Cloning a Panasonic .MOV file

[willcrockett]

Hey Phil!
Will Crockett here, the guy from ShootSmarter.com.  Been a fan of your work for years, thanks for the info in editing data on photo files.  I've run into a roadblock on a project for a client.  We need to get a Panasonic Lumix camera to play a video we edited in an external editor. I can shoot a fresh .MOV file on the camera, edit that .MOV file (in Final Cut / Premier...) and export it in the same CODEC and specs as the original and the camera will not recognize the file.  There's a CACHE.DAT file that gets updated with the metadata of the .MOV files... see where I'm going with this right?....
So, I need to have a smart feller like you to take the original .MOV file's metadata and past it into the freshly edited file so the camera has no stinkin idea it's a different file.  I can make sure the edited file is the same length of playback time - no problem - but the compression CODEC (Photo - Jpeg) in the video editor will result in a smaller file size.  That's my only worry that this will not work.
Are you up for the challenge sir?  Or direct me to a person whom I may send a few PayPal bux over to that can help me?
Thanks Phil!!
WC

[Phil Harvey]

Hi Will,

I have MOV samples from a few Panasonic cameras, and don't see any proprietary information in these files.

Did you use the exiftool -v option to see what structural differences there are in these files?

It may be that even if you arrange the files in exactly the same structure that the camera still won't play them because of some difference you didn't know about in the way the codec writes the video (for example, the YCbCrSubSampling is something I have seem to recall had this effect when loading edited JPEG images into cameras).

I don't really think I'm the one to help, but I don't know of anyone else.

- Phil

[willcrockett]

Hi Phil,
Good thinking on the CODEC differences.  I cannot tell for sure, I'm not as fluent as you in exiftool. I can get the two files pretty close by compressing the edited file hard. 
Feel like giving it a shot?  Can you copy all the metadata from the P1010341.MOV file, then change the name of the Sequence 1.mov file to P1010341.MOV, and pasting the metadata into it?

crockettco.com/sandbox/wc/MOVfiles01.zip

Givver a try for me?
Thanks!
WC

[Phil Harvey]

I have taken a look at your MOV files.  I don't have the time to manually edit the the file to fix these differences, but here is a list of things I see that could possibly cause your problem:

1) The edited file is not compatible with the "pana" brand (CompatibleBrands)

2) The edited file contains 'wide' tags, which may not be supported by the camera

3) The edited file has a different timescale (2997 vs 30)

4) The quicktime version is different

5) The video and sound tracks are swapped

6) The video handle is changed from Panasonic to Apple

7) All VendorID's are changed from 'pana'

As well as these, there may be differences as I mentioned in the JPEG stream.

- Phil

[willcrockett]

Thanks Phil,
Is there any one here in your universe that would be up to working with me on this?  Glad to pay them.
Please let me know?
If not, where would I find an expert for hire on this?
WC

[Antanico]

Hi Will,
I had a similar need with a JVC Everio 3 or 4 year ago.
If I am not wrong you should also create a file Archive to allow the Panasonic to identify the edited .MOV (.MOD in JVC) format. This files are responsible of the Chapter file management and they are usually called .PGI (check in the Panasonic drive). They have the filename that has to match the .MOD and .MOV in your case.
I just searched on the net and this scheme could perhaps help you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOD_and_TOD
Kindest regards,
Ant