I have an HD video camera that records in MOV (very frustrating). I also have some other movies from a variety of sources (which shall remain nameless) in a variety of formats, none of which will work with my media streamer (LG BD390). What is the simplest and fastest way to convert these files? Some suggestions for software, settings, etc, to maintain the HD quality would be very useful. Also, if I have a choice between Divx, mp4 or mkv (BD390 compatible formats), which would be the best for quality and versatility?

I am a newbie to this, and I am not quite sure of the difference between the container and the codec, etc, so also a pointer to a good primer would be useful.

Thanks!

MP4 or MKV would do the if you encode the video to AVC (h264).

Great, thanks! The spec sheet says that the BD390 can handle "MPEG4 AVC, HP@L4.1", so I think that is what you are referring to. Would you (or anyone) have any software recommendations for doing such a conversion?

I am also considering using Cyberlink's Power Director to edit some of the home videos, and I suppose I can just set the output the mpeg4 AVC for those.

I have an HD video camera that records in MOV (very frustrating). I also have some other movies from a variety of sources (which shall remain nameless) in a variety of formats, none of which will work with my media streamer (LG BD390). What is the simplest and fastest way to convert these files? Some suggestions for software, settings, etc, to maintain the HD quality would be very useful. Also, if I have a choice between Divx, mp4 or mkv (BD390 compatible formats), which would be the best for quality and versatility?

I am a newbie to this, and I am not quite sure of the difference between the container and the codec, etc, so also a pointer to a good primer would be useful.

Thanks!

Try using MeGUI with x264 for encoding in AVC at High Profile/Level 4.1. (However, MeGui can be difficult to use at first so you would probably need to follow a guide for AviSynth scripts as well) Also, you can check the codec details (and sometimes even change the level) with TsMuxer. Movies in AVC from "nameless sources" are often encoded in level 5.1, probably because the encoder assumed that the bigger number is better and didn't think about compatibility.

Thanks I will definitely try that out!! I think the BD390 handles that if it is run off a USB drive.

I'm partial to Nero Recode 3 myself. Really easy to use with predefined profile.

Xvid4PSP

http://www.winnydows.com/page.php?2

I have tried multiple programs, this one's hands down the easiest to use, and gives great results to boot.