Microsoft - hate to hate them - ASF files

[Shankar Nathan]

anyone heard of Windows 'Advanced Streaming Format', ASF files ?

they come up with good technology (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...y/en-us/wmform/htm/overviewoftheasfformat.asp) and then their lawyers and marketing dweebs get into the act and screw it up for everybody (http://www.advogato.org/article/101.html)

problem that i am running into is the following:

1. bought a nice little Panasonic SD-AV10 digital camera -does stills/video/mp4
2. took some pictures, shot some footage
3. tried to cut-edit the video files produced - you guessed it - "ASF" files - good compression, decent quality
4. VERY WEAK bundled panasonic editor, bites.
5. tried using MM2 - problem with playing audio portion of the imported ASF clip
6. am having a hard time importing this freaking ASF file into other editing programs - even the ones that used to work (MPEG4 Direct Maker) - have been attacked by microsoft, so the poor guy that developed it had to pull that functionality.
7. even Avid Xpress DV does not support ASF files - probably dictated by Microsoft - god, i hate that i have to hate them.

btw, these ASF files play pretty well in WMP9 (Win Media Player 9).

if anyone can help me edit ASF files - MM2 or otherwise - i'd really appreciate it. until then, i'll be taking stills and doing my editing with a real DV camera, on a real editing system.

i used to wonder why people hated Microsoft...

signed
looking for a solution in kauai

 

[John Kelly]

Hi there,

ASF files have been around for quite some time now. I use them on my
website.

You might want to get the free package from Microsoft that deals with them.
It is called Windows Media Encoder. Its on their web site.

 

[Shankar Nathan]

john, thanks for the pointer to WME - it seems to provide me a workaround
for what i need to do.

not sure what the issues are with WMM and ASF files (audio trashed on
import), but the following steps allow me to to edit ASF files in WMM:

1. using WME, convert the ASF file to a WMV file
2. WMM imports the resulting WMV file ok (both audio and video are ok)

note that there appears to be some loss in quality during step 1.

TLA legend:
WME: Windows Media Encoder
WMM: Windows Movie Maker
ASF: Advanced Streaming Format
WMV: Windows Media - Video
TLA: Three Letter Acronyms


shankar

Hi there,

ASF files have been around for quite some time now. I use them on my
website.

You might want to get the free package from Microsoft that deals with them.
It is called Windows Media Encoder. Its on their web site.

sea.

 

[John Kelly]

Hello again,

Well, I have just imported into MM2 an ASF file that was first made using
MM2 and then converted into ASF using the Encoder...I have to say that it
was coded for 512K broadband use. But I remember after it was coded I read
some stats about it and seem to remember that the actual bandwidth needed
was only 380Kb...anyway I loaded that into MM2 and played it back from the
timeline....it sounds worse than when you listen to it over the Internet.
There is a distortion with the higher frequencies in the music that I do not
hear when listening to it using windows Media Player over the net.

So, on the face of it, it looks as though there is an inconsistency. It
might not be MM2 itself of course, it may be one of these codecs again.

For myself its not an issue, but I must remember to keep the original of my
work until such time as I am convinced there is nothing further to do.

 

[PapaJohn]

You might try simply revising the file name to change the .asf extension to
..wmv and see if MM2 uses it.

 

[John Kelly]

Hi PapaJohn,

Really !!! Well I never!!! must go and have a play with that.

 

[PapaJohn \(MVP\)]

Hi John,

It might work and it might not. Note that the Sample movie file that was
included with MM1 has an ASF extension, not WMV.

PapaJohn

Hi PapaJohn,

Really !!! Well I never!!! must go and have a play with that.

sea.

 

[John Kelly]

Hi there,

Yes I understand...in fact when using media encoder just to do a file type
conversion from wmv to asf I have often wondered how it could be so quick.
Clearly if "conditions" are right it would explain how it comes to be as
quick as it is.

 

[Shankar Nathan]

good thought.

i renamed the .ASF file to a .WMV file and re-imported to WMM2. WMM2
continues to have the same problems with the audio in the imported file.

i am inclined to think the problem is with WMM2 import of certain types of
ASF format files... The conversion process in Encoder from ASF to WMV seems
to allow a clean import in WMM2.

thanks,
shankar