.MODD File Extension

@ Clive
I posted how I did it in an earlier post. Converted to wmv, then dragged and dropped. Unlinked video and audio, deleted video and then dragged and dropped high res video and then re-linked. For longer videos, you must make sure you match the new video with the audio before you link it. A bit of work, but that is all I got for now. Worked for two videos of mine, but time has been limited recently to do any more. Hope this helps!

Hi everyone, i was having the same sort of problem not being able to hear anything through wmp or realplayer while playing the videos. I went to this website www.cccp-project.net and downloaded the codecs (whatever they are) and i can now play my videos without having to convert the files. I hope this helps!!

The MPG files (mpeg-2) contain both the video and the audio. If you're computer is not playing the audio stream (as a few of mine were having trouble with), you need to replace the Mpeg-2 audio codec on your computer to fix the problem.
http://ac3filter.net/
(its free)

Roxio's CinePlayer will play .mpg files from Sony HandyCams that attach the MODD file. However, I never have discovered how to make these particular files play on Windows Media Player. Also, Roxio's Easy Media Creator 10 has no problems in getting the audio into your video program.

I have had success for getting files into Windows Movie Maker by:
- copying files from the camera to local drive
- converting files to WMV format using WM Converter (I think it is downloadable at sourceforge.net)

The stuff that came on Sony's disk sucks and I found it unusable. We should start a class-action lawsuit.

Here is the solution:

You have a version of Picture Motion Viewer that is older than June 4th, 2008. Simply go to this webpage:

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=DSCT5&upd_id=3529&os_id=29

The update for your Picture Motion browser is there. You will be able to download the update for free, and you will then be able to convert the files to WMV for easy editing in almost every program (MovieMaker, Sony Vegas, etc.)

Now, how come customer support didn't bother to tell me that!? GRrrr.

Thanks Zach!
FWWAB

Thanks Zach!!! My guess is you don't work for Sony but you should! I wonder how long this update has been available. I have been so soured on Sony because of this experience. Thanks again.

GARRR.

I did it, but it still gives me the broken image icon. I do, however, get the option to convert to WMV (how to do that with no source file is beyond me).

I must have codec conflicts. I should just buy a new damn computer.

To be able to see the convert button under Manipulate... you need to upgrade you PMB version by visiting the e-support.sony.com website.

My problem though, I installed the PMB on a new computer and can't play any of the downloaded clips. I see them but can't play them. I converted the files to WMV format and now able to play them using the PMB and Microsoft Media Player. However, I am concerned about their quality! I was told that my computer is missing the right MPEG-2 Codecs...I searched the web to no avail...anyone knows where I can get the right codecs (my operating system is Windows XP pro SP2.

"I was told that this option exists, even given a screenshot, but my (version) Picture Motion Browser has nothing like that under Manipulate."

Make sure that you have a file selected and then look under manipulate.

FYI: You can watch your video files with GOM player (freeware) with no audio loss.

I have a Sony HDR-HC7. It takes videos in .m2t format. I've looked into the .modd files. They are xml files that contain header information that says when the video was shot. The problem is this information is a single number, and you have to decode it to get a sensible date and time.

If you open them up in a text editor, you'll find the date-time number between brackets <real> and </real>. A typical number is the following:

39683.664467592585000

One unit represents a day, and the decimal tells you the time. The reference starting day (corresponding to a number of 1), which I believe corresponds to Dec 31, 1899, 00:00:00 (I might be off by a day and it may start on Jan 1 1900; the starting day above correlated with the correct dates for my own files). Any number past that is the number of days elapsed since then, including extra days in leap years.

Hope this helps.


I was able to convert it using Matlab, but they have a different reference point

By the way, the number:
39683.664467592585000

Corresponds to a date of:
23-Aug-2008 15:56:50

Using the reference date Dec 31, 1899, 00:00:00 for a datenumber of 1.

People, I don't understand why you would want to convert your MODD into something else, as I understand them they are a sort of information container for your AVCHD recordings.

If you wish to convert your recordings to something else you could use the Picture Motion Browser (the one that came with my HDR-SR11 does it quite well).

For my editing I play with Sony Vegas 8 and Pinacle Studio 12.

I have a handycam SONY DCR SR55. When I transfer the MODD files to Edius editing software, the files appear in Edius time-line, but sound disappears.

I pretend to edit in Edius software,and not in the PICTURE MOTION BROWSER software furnished with the camera. What I can do?

I have an issue with files not being recognized by the Picture Motion Browser, even when they are in the register folders for viewing. They have the .modd file extension. Help!!!

Finally was able to use my SONY recordings with the New CS4 by Adobe. Simply just drag and drop. Video works perfectly with Audio.

Finally I can do more to my recording than just the PMB that came with the camera. The new software recognizes my videos with the MODD files, no need to convert files to anything else!!! :-)

I have a Sony HDR-SR12E. I've copied on computer videos. At the end of every file, it's written m2ts or modd. I can't read those files when I try to open them. It's written that "Windows must know the program used for its creation"
Thanks for any explication or help.

