How-tos about Mac MOD Video and Mac TOD File

About MOD and TOD files

MOD and TOD are informal names of tapeless video formats used by JVC (MOD and TOD), Panasonic (MOD only) and Canon (MOD only) in some models of digital camcorders. Format names correspond to extensions of video files. Both MOD and TOD are file-based formats that are stored on a random-access media. Directory structure and naming convention are identical except for extensions of media files.
Standard definition video is stored in MPEG-2 program stream container files with MOD extension; in most other systems these files have extension MPG or MPEG. High definition video is stored in MPEG-2 transport stream container files with TOD extension; in most other systems these files have M2T extension. Transport stream files can be converted into more common program stream files without recompressing the video itself.


How to transfer MOD/TOD files from video camera/camcorder to a Mac

1.Connect camcorder to your Mac computer with cable (USB/Firewire/Wifi);
2.Select mode of camcorder such as Computer mode;
3.iMovie will automatic open Import window;
4.If DVD Player automatic open, just quit DVD Player first;
5.So Now, you can review your video or select "Import All"(make sure your switch is set to "Automatic");
6.If you select "Manual", you can import specific clips to iMovie;
7.If you import from Tape-based devices (DV/HDV), iMovie will automatic revise tape and import all;


How to play MOD/TOD files on Mac?
MOD/TOD video files are nothing but MPEG-2 files with AC3 (MPEG-1 layer2 for TOD files) audio. So .MOD and .TOD files can be easily renamed into .MV2 or .MPG files and then be read easily by most video playback tools.
You can use MPlayer OS X or VLC Media Player to play MOD files on Mac. They are all free.



MOD/TOD Video Files Conversion Issues
But those videos, renamed with other extension directly, may be not compatible with your player or editor completely. You may lose some segments unexpectedly. And those crude footages are uncomfortable for viewing without editing and rearrangement. Re-encode your video with a video converter for mac, you can view them smoothly on QuickTime, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV or edit them to be a real movie with iMovie or Final Cut Pro.
The best free way is change video extension and convert renamed videos with iSquint - an easy to use and totally free video converter for Mac. It can convert videos to MP4 and provide presettings for iPod, iMovie, etc. But this solution leads more quality loss, because of incompatibility and faulty conversion job. If you don't care video quality so much, this solution would be the best choice.

Another alternative is using a professional commercial programe, which supports .MOD and .TOD files. So your video will not lose any quality while importing. And the professional MOD and TOD video converter for Mac also gets your movie quality preserved maximally. If you are not good at computer or movies' quality is important to you, a professional one would be a nice choice, because of computer security, technical supports, friendly interface, comprehensible wizard and so on.
There are two step by step reference instruction:convert MOD files on Mac and convert TOD video on Mac



Related Camercorders:

JVC MOD camcorders
2004: GZ-MC100 (SD), GZ-MC200 (SD)
2005: GZ-MG30 (HDD), GZ-MG70 (HDD)
2006: GZ-MG37 (HDD), GZ-MG77 (HDD), GZ-MG505 (HDD, SD/SDHC card)
2007: GZ-MG130 (HDD), GZ-MG155 (HDD), GZ-MG255 (HDD), GZ-MG555 (HDD, SD/SDHC card)
2008: GZ-MS100U (SD/SDHC card)
2008: GZ-MG7230 (30 GB HDD, MicroSD)
2009: GZ-MG630 (60 GB HDD, MicroSD), GZ-MG670 (80 GB HDD, MicroSD), GZ-MG680 (120 GB HDD, MicroSD)

JVC TOD camcorders
2007: GZ-HD7 (HDD, SD/SDHC card), GZ-HD3 (HDD, SD/SDHC card)
2008: GZ-HD5 (HDD, MicroSDHC card), GZ-HD6 (HDD, MicroSDHC card)
2008: GZ-HD30, GZ-HD40 (HDD, MicroSDHC card, dual TOD and AVCHD recording)

Panasonic MOD camcorders
2003: SV-AV100 (SD card)
2005: SDR-S100 (SD card)
2006: SDR-S150 (SD/SDHC card)
2007: SDR-S10 (SD/SDHC card), SDR-H18 (HDD, SD card), SDR-H200 (HDD, SD/SDHC card)
2008: SDR-H40 (HDD, SD/SDHC card), SDR-H60 (HDD, SD/SDHC card)
2008: SDR-S7 (SD/SDHC card)
2008: SDR-SW20 (SD/SDHC card)
2009: SDR-SW21 (SD/SDHC card)

Canon MOD Camcorders
2008: FS100 (SDHC), FS10 (SDHC), FS11 (SDHC)
2009: FS200 (SDHC), FS21 (SDHC), FS22 (SDHC)


From: How to Play and Convert MOD Video, TOD Video on Mac

iSkysoft DVD-Library for Mac Beta 1.1.12.5 released

iSkysoft DVD-Library for Mac Beta 1.1.12.5 released. Open Testing!

iSkysoft DVD-Library for Mac released at April 20th, 2009. This version is also a beta release.
This version is greatly improved the stability with the new DVD copy module.
DVD-Library for Mac Beta is a legal DVD-backup application for Mac OS X. It can create an image (.iso) of a DVD disc in DVD Box to backup your DVDs. It helps you build your own DVD library on Mac to simplify the way you search and access your DVDs and allows you to manage your movies just the way you like.

