movie clips on Panasonis Lumix DMC FX8

[Mark2cameras]

Hi,

After using my old Dimage 7i for ages I got a great little Lumix DMC FX8 for its compact size and Lens quality.
Used mostly for work the old camera's movie clips showed up straight away when downloaded onto PC. Now I have a new Laptop as well (thanks work) but the clips from the panasonic show up as JPEGs when downloaded using google Picassa and don't seem to run as movies - just a still image (using windows media player). PLease tell me how to run these as clips - is it something to do with camera or laptop??

Thanks,
Mark

[Mike63]

I am not sure about your particular model, but mine (and I think all) require Apple Quicktime to play the movie clips. Windows Media Player will not play them. Your software that was included with the camera should have it, if not you can download it off the net.

When making a video clip it makes a jpeg image also, I believe that is what you are seeing with WMP.

[jcon]

WMP played the videos from my Pana FZ20 just fine. You are probably tryin to open then picture file and not the video file. Like Mike said, it records both a picture of the first frame in the video, and then records the actual video aswell.

[Mike63]

Jason, if your getting WMP to play these how are you doing it. I just tried to force WMP 11 to play it and it said it does not recognize the codec.:(

[jcon]

I wouldnt be able to re-enact it now as I no longer have the Pana camera. All I can remember is I had to install different codecs. They may have come bundled with my DivX player. For what its worth, I wouldnt lose sleep over it Mike, WMP sucks anyway;) :D

[Mike63]

I wouldnt be able to re-enact it now as I no longer have the Pana camera. All I can remember is I had to install different codecs. They may have come bundled with my DivX player. For what its worth, I wouldnt lose sleep over it Mike, WMP sucks anyway;) :D

No worries, I don't lose slepp over anything!:)

[Mark2cameras]

thanks for the replys guys to my original post but having downloaded QUick Time, this program still sees file as just a single image and won't play the clips! Any othe suggestions welcome!

Thanks,
Mark

[jcon]

How big is the file? Are you sure you recorded a video? Does it play back on the camera LCD ok?

[Mark2cameras]

Yep, plays perfectly well on camera - but just the first frame shows up as a JPEG when transfered to laptop - and shows up there as JPEG - much smaller than the stills picture files - about 60 K.
Driving me mad!
Cheers,
Mark,
Brisbane

[jcon]

Im kinda lost then, when you upload the files to your computer, does it show 2 files with the same name? One a picture and one an acutal video?

[JPW2020]

The Panasonic records movies in the Quicktime format,.mov files.If you are seeing jpg files then you cannot have downloaded the movies,just the 640x480 snapshot that accompanies each clip,I cant see there is any other explanation.

I dont know how you transfer your files but if you are using the camera perhaps try a different approach such as a memory card reader.When the files show up on the PC before transfer hover the cursor over each file to make sure it is the .mov file and then drag n drop it to your movies folder.It should then play in your Quicktime player.

If you want play the file using Widows Media Player either download Quicktime Alternative http://www.free-codecs.com/download/QuickTime_Alternative.htm which should enable you to do so or convert the files to Avi using one of the many free software programs available( or this can be done in most paid for movie editing software)

[Mike63]

What about the video format, or does that only effect watching directly on a tv? I know in the U.S. we must use NTSC.

If you look at the contents of the file with windows explorer are you seeing the .mov files? If your seeing the .mov files and you double click on one what message does the computer display. Are you using a card reader or USB cable? If your using a card reader try watching the video directly from the card and see what happens.

[Mark2cameras]

Thanks chaps,
Yiou were right. Having downloaded quick time I needed to re-import the files from the card (using the built in reader on the laptop), then they show up as movies on windows explorer and can play them from there. Picassa still shows them as JPEGs - just the first frame, but hey, they can't get it right all the time.

Problem solved

[OldGent]

I have a Panny TZ1 and initially had a similar problem with movies as Picassa was only showing the .jpg files. But if you look under the "Tools|Options|file types" you should find that you can select which file-types Picasa will display. On recent versions this includes Quicktime .MOV files, just tick the box and Picasa not only shows MOV files in its thumbnails but will also play them if you double-click the thumbnail.:)

For info I have the latest version (2.6.0 Build 35.97, 0 for Windows)of Picasa, this feature was also available in the earlier version, you can always download the latest version from Picasa's site. I can't recollect having to download any other drivers etc. but I also have the latest verion of Quicktime installed, which Picasa probably uses for its "Movie" display.

Good luck........