I too get 2 files when I download my videos. The MODD file doesn't open but if I delete it, it doesn't seem to affect the actual video file. Could someone please tell me "in as plain English as possible" what the MODD file is suppose to do.

MODD files are very important, don't touch them. As earlier mentioned they contain date/time info.

They can be used for creating DVD with date/time subtitle track but not yet with PMB. Current PMB ver. 3.3.00.09300 is downloadable here:

http://support.sony-europe.com/dime/camcorders/hdr/hdr.aspx?site=odw_en_LV&m=DCR-SR290E

If anybody already knows how to create DVD with date/time subtitle track, the feedback will be appreciated.

So, if I burn a video file to DVD, I would also need to burn the MODD file too? At the moment, if I just burn the video file, I can only play the DVD on another computer - it wont play on a DVD recorder!

You'll need to burn the file to a DVD format first, try looking at convertX software

Thanks Kat. I assumed that the fact I had blank DVD discs and that it burned to them ok, meant that I could just view them in a DVD player! Do I also need the MODD file?

Dear Diane & Kat, why do you hassle with unknown programs. If you know Sony's modd files that means you have Sony HDD camera and possibly to use PMB (Picture Motion Browser) program. It is prepared for beginners and regular users. You can play, edit, convert, archive and make photo/video DVD-s with menu. Only lack of the PMB is that can't make date/time subtitle track. Hopefully users and Sony's team find a solution soon :)

I have an HDR-SR12E camcorder from which I import the AVCHD files with the PMB program (received with the camera) and get M2TS files, which can be converted by an AVS4you 6.2 to standard DVD. It can be also edited with an AVS editor which is rather a very simple editor. This process is very time consuming.

I would like to have an editor like Premiere with capture of AVCHD ,editing and re-recording the edited file to the HD of the camera.

I used the trial with no problems, but on buying the full version all I get is modd, moff and m2ts - no mpeg - which means no files are recognised so nothing can be opened, am I missing a codec or a file that will bring this back into line.

open up control panel,add remove programs,and delete xvid codec. that will fix your problems as there is a conflict between Sony codec and xvid codec.

Try to use AVS Video Converter 6

http://avs4you.com/

It helps me.

To Dale:
Drop "*.m2ts" file into converter.

Premiere Pro by adobe recognizes Sony files, audio and video. A friend of mine has the program and I am able to do all the editing I need. Simply drag and drop - high definition or regular definition. Very easy to do.

Please help: I have a New Sony digital video camcorder.

I am using Sony's PMB software version 4.2 to import my videos to my PC. I am able to burn copies to a DVD and I am able to edit video clips.

The problem that I am having is how to combine the actual media files. For example, I edited (1) video into (14) separate media files. I now want to combine the (14) media files into one revised video. Once completed, I will upload to YouTube.

Please provide assistance on how to combine media files using PMB. Thankyou

I bought a DCR-SR42E so I can import every video to the computer and play it in the PICTURE MOTION BROWSER, but when I open the videos from the folder they are saved in the windows media player I can`t see any image and just sound, can someone help me please?

Mark,

You should have no problem using Windows MovieMaker to do what you need. If you've already converted it into the WMV format (I use WMConverter to do this- it's free).

Then you do the usual Windows MovieMaker stuff to edit your movie- Personally, I avoid PMB because it never works, but my PC has low RAM so maybe I shouldn't be too adventurous with editing.

Good luck!

I finally got it to work after a lot of searching.

First I went to downloads.com and downloaded/installed the Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 30-day trial (http://download.cnet.com/Corel-VideoStudio-Pro/3000-13631_4-10029706.html?tag=mncol). It's a pain that it's a trial, but I just re-download every 30 days. Corel can play the video on its own, but there is no sound.

Then go to www.free-codecs.com and download the K-lite Codec pack 4.7.5 FULL (K-Lite Codec at www.free-codecs.com/K_Lite_Codec_Pack_download.htm).

When installing the codec, you will see a 'select additional tasks' page. Make sure you select to make file associations for Windows Media Player. This will allow you to play the file in WMP.

This codec pack makes the file .mpeg, and WMM is unable to load the video file. Open Corel Video Studio and load your file. The sound should accompany the video in the import.

I realize that many people like WMM; however, I like the features of Corel.

Hope this helps!

I should probably read all of the comments but if someone would explain to me what a .modd file and a .moff file is I would appreciate it. I downloaded my Sony videocam and got the video plus these two files. I used to just get the video and I don't know if I should delete the .modd and .moff files.

Hi - I have converted a couple of files to .wmv using the converter but the quality is noticeably inferior compared to watching it though PMB.

Can anyone recommend a format to save it to and a means of keeping the same quality. I want to be able to play the movies through Windows Media Player. I've got 312 shorts to convert, taking up 10gb. I don't mind using all that space still if I can just maintain the quality.

Thanks

This works for me and is easy! I'm using Sony PMB with Windows Movie Maker (came w/Vista Home on my HP laptop).