MKV Format and Tips of Playing MKV Files on Mac

What are MKV files?

.MKV is a container format developed by Matroska.

It can hold different types of video and audio. For example, there might be an .AVI file contained within the .MKV file.
The Matroska Multimedia Container is an open standard free Container format, a file format that can hold an unlimited number of video, audio, picture or subtitle tracks inside a single file. It is intended to serve as a universal format for storing common multimedia content, like movies or TV shows. Matroska is similar in conception to other containers like AVI, MP4 or ASF, but is entirely open in specification, with implementations consisting mostly of open source software. Matroska file types are .MKV for video (with subtitles and audio), .MKA for audio-only files and .MKS for subtitles only. High Definition movies in 720 or 1080 pixel width format are often encoded and packaged as a Matroska format video with a .mkv file extension.


How to play MKV files on Mac?

MPlayer OS X and VLC Media Player both are free cross-platform multimedia player.

These excellent and free multimedia players can tackle many of the video formats unknown to QuickTime. They contain the decoder to decode the .mkv files. They will also play many of the formats you will find inside the .mkv file.


How to use MKV Converter for Mac to convert MKV on Mac for free?


The totally free video converter, iSquint - developed by Techspanion, can convert MKV to iPod (Nano, Classic, touch), convert MKV to iPhone, Apple TV, Xbox 360, PSP, PS3, AVI, MP4, MPEG, Flash and WMV. But Techspanion has been discontinue, you can download the final version on macupdate.com.
And after an outcry from fans, iSquint, the popular video converter on Mac OS X have now gone open source. It has got new name Film Redux. You can download its open source and built it by yourself. Here is a tutorial: How to build iSquint and VisualHub?

If you don't mind paying a little bit extra money for high quality and technical support, you can also switch to professional mac video converter. As the continuator of iSquint, iSkysoft video converter for Mac does this job well too.

Now, you can enjoy MKV files unlimitedly on your Mac.

More things you may want to know:
How to convert DVD to MKV for free on Mac?
How to burn MKV to DVD on Mac for free?

How to use Mac The Ripper to rip DVD to iPod, iPhone, etc. on Mac?

Part 1. Use MacTheRipper to minus the copy protections for free

Step 1. Download and install MacTheRipper
You can download it from: http://www.mactheripper.org/. To install Mac The Ripper, simply mount the .dmg archive by double-clicking it, and copy the MacTheRipper application to your Applications folder (or wherever you want it ), along with this "Mac The Ripper Manual" if you need it.

Step 2. Convert DVD for free
To use Mac The Ripper, you should insert your DVD movie into your DVD drive and launch the Mac The Ripper application. Then, you should set the RCE options if applicable. If Mac The Ripper displays 'DISC RCE: -CLEAR-' after scanning the DVD in the drive, you can leave the 'RCE Region' popup menu on 'OFF', as it is by default. Only (and always) set the 'RCE Region' to 'OFF' when it says that RCE is '-CLEAR-'.
Once you've selected the type of extraction and options you want, you can go back to the 'Disc' tab and click the 'GO!' button (or hit the 'Enter' or 'Return' key) to start the extraction.

Step 3, Finish extracting movie from DVD
You can find a folder in the save location. The output files extracted by MacTheRipper are saved as .VOB format.


Part 2. Convert the .VOB files to other video, audio formats compatible with iPod, iPhone, PSP...
After using Mac The Ripper to minus the copy protections, we can use iSkysoft Video Converter for Mac to convert .VOB files to formats that compatible with popular players such as iPod, iPhone(iPhone 3G), Apple TV, PSP etc.

Step 1:
Download and install Video Converter for Mac, you can Download the latest version for free.

Step 2:
Run iSkysoft Mac Video Converter, click 'Add' button to import the .VOB files, choose the output format, then click 'Start' to start the conversion, the default setting works perfectly.If you want to put the video on PowerPoint, you can choose .AVI as the output format (PowerPoint understands mpeg, asf, avi, wpl. wm, wmx, wmd, wmz, dvr-ms, mpv2, mp2v, mov, etc.).

Step 3:
After the conversion is finished, You can transfer the converted files to the players. For example, use iTunes to transfer the mp4 video to your iPod, here are the steps:
Open iTunes and click "File" to add your converted videos to iTunes library.
Plug in your iPod to you Mac, then iTunes will detect your iPod.
Select your iPod device on the left panel of iTunes, click "Movies" tab, check the videos you want to sync and click "Apply", done.

From: How to use Mac The Ripper to rip DVD on Mac