Extract video from asf and wmv

[Shinjite]

Hi guys, what would be the best program to extract video streams from an .asf file or a .wmv file

Suggestions would be gladly appreciated. Thank you :)

[Guest]

...what would be the best program... Please read and follow forum rules, specifically, rule 12: do not ask what's best. Thank you.

http://forum.doom9.org/forum-rules.htm

[zambelli]

Extract in what way? What's your destination format?

[Shinjite]

Please read and follow forum rules, specifically, rule 12: do not ask what's best. Thank you.

http://forum.doom9.org/forum-rules.htm

Oops sorry didn't read the forum rules, just wanna know how should I extract the video out thats all :)

zambelli : Common formats like avi and etc

[robU*4]

If your audio or video tracks are WMA or WMV there are not many other containers that will be able to handle it.

You might try FFMPEG or VLC they can both handle ASF. You might also try DrDivX that will transcode it to DivX :D

[Dark-Cracker]

hi,

you can also try the latest version of virtualdub-mpeg2 who support asf and wmv file for input.

++

[zambelli]

If your audio or video tracks are WMA or WMV there are not many other containers that will be able to handle it.
Any technical reason why they couldn't be stored in MKV?

VC-1 is container/transport independent so I'd think it should be possible, especially with a flexible format like Matroska.

[foxyshadis]

Well, a lot of the "raw" tv/dvb captures floating around japanese p2p are wmv-in-mkv (sometimes vfr, even). It seems to be almost as popular as xvid and a lot more popular than straight wmv. I think it's done via the vfw mode, though, rather than a native storage.

[Shinjite]

now having a problem with VFR wmv files...,,
wmv is sure anoying indeed

[zambelli]

Shinjite, you still haven't really explained what you're trying to do and how you're trying to do it.

[awx]

I have an ASF file of a music concert that plays fine but doesn't allow jumping around, FF or Rewinding. I've been meaning to ask if there's a way to get the video into a container that supports "random access". Are there any apps that can rewrite this video into a more convienent format without reencoding?

Properties page of WMP shows this:
Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec V3
Windows Media Audio V2, 20 kbps, 32 kHz, mono

[setarip_old]

@awx

Hi!

If I remember correctly, Microsoft makes available an "ASF Indexer" tool as part of one of its Windows Media toolkits (v.9, if I remember correctly)...

[awx]

The "Windows Media File Editor" from the WM9 Encoder package will open the file but when I try to "Save as and index" it always brings up a dialog box saying the save failed. The file exists and plays but with all seeking disabled, just like the original.

Am I using the correct tool for this?

[Shinjite]

Shinjite, you still haven't really explained what you're trying to do and how you're trying to do it.


I am trying to extract out the video and make it into an avi file
I tried some suggestions here like the VDub-MPEG2, it supports wmv and asf but 1 thing is the wmv is in VFR so no luck on that

So in the end, I make it into a mkv file and use mkv2vfr to get it out and everything solved :)

[XmSurfer]

I have an ASF file of a music concert that plays fine but doesn't allow jumping around, FF or Rewinding. I've been meaning to ask if there's a way to get the video into a container that supports "random access". Are there any apps that can rewrite this video into a more convienent format without reencoding?

Properties page of WMP shows this:
Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec V3
Windows Media Audio V2, 20 kbps, 32 kHz, mono

Have you tried asfindexgui? I would give a link but I don't know the status of the software. Search google for it. Also, transmuxing the asf file to Matroska using Gabest's Matroska Muxer (http://sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli/) fixes most unseekable asf files for me.

[awx]

Have you tried asfindexgui?
No I hadn't tried or even heard of that app before. But it worked great. Oddly the file even shrunk by about 1% (over 1 MB) in size. Thanks.

Also, is it safe to rename an .asf file to .wmv?

[XmSurfer]

Also, is it safe to rename an .asf file to .wmv?

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/format/robust.aspx

And

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q284094/

Short Answer: Yes

[zambelli]

So in the end, I make it into a mkv file and use mkv2vfr to get it out and everything solved :)
Oh, good. Somebody should just make direct asf2mkv and mkv2asf tools. The two formats support similar features - the conversion should be pretty straightforward.

[DarkZell666]

Microsoft MPEG-4 Video Codec V3
... this isn't wmv9 ... it's Microsoft's very old MPEG-4 implementation (from which DivX ;-) derived :/), it's MPEG4-ASP compatible (or almost) like XviD.

The file might be .wmv but it's only a container x]

Using vdub-mpeg2 as suggested seems to be the best idea (I'll have to try that myself :p), you could then do a direct stream copy into an avi (and use mkvtoolnix to mux the avi contents in an mkv if you need to lol).

[awx]

... this isn't wmv9 ... it's Microsoft's very old MPEG-4 implementation (from which DivX ;-) derived :/), it's MPEG4-ASP compatible (or almost) like XviD.

The file might be .wmv but it's only a container
DarkZell666, are you saying this file would be better left with an .asf extension? Does it matter?

Does .wmv imply the file contains wmv9?

[robU*4]

Any technical reason why they couldn't be stored in MKV?

VC-1 is container/transport independent so I'd think it should be possible, especially with a flexible format like Matroska.

The problem is not technical but legal. Given VirtualDub had to remove ASF support for legal reason, we never bothered adding ASF support.

Now if you can confirm we can add ASF read support (and maybe write) in mkvtoolnix, we'll be happy to support it. Especially since VC-1 should become more and more popular, as well as DVR-MS.

