Convert video between Microsoft and Apple
This is probably more information than anyone would care to know. I'm posting it in case anyone's interested in the geeky details of using MPlayer to convert to and from MOV files. It would be far easier to simply download either mov2avi.bat or wmv2mp4.bat and use them with the instructions in the "Editing mov files with Windows Movie Maker" or "Podcast primer" posts respectively.
This command converts from the QuickTime format into something that can be used by Windows Movie Maker.
mencoder -oac pcm -ovc lavc -ffourcc DIVX -o test.avi test.mov
This command converts from The Windows Movie Maker fromat into something that can be used by iTunes. It's useful if the file you're creating is to be used in a podcast.
mencoder -oac lavc -ovc lavc -lavcopts aglobal=1:vglobal=1:vcodec=mpeg4:acodec=aac -of lavf -lavfopts i_certify_that_my_video_stream_does_not_use_b_frames -o test.mp4 test.wmv
If you need more info on batch file parameters, you can find out more from the Microsoft site.
See also: Podcast primer, Movie watermark, Editing mov files with Windows Movie Maker