[FFmpeg-user] Convert MOV to some lossless format.

[Peter B.]

A Commuter wrote:
> Can't seem to get the video part of the .avi file (Peter's suggestion) to show on my system or my digital media player. This is odd because both of these devices play most formats. The codec is apparently avc1 and ffdshow does pop into the Task Bar when the file is opened, but still only audio. I would like an AVI format as well to keep on my media player.
>   
Strange that you can't playback the AVI, as h264 for video is quite
common these days.
Especially, if you've been able to playback the .mov before. hm...
Which player are you using?


> Tim's suggestion for a DVD does work and the output file size is much larger than the first time I tried, but the aspect is off.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think the default for "-target pal-dvd" is to
use 4:3.
Quoting a webpage I've just found [1], you might be able to use the
argument "-aspect 16:9" in your case:

ffmpeg -i in.mov -target pal-dvd -aspect 16:9 out.mpg

>  Looks like 4:3 instead of 16:9. Can a DVD format file still retain 100% quality or will it always be compressed? 
As you have to convert from h264 to MPEG (lossy) for using it in a DVD
player, there is no way of not losing "some" quality. However, the
higher the bitrate-value you choose for encoding the MPEG, the better
the quality.


Pb

== References:
[1] http://www.catswhocode.com/blog/19-ffmpeg-commands-for-all-needs