to convert it. I’ve tried Camtasia, Sony Vegas 7, Quicktime Pro, several converters like Kingdia and Cucusoft. The end result is always a video that looks like it was shot with a $10 video camera. Is there someway to get the .TOD videos in a usable format that maintains its quality, so I can edit them and create final videos. A tool that would also allow me to letterbox or crop the 16:9 to 4:3. Thanks so much for your time. Have a great one.
posted by JohnGL to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

I don't have a particularly discerning eye for these things, but ffmpeg (or ffmpegx if you're on a mac) was able to convert TOD to all sorts of things for me. I was able to set the aspect ratio I wanted (I don't know about cropping, though), do all sorts of things to audio that I didn't understand, and the de-interlacing filter works really well. I have a JVC standard def camcorder, though, so I don't know how well it works for HD. I know I'm not posting a link; I don't really understand the way this sort of open-source software is hosted. Here's the wikipedia page.
posted by chelseagirl at 6:50 AM on March 19, 2008

Are you importing footage into an editing package? What about the one that comes with the camera?

"Working with 1440 CBR footage relatively straightforward, and it is compatible wtih many NLEs according to JVC, including Windows Vista Movie Maker HD, Apple iMovie HD and Final Cut Pro 5, Ulead Video Studio (Ver. 10), CANOPUS Edius Pro 4, Cyberlink PowerProducer 3 and PowerDirector 5, Pinnacle Studio (ver. 10), and Nero Vision (Ver. 4)."

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/content/JVC-GZ-HD7-Camcorder-Review/Format.htm
posted by kamelhoecker at 8:57 AM on March 19, 2008

Update: You can crop with ffmpeg.
posted by chelseagirl at 2:40 PM on March 22, 2008