[GodofaGap]

It is not legal to make ASF part of mkvtoolnix. Section 2f of the EULA of the ASF specifaction (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/format/asfspec.aspx):
(f) For a variety of reasons, including without limitation, because you do not have the right to sublicense the Necessary Claims, your license rights to the Specification are conditioned upon your not creating or distributing your Implementations in any manner that would cause ASF (whether embodied in your Implementation or otherwise) to become subject to any of the terms of an Excluded License. An “Excluded License” is any license that requires as a condition of use, modification and/or distribution of software subject to the Excluded License, that such software or other software combined and/or distributed with such software be (x) disclosed or distributed in source code form; (y) licensed for the purpose of making derivative works; or (z) redistributable at no charge;
So (x) mkvtoolnix couldn't be distributed in source-code form anymore and (y) be used for peoples own software. (z) No one would be allowed to redistribute mkvtoolnix. These three things are incompatible with the current license of mkvtoolnix (GPL).

The only way you (or Mosu) could add ASF support is by making a special closed-sourced 'ASF'-version of the tool. But this requires re-licensing of mkvtoolnix and if someone outside of the normal developers has made a significant contribution to it (something like a file parser or writer) or when mkvtoolnix took code from other GPL projects, this is illegal without the permission of the original authors.

Extracting a VC-1 stream from most other containers should not prove to be a problem though.

[zambelli]

The only way you (or Mosu) could add ASF support is by making a special closed-sourced 'ASF'-version of the tool. But this requires re-licensing of mkvtoolnix and if someone outside of the normal developers has made a significant contribution to it (something like a file parser or writer) or when mkvtoolnix took code from other GPL projects, this is illegal without the permission of the original authors.
Extracting a VC-1 stream from most other containers should not prove to be a problem though.
Would it be possible to leverage WMF SDK or DirectShow (ASF Reader filter) to extract the video stream? I think that would bypass the MS EULA vs GPL conflict since that method would rely on an already implemented ASF parser.

[GodofaGap]

The format SDK has the same clause in the EULA. Besides that, finding only a Windows solution for the problem is not very satisfying for a multi-platform tool.

[zambelli]

The format SDK has the same clause in the EULA.
Are you sure? The Format SDK has this clause:
(h) Your license rights to the Redistributable Software do not include the right to, and You shall not, distribute the Redistributable Software or derivative works thereof in any manner that would subject the Redistributable Software to any terms of an Excluded License. An “Excluded License” is any license that requires as a condition of use, modification and/or distribution of software subject to the Excluded License, that such software or other software combined and/or distributed with such software be (x) disclosed or distributed in source code form; (y) licensed for the purpose of making derivative works; or (z) redistributable at no charge.
This seems to be a restriction on redistribution of the Format SDK - not on the implementation.

[GodofaGap]

It seems you are right, although it would still be a windows-centric solution.

[bond]

SMPTE defines how to store vc-1 in .mpg and .ts, so somehow you could say those are vc-1's "native" containers

[GodofaGap]

I don't see what that has to do with anything discussed here... and if SMPTE has defined how to store VC1 in MPEG and TS then it means just that. I think no specific container is specified in the VC1 specification itself, which is the only thing to be looked at regarding such things.

[layer3maniac]

It seems you are right, although it would still be a windows-centric solution. A "windows-centric" solution is better than no solution at all, IMHO.

[GodofaGap]

A "windows-centric" solution is better than no solution at all, IMHO.
Perhaps... but who will write it if the main developer does not have a lot of time to begin with and does not use Windows on a regular basis? IMO supporting another format should be made easy, not difficult, but it seems this is exactly what Microsoft is doing.

[Shinjite]

... this isn't wmv9 ... it's Microsoft's very old MPEG-4 implementation (from which DivX ;-) derived :/), it's MPEG4-ASP compatible (or almost) like XviD.

The file might be .wmv but it's only a container x]

Using vdub-mpeg2 as suggested seems to be the best idea (I'll have to try that myself :p), you could then do a direct stream copy into an avi (and use mkvtoolnix to mux the avi contents in an mkv if you need to lol).


It would be troublesome if the file is in VFR :)
VDub-mpeg2 straights away cfr the file >.>

[bond]

I don't see what that has to do with anything discussed here... and if SMPTE has defined how to store VC1 in MPEG and TS then it means just that. I think no specific container is specified in the VC1 specification itself, which is the only thing to be looked at regarding such things.no video encoding format spec also defines a container... so what? there is still the consensus that eg the native container for mpeg-2 video streams is mpg-ps or ts just because the creators of the mpeg-2 video coding format also specified a container to store the streams

[GodofaGap]

And? The creators of VC1 specified AVI and ASF, so those are the native containers for VC1 then? I never heard anyone talking about "native containers" besides here. Well, believe Xiph wants to makes us believe we can only use Vorbis in Ogg... but that's about it.

It still doesn't have anything to do with the topic, though.

[zambelli]

GodofaGap is right. VC-1 is defined as a transport-independent and container-independent codec. SMPTE has published guidelines for storing VC-1 in MPEG-TS merely because MPEG-TS is commonly used in digital broadcasts. Beyond that - there really is no "native" container format.

[bond]

well its the same situation as with avc. mpeg defines how to store avc in mp4/mpg/ts, (of course you are not forced to use them...)
in my view that makes those containers the "native" containers for avc