If I lose my .moff or .modd will the world explode?

[ChancyRat]

If I don't have the .moff or .modd file that usually accompanies an .m2ts file (Sony AVCHD), what happens?

Once a friend went to send me an .m2ts file through YouSendIt, but discovered she was missing the .moff file (she was missing most of them that had been downloaded from her camcorder, she doesn't know why, and we presume they are lost forever). She sent the .m2ts and .modd anyway, and I was going to see what would happen when I played it in PE7, but to MY surprise, after downloading the 2 files, the .moff file appeared in the folder as if by magic. (It had the same file name, but with the .moff extension, and I had definitely not downloaded it.)

Do the .moff and .modd files get generated automatically sometimes?
What happens if you lose them, does it affect editing or playing?
If she sends me .m2ts files, is it necessary for her to send the .modd and .moff as well (if she does have them)?

Thanks.

[Bob]

".moff" and ".modd" files are created by some Sony avchd camcorders and are used by the Sony Motion Picture Browser. One contains indexing information, the other contains metadata in xml format. The video itself is contained in the ".m2ts" file. If you aren't using the Motion Picture Browser, don't worry about them -- as far as I know, nothing else uses them. For Pre 7, you only need the ".m2ts" files.

[ChancyRat]

".moff" and ".modd" files are created by some Sony avchd camcorders and are used by the Sony Motion Picture Browser. One contains indexing information, the other contains metadata in xml format. The video itself is contained in the ".m2ts" file. If you aren't using the Motion Picture Browser, don't worry about them -- as far as I know, nothing else uses them. For Pre 7, you only need the ".m2ts" files.

with happiness.
Please, what does this mean - "the other contains metadata in xml format"?
I do use the MPB program - does this mean it won't work with these files missing the .moff and .modd?
thanks.

[Bob]

The modd file is actually a text file. It contains data about the video file in a format known as XML which is a markup language which uses tags to define the data similar to this: <tag>value</tag>. For example, say you have a property called name which has a value of ChancyRat. This could be expressed as <name>ChancyRat</name>. Tags can be defined in a hierarchical arrangement and can define complex data structures if need be.

I don't use the Sony Motion Picture Browser and I don't know which properties are defined in modd files. If you add a ".txt" to the end of the modd file name, you can open it in notepad or wordpad and see what it contains. If the modd or moff files are missing, motion picture browser won't have access to that information and you'll be missing the information in those files. I would guess that you could still open the m2ts file. Why don't you try it and tell us what happens. It won't explode.

[ChancyRat]

The modd file is actually a text file. It contains data about the video file in a format known as XML which is a markup language which uses tags to define the data similar to this: <tag>value</tag>. For example, say you have a property called name which has a value of ChancyRat. This could be expressed as <name>ChancyRat</name>. Tags can be defined in a hierarchical arrangement and can define complex data structures if need be.

I don't use the Sony Motion Picture Browser and I don't know which properties are defined in modd files. If you add a ".txt" to the end of the modd file name, you can open it in notepad or wordpad and see what it contains. If the modd or moff files are missing, motion picture browser won't have access to that information and you'll be missing the information in those files. I would guess that you could still open the m2ts file. Why don't you try it and tell us what happens. It won't explode.

Apparently the Picture Motion Browser, which I always accidentally call the Motion Picture Browser, can give birth to .moff files.
I'm going to ask my friend the next time she sends me a file, to leave out the .modd file too, and I'll see what happens. thanks for giving me courage.