Scriptable alternative to MPEG Streamclip?

I've got a ton of archival footage that I have to deal with, stuff that was archived years ago. It's in MPEG-2 format, approximately DVD quality but stored as program streams on a file server rather than on discs.

Getting individual bits of footage out is pretty easy; MPEG Streamclip, mark in and out, export as ProRes. Easy.

Trouble is, there's a TON of this material, and I'm going to have to go through that process over and over and over and over and over.

I've tried using Compressor for this, since it's easily automated, but I'm having a field-dominance problem. No matter how I set Compressor's various settings, the clips I get out have the wrong field order, and I have to apply a shift-fields filter to them in Final Cut for them to play back correctly.

If we assume for sake of argument that I'm not going to be able to get Compressor to give me clips with the correct field order (this is an open question, but it's not the one I'm asking right now), is there an automate-able alternative to MPEG Streamclip out there for converting MPEG-2 footage, with ins and outs, to Quicktime?

>but I'm having a field-dominance problem

In Compressor, does trimming 1 line from the top of the frame help?



www.strypesinpost.com

I am such a freaking idiot. Why didn't I think of that?

Yes, Strypes, that worked perfectly. I set Compressor to crop off one line from the top and pad one line onto the bottom, and now my clip has the correct field dominance in Final Cut. Thank you so much, buddy.

Good one, Gerard. Sounds like a great trick to have.


www.derekmok.com

Performing as the best MPEG Streamclip alternative, Faasoft Video Converter is provided with all the functions that MPEG Streamclip has but more than that.

You have another option: Format Factory.