Directions:
1. Connect Sony camera via USB to computer (I am using a Sony TG1 (uses Memory Stick memory). This automatically launches a PMB screen asking to import files from the camera. Import the files you want.
2. Open Windows Movie Maker. Select "Import Media Items" from the File menu.
3. Find your imported files from User/Pictures directory (where PMB imports them to).
4. Edit with Movie Maker and create a DVD, etc.

Note that I have only tried this with SD (720) files created by my camera. I will be trying HD later.

I spent several days trying to create my daughter's wedding DVD with PMB, which worked itermittently. I also downloaded trial versions of Sony Vegas 9.0 (crashed repeatedly), Pinnacle Studio 12 (pegged my CPU on a 2.0 dual core 4GB RAM laptop), and Ulead (forget now what the problem was).

But with PMB as my file import program, and Movie Maker as my editor and DVD burning software, I'm having great success.

Give it a try!

Has anyone out there solved the problem of getting Roxio's Creator 2009 to recognize the Dolby Digital audio portion of the MPEG2 video file created by Sony cameras like my DCR-SR300 with a hard drive?

It too creates MODD file for every MPEG2 file, but it never has bothered me before...before I bought Roxio's newest product. There has never been a problem with their older Easy Media Creator products. I would appreciate any advise someone may have.

Your Sony software that came with your camera installs several different applications. You need to go to the application called PMB picture motion browser. The desktop icon looks like and arrow pointing up to some pictures and color bars on the right in the background.

Sometimes this application does not create a desktop icon. If you don't have this icon go to your program files and look in "Sony" you should find it there.

Once you launch this program it will do everything you need including an AVCHD to MPEG2 converter which will allow you to edit your files an most edit programs that don't support AVCHD.

HI...I went a website (cccp-project.net) and downloaded the codecs and now I hear audio when using media player. That is great - solves my problem. But, looking at the logo I am concerned that I may have downloaded something questionable? Has anyone downloaded the codec from here and have you had any problems?

I have a Sony Handcam DCR-SR42E and I was wanting to download software that will enable me to change the image size of my still images, once I load them onto a computer.

This model handy-cam doesn't allow you to change the still image setting up from .3m & I need to enlarge the image size before I use them in my project.

Hi, I think I may have made a big booboo. I somehow deleted the .mpeg but am left with the .modd files. Is there anyway to retrieve the video I seem to have deleted. When I deleted it said it was too big for the recycle bin. I'm pretty sure I can't get the videos back now but if anyone knows anything please please help! :)

I downloaded a movie to my computer and used studio 9 to edit it but there was no sound. There are moff and modd files included in the movie file. What do I have to do so I can use studio 9 to edit and burn my dvd? And how to do it?

I loaded all the files directly from my camera into my computer, ignoring PMB. Ignoring the .modd files, I selected and successfully batch converted only the .m2ts files to HD .avi using the AVS video converter 6. No problems with sound. It takes a while but it is hands off. Many video editors have big problems with .m2ts files and this was a successful work around for me. It makes background conversion in the video editor quite a bit faster.

As Sharyn said, modd files should be ignored. People unable to get sound out of the m2ts files, probably don't have a suitable DD audio codec. Super C will convert your m2ts files to AVI for free and has all the codecs it needs when you d/l it. TMPGEnc can do it, if you don't mind buying software, but you'll still get audio problems if you don't have a suitable codec installed.

I am almost in tears. Wasting good blank dvd's trying to copy from Sony PMB my Praise Dance rehearsal. It gets to the point of saying "writing to disc" and then never moves past 50%. I left it on overnight and it was still in the same darn spot. Then when I tried to close it and stop the program, it took forever, like over 4 hours TO STOP WRITING TO DISC...this is ridiculous and the odd part is I have successfully used this program and made dvd's before. Is there any other way to copy and make a dvd other than this?

I've had my Sony DCR SR42 for 2 years and NEVER had a problem downloading or burning discs using the Pict Motion Browser.

On Sunday I downloaded recent video and tried to play the clips through the PMB by clicking on the clips and got the broken icon and cannot see or hear the video.

Tried to view through Window Media Player and had a message saying that there was an error downloading a codec.

Downloaded Sonic CinePlayer DVD pack from Roxio and now I get the sound but NOT the PIC in WMP - but I still can't see or hear the clip in Motion Picture Browser - still getting broken icon.

I'm totally lost...how can I fix this?

I'm running XP Home Edition Win Media Player 11. I don't know what happened. What is interesting is that I can download video from my Kodak camera and view through the Kodak software and through Quicktime. I Never had a problem with the Sony Software before...PLEASE Help...need to get up and running before Santa comes to see the kiddies for Christmas Eve...any suggestions?

I just recently purchased a Sony Handycam and it came with a program that allows you to...

-view the videos
-edit the videos
-burn to DVD
-export to external device
-convert to WMV file

The program is called PMB.

I'm not convinced that Sony products are nightmares to be avoided! I am trying to transfer the mini disc files that are in the camcorder (using the USB connect) onto the computer through Motion Picture (worthless) Browser. It keeps telling me the drive is in use by another program. I want to scream. The consumer who posted earlier is correct - we should file a class action law suit.