Converting movies from PC to Mac

I got a bunch of video in .avi and .wmv format. How can i play video and edit in Quicktime ?

I downloaded VLC, since that is the only way i can get it to work. I thought with switching to Mac, i could cut down on my 3rd party apps.

Please Help !!! I got a ton of questions ... kind of miss my PC ... wish i had converted sooner

Ntenze said:

...i could cut down on my 3rd party apps.

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This may be true...but you can't start counting until after you've completely converted.

Ntenze said:

... kind of miss my PC ... wish i had converted sooner

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This is sort of an odd statement. How can you say "miss my PC" and "wish I had converted sooner" in the same statement.

It's sort of like being an optimist & a pessimist in the same statement!

- Nick

Handbrake should do the job for you.

Sometimes it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks ... been using a PC for over 10 years, Got my MBP about 10 days ago , completely lost now. Don't intend to quit though, have had the Iphone since the beginning.

Thanks vansmith for the reply ..

Is there a way quicktime can do it, though ?

If i upgrade to pro will it provide editing and converting avi and wmv files ?

Not that I know of. Why not just use Handbrake to do the conversions and then uninstall it when you're done?

Ntenze said:

Thanks vansmith for the reply ..

Is there a way quicktime can do it, though ?

If i upgrade to pro will it provide editing and converting avi and wmv files ?

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No. Quicktime is a player, not a converter. If you want to convert from other formats, you'll need something like Handbrake. You can also install Perian, which expands the types of formats Quicktime can play.

Another options is Microsoft's Flip4Mac, which plays WMV files in Quicktime.

Thanks guys ... i will check out handbrake ... i already tried flip4mac , doesnt work for me, maybe i got something set up wrong.

I thought i read something about handbrake no longer being about to read avi files ?

Ntenze said:

Thanks guys ... i will check out handbrake ... i already tried flip4mac , doesnt work for me, maybe i got something set up wrong.

I thought i read something about handbrake no longer being about to read avi files ?

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Make sure you install Perian as well, they don't call it "The Swiss Army Knife of Quicktime components" for nothing.

AVI isn't a codec, it's a container for other codecs. So, it's possible that Handbrake might not support some of the codecs that an AVI file can contain. But I can tell you that I've used it on dozens and it has yet to fail me.

What's wrong with using 3rd party apps? I never use QuickTime. To be honest, don't like it much in general.. but that's just me. I do use VLC however. And as suggested, Perian will enable QT to play those formats which won't play natively. This practice isn't any different from having to install codec packs in Windows so that WMP can play files not native to it.

Using a converter is going to be a real crutch if all you want to do is watch movies on your Mac. In the amount of time it takes to convert, you could have watched a movie already! There are some really great third party apps for OS X in general, you shouldn't be afraid to explore all of your options.

Doug

Here's a list of Handbrake's supported input and output formats. AVI is supported but as noted by cwa107, this doesn't mean that all AVI files will work since various codecs can be used with the AVI container.

Thanks for all the reply's ... Handbrake does the trick, ...

Doug - I'm still learning :Smirk

Flip4mac Pro will do the job.. but it costs about $30. I have used it in the past when I was doing a lot of video sharing with Windows only people and it worked well. I was importing .wmv right into imovie and exporting from quicktime back into .wmv. I'm assuming .avi would be just as simple...