.mod files

[shmendrapolk]

I'm considering buying the Canon FS-200 flash memory camcorder (to be released next week, similar specs to last years Canon fs-100). The mpeg-2 files it produces have a .mod extension. I've been trying to research how universal these files are & I was able to find a sample to download.

So here's the issue:

-.mod files won't play on my Vista 64-bit machine in either Window's MP or VLC 9which seems to work for most everything).
-I can import them to Pinnacle 12 & they seem to render fine
-Adobe Premiere Elements squishes the 16:9 aspect ration to 4:3

People in various forums have suggested changing the extension to .mpg. I tried that. This is what happened:

-They can play with most media players & open up with Pinnacle and Adobe. However, the 16:9 aspect ratio is squished to 4:3.

Does anybody know what I can do so I will be able to play and edit them as I would with any standard mpg or avi files?
I don't mind doing batch conversions, so long as there isn't any degradation in quality.

Thanks!

[setarip_old]

Hi!People in various forums have suggested changing the extension to .mpgI may be mistaken but, I seem to remember some post stating that the file extension should be changed to ".MOV" (Apple format)...

[shmendrapolk]

Hi!I may be mistaken but, I seem to remember some post stating that the file extension should be changed to ".MOV" (Apple format)...

I'm pretty sure not - because Mac users seem to be having more problems than PC users. On the PC .mov is much less user friendly than .mpg. Pinnacle 12 is the first version of Pinnacle to offer support for it. Adobe Premiere elements doesn't support it. Plus I just tried & it still squishes is to 4:3.

I can't believe how choosing a camcorder has turned into such a stressful activity.

[Inspector.Gadget]

Drop one into MediaInfoGUI and paste the "Text" view output into this thread in a codebox.

[shmendrapolk]

I may have found a solution: see this thread

http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7813_102-0.html?messageID=3021501&tag=commProfileMain;profileBot#3021501#3021501
Hi

"All camcorders from Panasonic,JVC or Canon that write mpeg2 files onto Harddisk or SDcard as .MOD files do not set the 16:9 widescreen flag inside the mpeg2 sequence headers. Instead they write the information whether the recording was done in 16:9 or 4:3 in the corresponding .MOI file. Unfortunately most sw packages do not evaluate the MOI files that's why 16:9 videos are recognized as 4:3.
I have written a small tool SDcopy that can correct that problem by patching the headers of the MOD files without lowering the video quality. You can download it from here:
http://zyvid.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=280.0;id=219
Regards
Sektionschef"