So I got my new camcorder the Canon FS100 last week and I posted up a review a couple of days ago, you should check it out. Now the footage is captured in an obscure format being .mod with not many Operating Systems or software packages reading it natively. As a mainly Mac user (especially for video) I struggled to find a way to make these non working .mod files open up in my Final Cut Express editing suite. As pointed out by Rob in the comments below if you have the latest version of iMovie 8 then you can import your videos straight from the camcorder and no conversion is required.  So if you cannot be bothered at all with all the information below you could just upgrade to iMovie 8 if your Mac supports it.  I have also included a brief Windows guide but bear in mind this is if you’re not using the supplied software.  Finally after hours of searching and scaling the world wide web I have put together this guide so basically you don’t have to.

Mac OS X Guide

First of all let me warn you, this may cost you money -- not much mind you but unless you have Final Cut Pro you probably won’t have an Mpeg 2 Playback Component installed on your Mac.  An easy way to check is to right click on the .mod file and click “get info.” Then further down rename the file with the extension .mpg -- so MOV001.mod would become MOV001.mpg.  With the file renamed open it up in Quicktime, if it works you have the component installed, if it doesn’t it means you need to buy it.  After you have checked this it would be a good idea to rename the movie file .mod to not cause any confusion.

So you need the Mpeg 2 Component? Well you need to buy it and download it from Apple’s web site http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/ For US fans it will cost $20 and for the Brits over here it costs £15. Why we have to pay more for the same digital download is beyond me.  Anyway follow the process and once that’s complete we can go onto the next step.

Now all we need to do is actually convert the file into something video editors like iMovie and Final Cut will read. By far the best software I’ve tried is Mpeg Streamclip and yes it comes at no cost. Download the software from Squared 5 at http://www.squared5.com/ Now what I love about this software most, is its ability to offer countless options of formats but also that it keeps the quality at the best possible.  I can’t stand it when I have a nice looking section of video but then have to convert it only to make it look like something from a pinhole camera.  When you have opened the video in Streamclip, go to file, export to quicktime and then choose compression of Apple DV -- PAL and drag the quality up to 100%.  These are the settings I have used for my sample videos which you can see on the Canon FS100 review blog post.  I also change the framesize to “1024 x 576″ (16:9) as I shoot in widescreen with my camcorder and this may be different with yours. The only downside to this method is there is no batch conversion so if you have a lot of video clips it will take some time to convert all the clips. DropDV is an alternate converter with a batch conversion however it seriously degrades the quality and blurs the pixels so I would advise against using it.

There it is! The files are now in the right format and (with sound) will work in Mac video editing software like iMovie or Final Cut.

Windows XP/Vista Guide

The good thing about Vista is (my Home Premium at least) that it can read .mod files out of the box in windows media player but only if you use a card reader as for some reason if I copied it through USB the computer couldn’t read them.  It might be different with you but I know it will definitely work this way at least. Once your computer can read them; Windows Movie Maker will edit them seamlessly and you can make your video. Quite simple.  However if you’re using a different video editing software like Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas you need to do some more work unfortunately.

For Windows XP/VIsta I have a solution from arthur sixpence which he commented below involving SDcopy, a tricky program to track down either google it or download a version here, it very simply changes the extension from .mod to .mpg but also sets the constraints for the wide screen format correctly for video editing software to read them.  He has already tried it successfully with my .MOD clips from the Canon FS100 review in Adobe Premiere and I believe it should work with other suites like Sony Vegas. If it works for you feel free to comment below and let us know.

For Adobe Premiere I found another good guide from Turkov here: http://eturkov.blogspot.com/2008/05/working-with-mod-files-in-adobe.html

If you have tried the SDcopy method described above and it does not work then the other option is to convert the file and I think the best option is again to use Mpeg Streamclip. Follow the instructions as above with the Mac version as the software is very similar but read these following changes first though:

• For Mpeg Streamclip to read the file you must rename the video file .mpg
• Then when you open it in Streamclip,like Mac OS X, it will ask you for the Mpeg 2 Component. But if you follow the instructions given you can use a free alternative or pay for the one from Apple.
• Once the Mpeg 2 Component is installed the video will work however instead of converting to quicktime it would be better to convert to something more windows friendly like avi.

Hopefully these converted AVIs will then work in Vegas or other video editing software with minimal quality loss. Let us know how you get on or if you have a better method by commenting below and help the community get on top of these .MOD problems.