[MEncoder-users] container conversion from WMV to MOV?

[lists at ropersonline.com]

Hi, first post to this list.

I'd like to ask how I can convert a .WMV file to .MOV _WITHOUT_  
actually transcoding the video/audio stream(s).

To explain:

- I have a .WMV file [1] that contains content encoded with an esoteric  
Windows Media Player codec [2], the TSCC codec.
- This TSCC codec (which again was originally developed for Windows  
Media Player) AFAIK is supported by MPlayer -- but only on x86  
machines. I've got an iBook running Mac OS X 10.3.8, so I can't play  
the file with MPlayer [3].
- However, there is a compatible QuickTime plugin/codec (called  
EnSharpen [4]), which can play files encoded with the TSCC codec, _as  
long as they are in the QuickTime .MOV container format_.
- I am thus looking for a way to convert the .WMV file to a .MOV  
without transcoding.

Sounds confusing?
Ok, here's what it is:

Both .WMV and .MOV are essentially container formats. They contain the  
actual raw video content, either as separate video and audio streams,  
or as one muxed audio/video stream.  (What's potentially confusing with  
.WMV is that the term "WMV" is used to both refer to the actual video  
stream inside .WMV or .ASF files and to the resulting files.)
The contained streams can be in Apple's and Microsoft's "natively"  
supported formats or they can be encoded with other codecs. In my case,  
that stream is encoded with the TCSS codec.

Now, what I want to do, I want to do a "container-level" conversion  
from the .WMV file to a .MOV file, that is I want to not touch the  
actual TSCC stream contained in the file -- so that I'm starting with a  
.WMV file containing a TSCC stream and I'm getting a .MOV file  
containing a TSCC stream. (No, simply renaming the file doesn't work,  
tried that.)
This should allow me to then play the video with QuickTime+EnSharpen.

Do people have any idea how I can do such a "container-level"  
conversion?
I could not figure it out.

Or am I taking the wrong approach and is there a different way to solve  
this challenge?

Any suggestions very appreciated.

Thanks and regards,
Jens Ropers
----
www.ropersonline.com

[1] The file is the "Introduction to using Linux" video from  
http://www.cbtnuggets.com/webapp/videos. I dumped the file to my local  
PC using
     mplayer -dumpfile intro_1.wmv -dumpstream  
mms://drm.cbtnuggets.com/freevideos/linux/intro_1.wmv
[2] The codec in question is the TSCC, the Techsmith Screen Capture  
Codec -- http://www.techsmith.com/download/tsccdefault.asp.
[3] I actually did try installing the codec on my iBook. I downloaded  
the codec _installer_ from  
http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/codec.asp and run the  
installer on a Windows box, which allowed me to find the actual codec  
file tsccvid.dll and copy that to my Mac to /usr/local/lib/win32 and  
/usr/lib/win32 (I created the directories). That didn't work however --  
and to be fair I didn't really expect it to. It seemed pretty obvious  
to me that the codec would only work on x86 and/or Windows, but I had  
to try it anyway, just because.
[4]  
http://www.techsmith.com/products/ensharpen/default.asp? 
lid=EnSharpenHome