Video & Photo Problems From iPhone

[kodakjack]

My son sends us videos and pictures of my granddaughter done on his iPhone. I don't know if the problem is from his Apple product or in my Windows 7 desktop. Most of his videos are 90 Degrees off. If I open them in a video editing program so I can turn them, then that program does not offer an intuitively obvious way of saving them (being pursued in their forum!). The pictures can be the same way. I have to open them in Media Player, flip them 90 Degrees and save them. Another problem is 1/2 of the pictures get sent as JPEG's and 1/2 as PGN's. The PGN's can be opened in Paint and saved as JPEG's. If he sends group of pictures, all done at the same time, the mix is in that small group of pictures. Is his phone doing that or is there a problem with the Apple/ Windows incompatibility? If there are programs that will adequately deal with these pictures and videos, I'd be grateful for the help. It gets old in a hurry and can be quite a bit of work. Thanks.

 

[townsbg]

The file type might just be the way that the particular image is saved. As for the angle, I have no clue. XNViewMP has a batch convert feature but I haven't tried it. XnView MP | XnView.com

 

[Barman58]

Take a look at a better image viewer than the Microsoft photos app.

I would suggest that you take a look at Irfanview which is totally free for personal use. It has a lot more functionality than the Windows 7 Photo App, and is easy to use.

I would not worry about converting between formats Both JPG and PNG, [Assuming that the PGN is a miss spelling ), are "lossy" Formats - to keep file sizes low for use on the internet they compress the original image and some quality is lost - so it is a compromise. The problem with this technique is that the compression takes place every time you save the file so that repeated saves will reduce the image quality. Due to this it is not recommended to convert and resave these types of image

The major difference between JPG and PNG files is that PNG supports transparency for use on the internet, [this allows the Round icons and other web page components you see on web pages ], whilst JPG does not support this transparency. The reason that you receive both types is I assume just a choice when they are shot.

The 90 degree turn can depend on how the phone was held when each shot was taken, there should be a code in the file that sets the viewing angle but apple has always set their own standard, ignoring those set by international agreement, which is one way to copyright their way and charge people extra for the "privilege" of using their hardware and software.

Irfanview has a default Slide type view which allows you to batch process changes such as rotation in addition to more in depth lighting and colour changes, it also has slideshow options which is useful for family images. It will display most popular image formats "out of the box" but also has an optional set of formats which is also free if you find you need them, apple are in the process of switching to a proprietary image format on their latest iPhones. so you may need a converter for these images should your Sone update their phone - I would expect Irfanview to have this where Photos is unlikely to

 

[kodakjack]

I assure you, my son is not changing formats while he is taking pictures or doing videos. I wouldn't imagine his camera is doing this on its own, but the picture format changes within a batch of pictures taken together. It could be something that happens within the site being used, yahoo, too. It just becomes a lot of work to change things. The pictures could possibly stay the PNG format, but why have two different formats in one file where I save them? The videos have to be flipped so they can be watched, but then I don't understand how to save them in the program I am using - frustrating. I'll try the programs suggested. Thanks.

 

[Barman58]

The only reason that I suggest that you retain the original format received is that the simple act of the conversion from PNG to JPG will lower the quality of the image due to the recompression of the image during each save.

I've since checked my original statement and PNG is primarily a lossless format, [you can use Lossy compression on a PNG file save to reduce the file size if you wish and your software supports it], so the PNG format would be a Better option for long term storage than JPG. PNG is a more modern international standard for images than JPG and was designed to cure some existing issues with JPG.

If you decide to convert PNG images to JPG, to minimise the loss of quality set your conversion to a quality setting of 100% or as close as you can to this in your software

There is a way to see what I am saying about JPG ... take a JPG file open it in an editor and resave as a new name - repeat this several times and you will see the lower quality of the last image compared to the original,

Of course it's a personal choice which format you use for long term storage, hopefully this explanation will help you get the best from your photos

 

[kodakjack]

Thanks and I see what you are talking about with saved quality. Paint certainly is not a high dollar program, but even it warns of a degraded saved image. My primary concern is trying to straighten out and save videos. I don’t want to watch or save videos that are 90 Degrees off. So, my request is for a good program that will flip them and save them in my Windows 7 machine. Hearing the Apple will be going to proprietary picture and video is a horrible thing. Not everybody out there is on a total Apple bandwagon! You can only save so much on a phone or iPad. I may view my pictures and videos on my iPad, but my main storage is on my desktop with greater capacity.

 

[Barman58]

Ok no promises

Have a read of this post https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-rotate-video-in-windows-media-player/ which may/should do what you want to do there are a couple of free solutions an app and a website to rotate video for Windows Media player but it should work in any player once rotated and saved, if not Windows media player is included in Win7 - Have not tried it, it's possible in windows 10 using the new included video editor

Edit

here's a link for the recommended Free software - Free Video Flip and Rotate: rotate video, flip video

 

[kodakjack]

I appreciate that download link. I was able to turn a video 90 Degrees and save it easily. I saved it as an AVI file and it wouldn't open with video, just audio! Then, I actually read the instructions that tell you to save it as an MP4 file and it worked great!! Who needs directions, right? Thank you very much!

 

[Barman58]

I've just finished my own test and came back to pass on the same instruction I prefer MP4 anyway so would have defaulted to that anyway, i'm used to it as it's the default for my security camera recordings -- Glad to see you have a result

 

[kodakjack]

You’ve been a big help. Thanks.

 

[townsbg]

Barman58 there is actually a pgn filetype for pics and it is a lossless format. PGN File - What is it and how do I open it?. So that might not have been a slip-up on the OP's part.

 

[Barman58]

I did look at the PGN extension but there was no link to Apple or any apple applications that read or create the format and as the images started out from an iPhone I think it's a PNG